THE NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY was actor Clint Walker’s first film for Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was based on his original concept. In the film, ex-lawman "Jim Cole" (Walker) retires to Wyoming to farm his land, but a land-greedy neighbor (Keenan Wynn), an ex-con turned bounty hunter (Leo Gordon), and a vicious grizzly bear upset his retirement plans.
Several days into filming, Clint Walker accidentally lacerated one of his feet with an ax, requiring him to walk with a cane off-camera until the twelve stitches were removed. Joseph Pevney directed the 1966 film, his last. (Pevney would direct television for 20 more years.) Leith Stevens score did not get a release. The film had a song, "Pine Tree Tall," with words and music by Clint Walker and Charlie Aldrich.
Clint Walker and Martha Hyer in THE NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY
Reviews were tepid, several of which emphasized the clichéd nature of the plot and dialogue. Nevertheless, Paramount president Howard Koch was sufficiently satisfied with the film to offer Walker another starring role. Walker, however, did no further films for Paramount.
In 1966's MAYA, after the death of his mother, 13-year-old "Terry Bowen" (Jay North) journeys from Wyoming to India to join his father, "Hugh Bowen" (Clint Walker), a big-game hunter whom the boy idolizes. John Berry directed the adventure film, which was shot on location in India. Riz Ortolani's score was released on an MGM LP, which was once ubiquitous, but has never been re-issued in CD.
Clint Walker played "Samson Posey," a convicted felon in a military prison who is one of THE DIRTY DOZEN. A rebellious U.S. Army Major (Lee Marvin) is assigned to train and lead the group into a mass assassination mission of German officers during World War II. Clint Walker had served in the Merchant Marine during the war.
The scene where one of the dozen pretends to be a General inspecting Robert Ryan's troops was initially written for Samson Posey. However, Walker was uncomfortable with the scene, so director Robert Aldrich decided to use Donald Sutherland instead. The scene was directly responsible for Sutherland being cast in M*A*S*H (1970), which made him an international star.
Clint Walker and Jim Brown in THE DIRTY DOZEN
Lee Marvin related a joke Robert Aldrich pulled on Charles Bronson, who was only about 5'9" and wore low boxing shoes during rehearsal. When it came time to set up the first inspection scene, he placed Bronson between the 6'6" Clint Walker' and the 6'4" Donald Sutherland. According to Marvin, Aldrich laughed for about ten minutes over Bronson's perturbed reaction.
The cast apparently enjoyed filming in England, spending a lot of time in what was then swinging London. Clint Walker had an unusual experience. Even in England, he was a well-known TV star for "Cheyenne," with some film roles under his belt. Walker visited Buckingham Palace and marveled at the famously immobile guards, but as he started to walk away, one asked for an autograph out of the side of his mouth.
Frank Devol's score was released on an MGM LP, which was re-issued on CD most recently by Film Score Monthly in 2007. Here is Clint Walker's signature scene in the 1967 film:
In MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE, Clint Walker played notorious gunslinger "'Killer' Cain," a peaceful reformed man released from prison after 18 years. But the Old West has died, and he cannot adapt to the modern West where some unpaid moral debts and old troubles resurface. Vincent Price and Anne Francis co-starred in this 1969 film directed by Robert Sparr. Philip Springer provided the unreleased score.
Walker co-starred with Burt Reynolds in the 1969 comedy western SAM WHISKEY. Shortly after the Civil War, "Sam Whiskey" (Reynolds), a gambler and adventurer, is seduced into helping "Laura Breckenridge" (Angie Dickinson) retrieve a quarter of a million dollars in stolen gold bars from a sunken riverboat in Colorado's Platte River. After teaming up with "Jedidiah Hooker" (Ossie Davis), a local blacksmith, and "O.W. Bandy" (Walker), an Army friend turned inventor, Sam heads for the sunken riverboat.
Arnold Laven directed the film, which had an unreleased score by Herschel Burke Gilbert.
THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY was another 1969 Western comedy, this one starring Zero Mostel, Kim Novak, and Clint Walker. The film followed three separate plans to break into a top-security bank in the western town of Friendly, Texas, circa 1880. Texas Ranger "Ben Quick" (Walker), with his band of five Chinese secret service agents, is one of those trying to tunnel into the bank. The film was directed by Hy Averback and written by William Peter Blatty, based on the novel by Frank O'Rourke. Nelson Riddle's score has not had a release.
In THE PHYNX, a rock band becomes embroiled in foreign affairs when they're sent to go on tour in Albania as a cover to find show business personalities who are being held as hostages in a remote castle held by Communist enemies of the U.S. Clint Walker was one of more than 30 celebrities that appeared as themselves in the film. Lee H. Katzin directed the 1970 film that bombed at the box office. Songwriters Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber provided the songs for the rock band.
In 1971, Clint Walker began appearing in three made-for-television westerns that were shown as part of ABC's Movie of the Week. First up was Aaron Spelling Productions' YUMA, in which Walker played a tough marshal who is sent to clean up a lawless western town. Ted Post (HANG 'EM HIGH) directed the film, which aired on 2 March 1971. George Duning provided the unreleased score.
HARDCASE was a Hanna-Barbera Production that aired on ABC on 1 February 1972. In the film, Walker played "Jack Rutherford," a man who comes home to find that his wife (Stephanie Powers) has sold their ranch and run off with a Mexican revolutionary (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.). John Llewellyn Moxey directed the film, which had an unreleased score by Patrick Williams.
In Spelling-Goldberg Productions' THE BOUNTY MAN, bounty hunter "Kinkaid" (Clint Walker) leaves town to capture a $5,000 reward by getting "Billy Riddle," played by John Ericson. He spirits Ericson away from a ghost town/criminal hangout, but also gets some extra baggage in the form of Ericson's girlfriend, "Mae" (Margot Kidder). John Llewellyn Moxey directed the film, which aired on ABC on 31 October 1972. The music was provided by Murray MacLeod, James Prigmore, and Jerry Riopelle, who collectively formed a music group called "The Orphanage."
Anne Francis and Clint Walker, who had both appeared in MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE, teamed up again, with Francis playing his wife, as Walker gets involved with the activities of Telly Savalas' PANCHO VILLA. Eugenio Martín directed the 1972 film, which had an unreleased score by Anton Garcia-Abril. The film had a song, "We All End Up the Same," with music by John Cacavas and lyrics by Don Black, sung by Telly Savalas.
In SCREAM OF THE WOLF, Walker plays a big-game hunter who comes out of retirement to help track down a killer wolf, and begins to suspect that it isn't a wolf but an animal that can take human form. Television horror specialist Dan Curtis produced and directed the film, with his favorite composer, Robert Cobert, providing the unreleased score. ABC aired the Metromedia production on 16 January 1974.
In KILLDOZER, a small construction crew on an island is terrorized when some strange spirit-like being takes over a large bulldozer, and goes on a killing rampage. Clint Walker played the crew chief, "Kelly." Jerry London directed the made-for-television film, which aired on ABC on 2 February 1974. Gil Melle provided the unreleased score.
Clint Walker made his second attempt at network television stardom with "Kodiak", a half-hour adventure program (produced by Warner Bros. TV) that premiered on Friday evening, 13 September 1974, at 8:00 p.m Eastern time on ABC.
The show revolved around the main character of "Cal 'Kodiak' McKay" (played by Walker), an Alaska State Trooper. Kodiak, always accompanied by his Eskimo sidekick "Abraham Lincoln Imhook" (Abner Biberman), used his four-wheel drive truck to track down desperate killers through 50,000 miles of Alaska back-country.
The show was killed in the ratings due to being pitted against NBC's mega-hit "Sanford and Son," the #2 rated show for the season. Kodiak was cancelled after the first episode, although a total of four episodes were aired.
BAKER'S HAWK is about a young boy (Lee H. Montgomery) who nurses an injured hawk back to health, and gains newfound courage and confidence on his own. Clint Walker plays the boy's father, "Dan Baker." Lyman D. Dayton produced and directed the film. Lex De Azevedo provided the film's unreleased score.
Distributor Doty-Dayton was a "four-wall" company that booked its films in rented theaters and kept all box-office receipts. Billing itself as a maker of "family films," Doty-Dayton used sophisticated marketing and advertising on a local level, working with Parent-Teachers Associations, the Boy Scouts of America, and other groups to promote its films.
Twenty years later, the U. S. Federal Trade Commission accused J. J. Dayton and Associates and Dayton Family Films of using BAKER'S HAWK and other Doty-Dayton films to misrepresent the company's film history to potential investors. The FTC also accused the companies of lying about Lyman Dayton's film awards, including the claim that BAKER'S HAWK won the Motion Pictures Association of America's award for best picture of 1977.
In THE WHITE BUFFALO, at the closing of 1874, a haunted, dying "Wild Bill Hickok" (Charles Bronson) teams up with a grieving "Crazy Horse" (Will Sampson) to hunt a murderous albino buffalo. Clint Walker played outlaw "Whistling Jack Kileen." J. Lee Thompson directed the 1977 film. John Barry's score was most recently released by Quartet in 2017.
Clint Walker's final lead role came in the 1977 Canadian-produced sci-fi film DEADLY HARVEST. Walker plays farmer "Grant Franklin," who struggles to keep food on the table, and regain his son (Gary Davies) who has joined a gang of marauding city-folk during the world's worst famine. Timothy Bond directed the film, which has an unreleased score by John Mills-Cockell.
Over the next two decades Clint Walker made an appearance in a television movie or did a guest shot on a series about every other year. Walker's final role came when he provided the voice of "Nick Nitro" in the 1998 action-adventure SMALL SOLDIERS. Joe Dante directed the film. Jerry Goldsmith's score was released by Varese Sarabande.
On 8 February 1960, Clint Walker received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1505 Vine Street, for his work in television.
Like many actors, Clint Walker will be known for a signature role--in his case the stoic western drifter Cheyenne Bodie. Throw in a smattering of other parts--in THE DIRTY DOZEN, THE NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY, YUMA--and you have a career worth remembering. So long, Clint. Thanks for being a stand-up guy.
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