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Not long after the end of Star Trek: The Original Series and a few years before the original Star Wars trilogy kicked off with A New Hope, the future franchises collided in an otherworldly way. William Shatner, Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, and Harrison Ford, soon to start his long association with Han Solo, appeared in the same episode of a television show called Petrocelli.

The episode, “Edge of Evil,” aired on October 2, 1974. It was the fourth episode of the show’s first season. Barry Newman led the cast as Petrocelli, a big-city lawyer who moves to Arizona with his wife, Maggie. He specializes in representing clients who seem entirely guilty but may not be.

In the episode, Shatner portrayed Adam North, a man accused of murdering Petrocelli’s best friend. Shatner was the main guest star, while Ford turned up in a supporting role as a dead-serious guy who...

Movies about Rome often bring to memory emperors, gladiators, Julius Caesar, and aristocrats. Many people also think of William Shakespeare, as the Bard himself wrote frequently on the subject in his plays. Outside of Shakespeare and adaptations of his work, Ancient Rome played a big role in massive studio movies since the early days of silent films. Some of the most renowned movies in cinema history have been set in Ancient Rome, including some of the world's earliest blockbusters with headline-grabbing budgets, such as Ben Hur's then-recording-breaking $15 million dollar production cost in 1959.

Movies set in the Roman Empire fall into the "sword and sandal" movie subgenre, though the movies set in this specific corner of the ancient world are renowned for their tendency to have massive sets and budgets to match. The increased budget brought with it big risks, but the best movies set in Ancient Rome often ended...

Behold — it’s Indiana Jones in embryonic form. Paramount’s South American adventure exploits Peruvian scenery and the ’50s exotica phenomenon that was the unique songstress Yma Sumac. The production receives hearty input from Charlton Heston, Nicole Maurey and Thomas Mitchell, but it’s mostly a relic today. Not because the Raiders films have stolen its thunder . . . because it’s plenty hokey, even for 1954.

Secret of the Incas

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 154

1954 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date August 31, 2022 / Available from [Imprint] / au 39.95

Starring: Charlton Heston, Robert Young, Nicole Maurey, Thomas Mitchell, Glenda Farrell, Michael Pate, Marion Ross, Leon Askin, William Henry, Kurt Katch, Yma Sumac, Booth Colman.

Cinematography: Lionel Lindon, Irmin Roberts

Art Director: Hal Pereira, Tambi Larsen

Film Editor: Eda Warren

Original Music: David Buttolph

Written by Ranald MacDougall & Sydney Boehm, from stories by Boehm and Boehm Maximum

Produced by Mel Epstein

Directed by Jerry Hopper

Everybody loves a good...

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By John M. Whalen

In “My Gun Is Quick” (1957), Mickey Spillane’s famous private detective Mike Hammer (Robert Bray) meets a sad young hooker named “Red” (Patricia Donahue) in a greasy spoon and rescues her from a goon trying to put the muscle on her. Hammer slaps him around and kicks him out the door and gives her bus fare plus change to go back home and start over. He’s a hardnose but he’s got a tender spot somewhere under that tough exterior. He writes down his name and number on a slip of paper and tell her to call him to let him know she made it okay. Before they part he notices a very ornate ring on the third finger of her right hand. Hammer has been up for 52 hours and just wants to go home and get some sleep,...

Mike Hammer is in action again! Well, not exactly. Producer Victor Saville’s third go-round with Mickey Spillane’s famed character doesn’t do the franchise justice. Hammer-philes will be astounded by this thriller’s decidedly un-thrilling thrills: there’s little to connect the inexpressive nice guy Robert Bray with the super-popular, super-violent avenger of the books. Spillane’s original is abandoned in favor of a tame ‘who’s got the diamonds?’ storyline, with some compensation in a string of exciting ‘Hammer dames.’ I checked twice — Mike doesn’t shoot Any of them in the stomach.

My Gun Is Quick

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1957 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 91 min. / available through Kino Lorber / Street Date March 24, 2020 / 24.95

Starring: Robert Bray, Whitney Blake, Patricia Donahue, Donald Randolph, Pamela Duncan, Booth Coleman, Jan Chaney, Genie Coree, Richard Garland, Charles Boaz, Peter Mamakos, Claire Carleton, Phil Arnold, John Dennis, Terence de Marney, Ray Kellogg.

“Thru the Time Barrier, 552 years Ahead… Roaring To the Far Reaches of Titanic Terror, Crash-Landing Into the Nightmare Future!” … and as Daffy Duck says, “And it’s good, too!” Allied Artists sends CinemaScope and Technicolor on a far-out timewarp to a place where the men are silly and the women are… very female. Hugh Marlowe stars but the picture belongs to hunky Rod Taylor and leggy Nancy Gates.

World Without End

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1956 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date March 28, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Nelson Leigh, Rod Taylor, Shawn Smith, Lisa Montell, Christopher Dark, Booth Colman, Everett Glass.

Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks

Makeup: Emile Lavigne

Art Direction: Dave Milton

Film Editor: Eda Warren

Original Music: Leith Stevens

Produced by Richard V. Heermance

Written and Directed by Edward Bernds

“CinemaScope’s first science-fiction thriller.”

First, huh? What about MGM’s CinemaScope attraction Forbidden Planet, which...