Harper: (Dir. Jack Smight, 1966): Harper is one of the best detectives around. He is called by Elaine Sampson to find her missing husband. Harper reluctantly takes the case knowing that his job is putting his marriage in jeopardy. Miranda Sampson (the daughter) isn't too eager to help Harper find her father, but, house-guest, Allan Taggert, is. Perhaps too eager...
The Drowing Pool (Dir. Stuart Rosenberg, 1975): Harper is brought to Louisiana bayou country to investigate an attempted blackmail scheme. He soon finds out that it involves an old flame of his and her hellion of a daughter. What is more, he finds himself caught in a power struggle between the matriarch of the family and a greedy oil baron, who wants her property. Poor Harper! Things are not as straight-forward as they initially appeared.
The Left Handed Gun (Dir. Arthur Penn, 1958): William Bonney - Billy the Kid - gets a job with a cattleman known as 'The Englishman,' and is befriended by the peaceful, religious man. But when a crooked sheriff and his men murder the Englishman because he plans to supply the local Army fort with his beef, Billy decides to avenge the death by killing the four men responsible, throwing the lives of everyone around him - Tom and Charlie, two hands he worked with; Pat Garrett, who is about to be married; and the kindly Mexican couple who take him in when he's in trouble - into turmoil, and endangering the General Amnesty set up by Governor Wallace to bring peace to the New Mexico Territory.
Mackintosh Man (Dir. John Huston, 1973): Joseph Rearden takes the fall for a robbery and winds up in jail. From there he escapes in the company of a convicted spy and is taken to a remote manor at an unknown location where he is kept isolated. He overpowers his guard and flies, but nothing is quite what it seems in this drama of intrigue as Rearden pursues his quarry from Ireland to Malta.
Somebody Up There Likes Me (Dir. Robert Wise, 1956): Rocky Graziano is building a career in crime, when he's finally caught and arrested. In jail, he is undisciplined, always getting into trouble. When he gets out after many years he has decided to start a new life. However, he is immediately drafted to the army. But they can't keep him and he goes AWOL. Rocky discovers boxing as a way of earning quick money, and is discovered as a new talent.
The Young Philadelphians (1959) Newman plays young lawyer-on-the-rise Anthony Lawrence in this grand, glossy melodrama layered with the power and privilege of Philadelphia's social elite. The supporting cast is upper-crust in talent as well as Hollywood history: Barbara Rush, Brian Keith, Alexis Smith, Billie Burke, John Williams and others. Robert Vaughn was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the blue-blooded outcast Lawrence risks his career to defend in a sensational murder trial. The film received two other nominations (Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design). Vincent Sherman directed.
Pocket Money (1972) : Newman and Lee Marvin star in this sunny comedy also featuring two veterans of Newman's Cool Hand Luke: director Stuart Rosenberg and co-star Strother Martin. Newman plays debt-ridden cowboy Jim Kane and Marvin is his shifty pal Leonard, a big talker full of ideas that never pan out. As laid down in the deft screenplay by Terrence Malick (Badlands, The New World), they're as likable a duo of drifters as ever rolled down the pike.
