The Best James Arness Movies
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1Sierra
Tony Curtis, Audie Murphy, James ArnessSierra is a 1950 film directed by Alfred Green.
2James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan WeldonWhile investigating a series of mysterious deaths, Sergeant Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) finds a young girl (Sandy Descher) who is unable to speak. As Peterson joins forces with FBI agent Robert Graham (James Arness) and scientist Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn), he discovers that all the incidents are due to giant ants that have been mutated by atomic radiation. Peterson and Graham, with the aid of the military, attempt to find the queen ants and destroy the nests before the danger spreads.More Them!
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3Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge
James Arness, Amanda Blake, Steve ForrestUpon his release from jail, bad guy Will Mannon (Steve Forrest) is determined to take revenge on retired marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) and Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake), who he blames for putting him away. At the same time, Dillon's pal Jake (Earl Holliman) tries to warn his friend but instead is falsely accused of murdering the prison warden. While Dillon sets out to track down Jake, Mannon terrorizes Kitty in Dodge. Eventually, Dillon makes his way back and confronts his vengeful nemesis.
4The Macahans
Eva Marie Saint, James Arness, Bruce BoxleitnerThe Macahans is a 1976 western TV film written by Jim Byrnes and directed by Bernard McEveety.
5John Wayne, Lloyd Nolan, Walter AbelWhile flying supplies to England during World War II, Capt. Dooley (John Wayne) is forced to crash land his plane in the icy wilds of Canada. Together, Dooley and his hardy crew struggle to survive in uncharted territory -- with the arctic temperature steadily dropping. Meanwhile, back at the army headquarters in Maine, Col. Fuller (Walter Abel) rallies his capable crew in a desperate search for the downed airmen, knowing that every second counts.
6John Wayne, Geraldine Page, Ward BondAn embittered Indian scout attempts to escort a homesteader's wife and her son back to safety after her cowardly husband deserts her during an Apache attack. When she refuses to go, the scout stays on to help for a while and, over time, forms a strong bond with both her and her son.More Hondo- #42 of 288 onThe 250+ Best Western Movies Of All Time
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7John Wayne, Nancy Olson, James ArnessJim McLain (John Wayne) and his partner, Mal Baxter (James Arness), are investigators for the House Un-American Activities Committee, who are sent to Hawaii to find the leaders of a local Communist Party. They visit Dr. Gelster (Gayne Whitman), a psychiatrist who is treating one of the party members. While there, McLain charms the doctor's secretary, Nancy Vallon (Nancy Olson), and asks her out. As their hunt continues, McLain and Baxter become targets of Communist boss Sturak (Alan Napier).
8The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory
James ArnessThe Alamo: 13 Days to Glory is a made-for-TV film about the 1836 Battle of the Alamo written and directed by Burt Kennedy, starring James Arness as Jim Bowie, Brian Keith as Davy Crockett, Alec Baldwin as Col. William Travis, Raul Julia as Santa Anna, and featuring a single scene cameo by Lorne Greene as Sam Houston. Unlike most other films about the Alamo, the most prominent exception being the 1955 film The Last Command, this version focuses on Bowie as the main character rather than Crockett. The production was shot at Alamo Village, the Alamo replica built by John Wayne for his lavish 1960 film The Alamo. Much of the footage of the final battle scene was recycled from earlier films.
9John Wayne, Lana Turner, James ArnessThe Sea Chase is a 1955 World War II drama film starring John Wayne and Lana Turner, David Farrar, Lyle Bettger, and Tab Hunter. It was directed by John Farrow from a screenplay by James Warner Bellah and John Twist based on the novel of the same name by Andrew Geer. The plot is a nautical cat and mouse game, with Wayne determined to get his German freighter home during the first few months of the war, all the while being chased by British and Australian naval ships.
10Angie Dickinson, James Arness, Harry CareyGun the Man Down is a 1956 western film distributed through United Artists and starring James Arness and Angie Dickinson in her first leading role. The movie was produced by John Wayne and his brother Robert E. Morrison for Wayne's company Batjac Productions and was the second theatrical feature directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, but his first of many westerns.
11James Arness, Richard Kiley, Michael LearnedAfter Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) receives a letter from an old acquaintance, a woman called "Mike" Yardner (Michael Learned), asking him to visit immediately, Dillon rides to the ranch. He finds it has been raided by Apaches, and Mike's daughter, Beth, has been kidnapped by a rogue Apache named Wolf. The bigger surprise for Dillon is learning that Beth is also his daughter, conceived while he had amnesia. Armed with the new knowledge of a daughter, Dillon sets out to rescue her.
12Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice
James Arness, Bruce Boxleitner, Amy Stock-PoyntonAfter his mother is killed in a wagoncoach robbery a young man pursues the gang responsible. Matt Dillon goes after him hoping to stop him before the gang can kill him. Dillon is joined by Davis Healy, a businessman, who is hiding a few secrets of his own.
13James Arness, Paul Frees, George FennemanThe Thing from Another World is a 1951 American black-and-white science fiction/horror film produced by Howard Hawks' Winchester Pictures Corporation, released by RKO Pictures, and directed by Christian Nyby. The film stars Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite, and Douglas Spencer. James Arness played The Thing, but he is difficult to recognize in costume and makeup, due to both low lighting and other effects used to obscure his features. The film is based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell. The story concerns a U.S. Air Force crew and scientists who find a crashed flying saucer and a body frozen nearby in the Arctic ice. Returning to their remote research outpost with the humanoid body in a block of ice, they are forced to defend themselves against this malevolent, plant-based alien when it is accidentally revived.- #93 of 178 onThe 150+ Best Movies With Aliens
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- 14James Arness, James Brolin, Ali MacGrawAt the wedding of his daughter (Amy Stock-Poynton), retired marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) is shockingly charged with a murder he did not commit. Instead of a honeymoon, the newlyweds must instead flee with Dillon and try to help him clear his name by finding the real murderer. As a bounty-hunting posse pursues hot on their heels, the trio receives help from two unlikely sources: prostitute Uncle Jane Merkel (Ali MacGraw) and preacher John Parsley (James Brolin).
15Gunsmoke: To the Last Man
James Arness, Pat Hingle, Matt MulhernRetired marshal Matt Dillon tracks Arizona rustlers and lands in the middle of the 1880s Pleasant Valley War.
16James Arness, Ed Begley, Alexis SmithWyoming Mail is a 1950 film directed by Reginald Le Borg.
17Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Ward BondWhen a group of Mormons are run out of town for their religious beliefs, Elder Wiggs (Ward Bond) searches for a wagon master to guide the outcasts to the San Juan Valley. Happening upon horse traders Travis Blue (Ben Johnson) and Sandy (Harry Carey Jr.), Wiggs convinces the men to take the position due to their intimate knowledge of the area. Despite Blue and Sandy's guidance, the travelers experience numerous setbacks, especially when the Clegg family outlaws take refuge in their wagon train.
18Ginger Rogers, Barry Nelson, Carol ChanningIn 1897 New York, Rose Gillray (Ginger Rogers) struggles to keep her corset business afloat. When Rose suggests that singer Molly Wade (Carol Channing) wear her daring new corset in her revue, the show is shut down. In debt to steel manufacturer Jim Carter (David Brian), Rose declares she can sell steel wire to stubborn cattle ranchers in Texas and clear her debt. Along the way, Rose is joined by Molly, inventor Charles Masters (Barry Nelson) and cattle baron Joel Kingdom (James Arness).
19James Arness, Harry Carey, Jr.
20James Stewart, Jean Hagen, Wendell CoreyLeading the troubled life of a moonshiner, David Marshall Williams (James Stewart) winds up in jail after a raid on his operation results in the death of an investigating officer. While serving time, the headstrong Williams gains the attention of warden H.T. Peoples (Wendell Corey), who sees unrealized potential in the convict and gives him access to a tool shop. While tinkering away, Williams manages to invent the M1 carbine rifle, which became a standard U.S. firearm in World War II.
21Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, Ethel BarrymoreYoung Swedish-American Katrin "Katie" Holstrom (Loretta Young) leaves her family farm in Minnesota, headed for nursing school. After her tuition money runs out, she is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Congressman Glenn Morley (Joseph Cotten). Holstrom endears herself to the genteel Morley, and begins to show a surprising aptitude for politics herself. She launches a campaign for Congress, and, as right-wing reactionaries plot against her, a romance develops.
22Robert Ryan, Julie Adams, Rock HudsonAfter fighting in the Civil War, the Hammond brothers of Texas return to Austin and begin to drift apart. While Neal (Rock Hudson) commandeers the family ranch, courts local beauty Sally (Judith Braun) and becomes a marshal, Dan (Robert Ryan) turns to a life of crime and lusts after the wife (Julia Adams) of a prominent magnate (Raymond Burr). Their lives reconverge when Neal must choose between Dan and a group of ranchers terrorized by his brother's gang of cattle rustlers.
23Bob Hope, Rhonda Fleming, Wendell CoreyFoolish life insurance salesman Milford Farnsworth (Bob Hope) commits his biggest blunder yet when he unwittingly offers a six-figure policy to notorious gunslinger Jesse James (Wendell Corey). Furious, his boss orders him to repurchase the policy. James, however, parries Farnsworth's attempts with ease, robbing and humiliating him. But when James' latest scheme pairs the patsy with the bandit's sweetheart, Cora Lee Collins (Rhonda Fleming), Farnsworth and Cora begin falling in love.
24Yvonne De Carlo, James Arness, Howard DuffFlame of the Islands is a 1956 drama film about a café singer, played by Yvonne De Carlo, who buys into a casino, encountering multiple men who quickly fall in love with her, and her attempt to find true love and happiness.
25Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, Diana LynnAfter being accused of murdering a shopkeeper, Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) begs retired lawyer James Curtayne (Spencer Tracy) to represent him. Once in court, the shaky Curtayne struggles in the face of a tough prosecutor -- and worse yet, his alcoholism also threatens to unravel him. After O'Hara ends up in prison because of his lawyer's botched handling of the case, a reeling Curtayne will stop at nothing to redeem himself, even if it means taking matters into his own hands.
26Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker, Victor McLaglenHeadstrong Mary Stuart Cherne (Eleanor Parker) is in hot pursuit of frontiersman Bushrod Gentry (Robert Taylor), and is determined to make him her husband. Naturally, Bushrod has no desire to leave the happy, wandering life of a trapper. He heads north to escape Mary's nuptial advances. But with hostile Shawnee Indians at every turn, Bushrod and Mary must set aside their differences and work together to survive the wilds of the unfamiliar territory.
27Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, Dean StockwellMan of God Josiah Gray (Joel McCrea) is determined to bring religion to the people of Walesburg, a dusty southern town still healing from the Civil War. Though initially Josiah must hold his parishioners at gunpoint, in time he wins over the community and marries his organist, Harriet (Ellen Drew). As the years pass, a number of situations arise, including a typhoid outbreak and a hostile mob, in which Josiah must prove that God is the only force that can restore peace in Walesburg.
28Hellgate
Sterling Hayden, Joan Leslie, Ward BondAfter the Civil War, ranch owner Gil Hanley (Sterling Hayden) helps a stranger in desperate need of medical attention. Soon he is questioned by Union soldiers about the stranger, who turns out to be an ex-Confederate soldier. Hanley, also an ex-Confederate, is unjustly convicted as a conspirator and sentenced to life in a brutal desert prison in New Mexico. After battling his tough cellmate and a sadistic guard (Ward Bond), Hanley tries to stop a plague from overwhelming the prison.
29James Arness, June Allyson, Arthur KennedyThe Girl in White is a 1952 film drama directed by John Sturges. It is based on the memoirs of the pioneering female surgeon Emily Dunning Barringer.
30Greer Garson, Robert Ryan, Barry SullivanRecently widowed and needing a change of pace, Jan Stewart (Greer Garson) takes a job as a schoolteacher at the Oaks, an elite boys' prep school. She is given charge of 12 rowdy students, including a sullen boy (Tim Considine) whose father (Barry Sullivan) is a vocal critic of Jan's teaching capabilities. Jan must prove to the skeptical headmaster (Robert Ryan) and everyone else that she's up to the task by winning over her students and becoming more than just a teacher to them.
