Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films. He was perhaps most noted for his portrayal of the "gunsel" Wilmer, who tries to intimidate... Read full bio →
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Movie Madness
A parody of film genres composed of three shorts, spoofing personal growth films, glossy soap operas, and police stories.
Tom Horn
A renowned former army scout is hired by ranchers to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy when he carries out his job too well. Tom Horn finds that the simple skills he knows are of no help in dealing with the ambitions of ranchers and corrupt officials as progress marches over him and the old west.
Carny
Tired of being a small-town waitress, Donna departs with the latest carnival show, living with entertainers Frankie and Patch in a tense, emotional triangle.
The Champ
The most poignant love-triangle of all - a father, his son, and the woman who came between them
Salem's Lot
Vampires are invading a small New England town. It's up to a novelist and a young horror fan to save it.
1941
In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.
St. Ives
Abner Procane, top L.A. burglar, finds that somebody stole his plans for next ambitious heist. He hires Raymond St. Ives, crime books writer, to negotiate the return of those documents.
The Phantom of Hollywood
World-renowned Worldwide Studios (modeled after MGM) has hit hard times and is forced to sell its back lot to Hollywood property developers. The trouble is someone keeps killing off the site surveyors, leaving studio heads in a quandary.
The Outfit
A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death in this drama based on a novel by Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake). Earl Macklin (Robert Duvall) is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
An aging Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons--his sole purpose being to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.
Messiah of Evil
A young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious undead cult.
Emperor of the North Pole
Hobos encounter a sadistical railway conductor that will not let anyone "ride the rails" for free.
Electra Glide in Blue
A short Arizona motorcycle cop gets his wish and is promoted to Homicide following the mysterious murder of a hermit. He is forced to confront his illusions about himself and those around him in order to solve the case, eventually returning to solitude in the desert.
The Scarecrow
Just before the Salem Witch Trials, an embittered old woman, who has learned witchcraft, teams up with the Devil, and brings a scarecrow to life as part of her diabolical revenge on the judge who was once her lover.
The Night Stalker
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he's crazy and the police think he's a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
The gangs of Jesse James and Cole Younger join forces for a bungled robbery of the bank in Northfield, MN.
Blacula
An 18th century African prince is turned into a vampire while visiting Transylvania. Two centuries later, he rises from his coffin attacking various residents of Los Angeles and meets Tina, a woman who he believes is the reincarnation of his deceased wife.
The Movie Orgy
A montage of 1950s B-movies, TV shows & vintage commercials create a nostalgic collage about aliens & monsters attacking America.
Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary’s Baby is a classic physiological horror film from Roman Polanski about a young couple who move into a New York apartment to start a family and have a baby. Things soon turn ugly as Rosemary believes her baby isn’t safe around their strange neighbors.
The Spy in the Green Hat
"Spy in the Green Hat, The (1966)" on the other hand, is both exciting AND funny. Especially the scene where Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) hides from THRUSH agents under a young woman's (the incredibly cute Letícia Román) bed and is caught by the woman's grandmother (Penny Santon), who is forcing Solo to marry the young woman.
The Haunted Palace
A warlock burned at the stake comes back and takes over the body of his great grandson to take his revenge on the descendents of the villages that burned him.
Papa's Delicate Condition
A jolly, family-oriented railroad superintendent tries to get his act together when his love for the bottle starts to alienate him from his wife and oldest daughter. His younger daughter, however, still remains unflinchingly loyal to him, and they share many fun misadventures over the course of the movie.
Johnny Cool
A deported gangster trains an Italian convict to take over his operations in the U.S.
One-Eyed Jacks
Running from the law after a bank robbery in Mexico, Dad Longworth finds an opportunity to take the stolen gold and leave his partner Rio to be captured. Years later, Rio escapes from the prison where he has been since, and hunts down Dad for revenge. Dad is now a respectable sheriff in California, and has been living in fear of Rio's return.
House on Haunted Hill
Frederick Loren invites five strangers to the party of a lifetime and offers each of them $10,000 if they can stay the night in the reportedly haunted house. Armed with a gun for protection, each guest arrives in a hearse and will either leave in it much richer…Or dead.
Voodoo Island
A wealthy industrialist hires the renowned hoax-buster Phillip Knight to prove that an island he plans to develop isn't voodoo cursed. However, arriving on the island, Knight soon realizes that voodoo does exist when he discovers man-eating plants and a tribe of natives with bizarre powers.
Plunder Road
A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.
Chicago Confidential
In the Windy City, the mob infiltrates a powerful union.
Baby Face Nelson
Famed Depression-era gangster “Baby Face Nelson” robs and kills while accompanied by his beautiful moll.
The Killing
The Killing was Stanley Kubrick’s first film with a professional cast and the first time he achieved public recognition as the unconventional director he’s now know for. The story is of ex-prisoners who plan to set up a racetrack so they can live a life without monetary worries. One of the more exceptional films of the 1950’s.
Accused of Murder
A police detective finds himself entangled in the web of the underworld when he falls in love with a nightclub singer accused of murdering a crooked lawyer.
Trial
A Mexican boy accused of rape and murder becomes a pawn for Communists and red-baiters. A courtroom drama set in 1947 and underlying post-WW2 acute problems facing the USA such as stormy race relations and the growing threat of local communism.
The Indian Fighter
A scout leading a wagon train through hostile Indian country unwittingly gets involved with a Sioux chief's daughter
Superman's Peril
Compilation of 3 episodes of "The Adventures of Superman" tv series: episode #47 ("The Golden Vulture"), #44 ("The Semi-Private Eye"), and #32 ("The Defeat of Superman").
Drum Beat
In 1872, Indian fighter Johnny MacKay is appointed peace commissioner for the California and Oregon territory but he faces tough opposition from the renegade Modocs led by their chief Captain Jack.
Shane
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
I, the Jury
After his best friend and war buddy is mysteriously gunned down, Mike Hammer will stop at nothing to settle the score for the man who sacrificed a limb to save his own life during combat. Along the way, Hammer rides a fine line between gumshoe and a one-man jury, staying two-steps ahead of the law—and trying not to get bumped off in the process.
Don't Bother to Knock
An airline pilot pursues a live-in babysitter at his hotel and gradually realizes she is not as stable as perhaps she should be.
Behave Yourself!
Bill Denny has no idea that the cute Welsh terrier who has followed him home is sought by all of gangland. Who will be bumbling Bill's undoing--the gangsters, the cops, or his suspicious mother-in-law?
The Great Gatsby
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifetyle of his landlord, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
Flaxy Martin
Attorney Walter Colby has ties to the mob, but he begins to regret his criminal affiliations. When his girlfriend, showgirl Flaxy Martin, who also has shady connections, becomes a suspect in a murder, Walter takes the fall. However, on his way to prison, he escapes, determined to bring the real killer to justice.
The Long Night
City police surround a building attempting to capture a suspected murder. The suspect knows there is no escape but refuses to give in.
The Gangster
Based on the novel Low Company. One of the most peculiar film noirs of the 1940s stars Barry Sullivan as a small-time hood who suffers a mental breakdown as his big plans begin to crumble. Beautiful Belita is the slumming society girlfriend who only fuels his paranoia.
Fall Guy
A drugged man covered in blood is picked up by police. Before the cops can get answers the man escapes in search of answers to the mystery himself.
Born to Kill
Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) has just received a Reno divorce. That night, she discovers one of her neighbors, Laury Palmer, and a gentleman caller murdered in Palmer's home. The killer is her neighbor's other boyfriend, Sam Wilde (Lawrence Tierney), an insanely jealous man who won't abide anyone "cutting in" on him.
Two Smart People
A con woman (Lucille Ball) and a detective (Lloyd Nolan) follow a prison-bound swindler (John Hodiak) on his five-day gourmet binge.
The Falcon's Alibi
A wealthy woman's secretary, fearing that she will be blamed if her employer's jewelry is stolen, hires the Falcon as guardian. The Falcon is blamed when the jewels are stolen and murders ensue.
The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep is a film noir based on the novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler. Directed by Howard Hawks and starring Humphrey Boogart and Lauren Becall.
Joe Palooka, Champ
Manager Knobby Walsh discovers young hunk Joe Palooka and trains him to fight the champ. Mobsters try to make life tough for Joe and his socialite girlfriend Anne. Cameos by several boxing stars.
Dillinger
The life of American public enemy number one who was shot by the police in 1934.
Phantom Lady
A mystery woman is a murder suspect's only alibi for the night of his wife's death. Based on a story by noir scribe Cornell Woolrich.
Dark Waters
Leslie Calvin, the sole survivor of a submarine accident, goes to her relatives in order to recover emotionally. Unfortunately she encounters various scam artists led by Mr. Sydney who intend to kill her and steal the family assets. Dr. George Grover helps Leslie to defeat Sydney.
Dark Mountain
A woman doesn't realize that the man she has just married is a gangster. When she is implicated in a murder he committed, she turns to an ex-boyfriend, who is now a park ranger, for help. He hides her out in a cabin up in the mountains, and her husband goes on the hunt for both of them.
A-Haunting We Will Go
Stan and Ollie get involved with con men, crooks, a genial magician, and two interchangeable coffins with disastrous but funny results.
The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon is a mystery thriller detective film from John Huston starring Humphrey Bogart. The film is regarded as a landmark in the film-noir movement.
Sergeant York
Alvin York a hillbilly sharpshooter transforms himself from ruffian to religious pacifist. He is then called to serve his country and despite deep religious and moral objections to fighting becomes one of the most celebrated American heroes of WWI.
Love Crazy
William Powell and Myrna Loy are a couple whose marriage is on the verge of being broken up by his old girlfriend and her disapproving mother.
I Wake Up Screaming
A young promoter (Mature) is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn (Landis), a young actress he "discovered" as a waitress while out with ex-actor Robin Ray and gossip columnist Larry Evans.
Hellzapoppin'
Olsen and Johnson, a pair of stage comedians, try to turn their play into a movie and bring together a young couple in love, while breaking the fourth wall every step of the way.
Ball of Fire
A group of professors working on a new encyclopedia while residing in a Manhattan mansion take in a sassy nightclub singer who the police need to help them bring down her mob-boss lover.
Tin Pan Alley
Songwriters Calhoun and Harrigan get Katie and Lily Blane to introduce a new one. Lily goes to England, and Katy joins her after the boys give a new song to Nora Bayes. All are reunited when the boys, now in the army, show up in England.
Stranger on the Third Floor
Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
My Lucky Star
The son (Romero) of a department store owner enrolls the store's sports clerk (Henie) at a university to use her as an advertisement for their fashion department. She falls for a teacher (Greene) and gets expelled.
They Won't Forget
A southern town is rocked by scandal when teenager Mary Clay is murdered on Confederate Decoration Day. Andrew Griffin, a small-time lawyer with political ambitions, sees the crime as his ticket to the Senate if he can find the right victim to finger for the crime.
Love Is News
When a crafty reporter uses false pretenses to get a story out of heiress Tony Gateson, she turns the tables on him, telling the press that they are engaged. Suddenly he's front page news, every salesman is at his doorstep, and he loses his job.
Pigskin Parade
Married coaches Slug and Bessie find hillbilly football tosser Amos and the team gets invited to the Yale Bowl.
Honor Among Lovers
Jerry Stafford falls for his secretary, Julia Traynor, but instead she marries a shady character who causes trouble for both of them.