World War II hero turned baby-faced Hollywood cowboy Audie Murphy hides behind a little (very little) stubble to play a hired gun who wanders into town looking for a would-be assassin and wanders out the owner of a troubled ranch. Approached by a prissy gambler to scare tough old man Paul Kelly off his spread, he winds up winning cagey Kelly's property in a game of chance and leads a cattle drive through the high country while a gang of the gambler's mercenaries try to stop him. With more twists than your average Hollywood oater, a curiously shady cast of characters on both sides of the law, and gorgeous outdoor scenery, it's better than most of Universal's factory-produced Westerns. Chalk it up to producer Aaron Rosenberg, who put together some of Anthony Mann's and Budd Boetticher's best films for the studio, and director Nathan Juran (The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad). Tough-talking Murphy carries little menace no matter how much he grimaces, and love interest Susan Cabot tries hard to be tough but tender, to little avail. It's the taut (if abbreviated) action and swift pacing that make this picture ride. -Sean Axmaker.

The Most Dangerous Game is a classic, one of the first talkies to get pictures moving after five very static years following the birth of sound. The plot finds resourceful hero Joel McCrea and heroine Fay Wray being hunted on the island of the insane Zaroff (Leslie Banks). One of the grandfathers of the summer blockbuster, the film's setup has been reworked many times since, notably in John Woo's Hard Target (1993). By modern standards it's technically primitive, though still gripping stuff, complete with the jungle set built as a test run for King Kong (1933) and graced by Max Steiner's prototype of all Hollywood action scores. -Gary S. Dalkin.

Bing Crosby's company produced the first Walking Tall feature, which was based loosely on Southern sheriff Buford Pusser, a former wrestler who took on organized crime in his hometown. Joe Don Baker's formidable appearance and downhome persona helped sell the filmmakers' depiction of Pusser as an average American who stood up for justice, and Baker's performance and plenty of action helped make Walking Tall a major moneymaker in 1973. Pusser's big stick was handed to Bo Svenson for Walking Tall, Part II (1975), which followed his search for his wife's killers (she died in the first film). Svenson wasn't the only change-director Phil Karlson's no-nonsense style was replaced by veteran TV helmer Earl Bellamy's colorless approach, and American International Pictures took over distribution from the bankrupt Cinemation. Pusser himself, who had served as technical advisor on the first film, had also died in an explosion. Though audiences turned out in droves, the drop in quality was obvious. The addition of action specialist Jack Starrett (Race with the Devil) as director on Final Chapter: Walking Tall (1977) was initially promising, but the result was a tired retread of Pusser's previous adventures and, amusingly enough, the making of the first film. A short-lived series starring Svenson followed in 1981, but by then, the story had exhausted itself. A new theatrical version is reportedly in production. This three-disc set compiles the Walking Tall trilogy in a no-frills package that's more convenient than collectible. [+]

The largest computer gaming firm in the country, The Center, has just completed its latest and possibly greatest virtual reality game, "Pleasure. " A game that promises to push the limits of the player's mind to the extreme. Any thought, any experience, any sensation will be magnified into a surreal adventure beyond anything known to the public today. However, the original programmer has pushed the extremes past the breaking point by encrypting a deadly virus within the experience, causing the CEO of The Center to hire an assassin to "erase" all of the beta samples from existence. Being more specific, the CEO states that there is to be "no evidence. at all. " Unknown to Michael, an amateur computer hacker and gaming nut, he receives one of the samples and begins an adventure of a lifetime. Now, between the realms of reality and fantasy, he will explore passions beyond his wildest dreams, adventures far from reality and an ultimate experience that may just cost him ! his life. [+]