George Sherman

Biography

Born in New York City, George Sherman began in the movie business as an assistant director, and by 1937 had moved into the director's chair (with Wild Horse Rodeo, specializing in B-westerns including the Three Mesquiteers series starring a young John Wayne. From 1938 thru 1944 he worked at Republic Pictures, specializing in westerns with occasional side-trips into horror (The Lady and the Monster, [1944], the first adaptation of the novel Donovan's Brain) and suspense (The London Blackout Murders [1942]), and became an associate producer of his own movies as well. He worked at Columbia from 1945 thru 1948, and at Universal from 1948 thru 1956, moving into more respectably budgeted movies, and even with the decline of the B-movie Sherman kept working at Columbia, Fox, United Artists, and Warner Bros. into the mid '60s. His most interesting movie was Sword in the Desert (1949), a somewhat low budget precursor to Exodus about Jewish refugees struggling to enter Palestine despite the British embargo, which was unusual subject matter in its time. But Sherman's best movie was the thriller Target Unknown (1951), which put a fresh twist on the story of Allied aviators shot down behind enemy lines -- brought to a special German compound, they accidentally reveal small details, and enough clues to prepare the Germans for the time and place of their unit's next air raid, which even the fliers themselves were aware of; realizing what they've done, three of the men sacrifice themselves to redirect the mission. His last film, the sprawling, violent action western Big Jake (1971), starring his former B-movie leading man John Wayne, was easily the biggest-budgeted and most visible film of Sherman's career. Filmography Red River Range (1938) Santa Fe Stampede (1938) Rhythm of the Saddle (1938) Overland Stage Raiders (1938) Pals of the Saddle (1938) Heroes of the Hills (1938) Riders of the Black Hills (1938) Outlaws of Sonora (1938) The Purple Vigilantes (1938) Three Texas Steers (1939) Wyoming Outlaw (1939) Mexicali Rose (1939) Colorado Sunset (1939) Rovin' Tumbleweeds (1939) The Night Riders (1939) South of the Border (1939) New Frontier (1939) aka Frontier Horizon Ghost Valley Rangers (1940) Lone Star Raiders (1940) Texas Terrors (1940) The Trail Blazers (1940) Under Texas Skies (1940) The Tulsa Kid (1940) One Man's Law (1940) Rocky Mountain Rangers (1940) Covered Wagon Days (1940) Two Gun Sheriff (1940) A Missouri Outlaw (1941) Death Valley Outlaws (1941) The Apache Kid (1941) Citadel of Crime (1941) Kansas Cyclone (1941) Desert Bandit (1941) The Phantom Cowboy (1941) Wyoming Wildcat (1941) X Marks the Spot (1942) The Sombrero Kid (1942) The Cyclone Kid (1942) Jesse James, Jr. (1942) aka Sundown Fury Stagecoach Express (1942) Arizona Terrors (1942) Mystery Broadcast (1943) A Scream in the Dark (1943) West Side Kid (1943) False Faces (1943) aka The Attorney's Dilemma (UK) Mantrap (1943) The Purple V (1943) London Blackout Murders (1943) aka Secret Motive Storm Over Lisbon (1944) The Lady and the Monster (1944) The Crime Doctor's Courage (1945) Personality Kid (1946) Renegades (1946) Talk About a Lady (1946) The Gentleman Misbehaves (1946) The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) The Secret of the Whistler (1946) Last of the Redmen (1947) Larceny (1948) Feudin', Fussin', and a Fightin (1948) River Lady (film) (1948) Black Bart (1948) Relentless (1948) Sword in the Desert (1949) Yes Sir That's My Baby (1949) Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949) Red Canyon (1949) Comanche Territory (1950) The Sleeping City (1950) Spy Hunt (1950) Tomahawk (1951) Target Unknown (1951) The Golden Horde (1951) The Raging Tide (1951) Against All Flags (1952) The Battle at Apache Pass (1952) Steel Town (1952) Back at the Front (1952) War Arrow (1953) The Veils of Bagdad (1953) The Lone Hand (1953) Johnny Dark (1954) Dawn at Socorro (1954) Border River (1954) The Treasure of Pancho Villa (1955) Count Three and Pray (1955) Chief Crazy Horse (1955) Reprisal! (1956) Comanche (1956) The Hard Man (1957) The Last of the Fast Guns (1958) Ten Days to Tulara (1958) The Son of Robin Hood (1959) The Flying Fontaines (1959) The Wizard of Baghdad (1960) The Enemy General (1960) Hell Bent for Leather (1960) For the Love of Mike (1960) The Fiercest Heart (1961) Panic Button (1962) Busqueme a Esa Chica (1964) Murieta (1965) Smoky (1966) Hello Down There (1969) Big Jake (1971)