They Ran for Their Lives (1968)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Oliver Drake

Writer:

Monroe Manning (writer)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Drama

Plot:

A group of thieves plan a major robbery in Las Vegas |

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

John Payne	...	Bob Martin
Luana Patten	...	Barbara Collins
John Carradine	...	Laslow
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Scott Brady	...	Joe Seely
Jim Davis	...	Vince Ballard
Anthony Eisley	...	Doc Wright
Darwin Lamb
Boyd Stockman

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Nevada, USA

Company:

Colorvision Studios Inc.

Soundtrack:

They Ran for Their Lives

title song by The Knickerbockers

"They Ran for Their Lives"(1967),released early 1968,was the last feature film for actor John Payne(and the only one he directed.)Also bowing out was former Disney child actress Luana Patten("Song of the South"),while the quartet of villains-John Carradine,Scott Brady,Jim Davis,and Anthony Eisley-would continue to see a good deal of each other since they shared the same agent and often worked with the poverty row likes of Al Adamson.This was a low budget affair,hence the small cast,set on location in southern Nevada,where Patten's father suffers a fatal heart attack during a scuffle with Davis and Eisley,who are searching for some oil documents forged by Carradine,who was the old man's partner.The daughter eludes the empty-handed thieves and runs into the desert,where she comes upon the campsite of geologist John Payne,with his faithful German shepherd Bravo.The remainder of the film is an extended chase along the Colorado River as the bad guys,joined by Brady,pursue their quarry while Carradine awaits their return at a local watering hole.Perhaps it was the opportunity to direct that led Payne to do this last movie(his previous film was in 1957),but he does a serviceable job here,especially with the pacing.And the brief romantic overtures from the pretty young Patten to the older Payne will warm the hearts of older male viewers.I taped this film on Cinemax in 1991;apparently,it has yet to see release on DVD.One further note of trivia:the title song that plays over the opening credits and twice more thereafter is performed by the great garage band sound of The Knickerbockers,whose lone top-forty hit was "Lies" in 1966.