How's James Arness?

I'm a sucker for William Holden. So much so that I even enjoyed watching the terribly dated and corny "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" recently. It's probably best remembered for its lush, Oscar-winning title song and the ridiculous casting of Jennifer Jones as a Eurasian doctor. Although I enjoyed every silly minute, I would never recommend the movie. I think only .2% of the population would enjoy seeing it these days and who knows if you're part of that tiny club.

Holden's "Stalag 17" is another story; I can endorse it whole-heartedly. Holden is an American officer being held in a German prison camp. The rest of the prisoners bind together to survive, but Holden's cynical Sergeant J.J. Sefton only mixes with the others when he's selling them contraband cigarettes and booze. Every time the guys hatch an escape plan, the Germans find out about it and shut down the operation. How Hitler's men do it? Well, there must be a mole among the prisoners and they decide to, as George Bush would say, smoke 'em out.

Billy Wilder blends action, black humor and suspense perfectly. The movie does feel dated mainly due to the slapstick asides provided by Harvey Lembeck and Robert Strauss; they pull out all the Borsht Belt stops and it just doesn't fit in well in a prison camp (but don't tell that to Bob Crane, Richard Dawson and friends.)

Look out for local boy Peter Graves in his first big role. Graves and his brother, Gunsmoke's James Arness, got started as radio announcers in Minneapolis. Graves went on to a darn busy career. After more war movies and westerns, he starred in "Mission Impossible," "Airplane" and most recently in "House" and "7th Heaven." He's 80 years old this year and still working. His brother James doesn't work as often, but the former Sheriff of Dodge City does have a blog. He only updates it every few months, but still the octogenarian has a blog.