Jack Starrett

Directing

Jack Starrett

Born 1936-11-02 · Refugio, Texas, USA

Jack Starrett (November 2, 1936 – March 27, 1989) was an American actor and film director. He is credited as Claude Ennis Starrett, Jr. in some of his films. Starrett is perhaps best known for his role as Gabby Johnson, a parody of Gabby Hayes, in the 1974 classic parody film Blazing Saddles and is also known for his role as the brutal deputy Galt in the 1982 action film First Blood. He also played the cruel foreman Swick in The River. Starrett was often typecast as a tough-talking police officer and played essentially the same character in a trio of biker films: The Born Losers (the film that introduced Billy Jack), Hells Angels on Wheels (both from 1967), and Angels from Hell (1968). He acted in another biker film, Hell's Bloody Devils (1970), and directed two more: Run, Angel, Run in 1969 and Nam's Angels (1970). Description above from the Wikipedia article Jack Starrett, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

First Blood poster
7.5

When former Green Beret John Rambo is harassed by local law enforcement and arrested for vagrancy, he is forced to flee into the mountains and wage an escalating one-man war against his pursuers.

First Blood

1982

Blazing Saddles poster
7.2

Crafty railroad worker Bart becomes the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the citizens of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new protector. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend Jim are their only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population.

Blazing Saddles

1974

Grizzly II: Revenge poster
3.1

All hell breaks loose when a giant grizzly, reacting to the slaughter of her cubs by poachers, attacks a massive rock concert in the National Park. [This sequel to "Grizzly" (1976) was left unfinished after production wrapped prematurely in 1983, and was not officially released until 2020, though a bootleg workprint version had been in circulation for some years prior to this.]

Grizzly II: Revenge

2020

The River poster
6.4

Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.

The River

1984

The Born Losers poster
6.5

A biker gang incites a reign of terror in a California coastal town that culminates in four teenage girls being raped. Vietnam veteran Billy Jack has had enough, however, and takes on the depraved bikers single-handedly. He rescues young Vicky Barrington from their clutches, but then has to contend with not only the thugs, but also the ineffectual and racist local lawmen, who have it out for the half-Native American Billy.

The Born Losers

1967

Race with the Devil poster
6.4

Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.

Race with the Devil

1975

The Rose poster
6.7

Rock-and-roll singer Mary Rose Foster's romantic relationships and mental health are continuously imperilled by the demands of life on the road.

The Rose

1979

Nightwish poster
4.7

A professor and four graduate students journey to a crumbling mansion to investigate paranormal activity and must battle ghosts, aliens and satanic entities.

Nightwish

1989

Hells Angels on Wheels poster
5.2

At first gas station attendant Poet is happy when the rockers gang “Hell’s Angels” finally accepts him. But he’s shocked when he learns how brutal they are – not even murder is a taboo to them. He gets himself in trouble when the leader’s girlfriend falls in love with him – and he welcomes her approaches.

Hells Angels on Wheels

1967

The Losers poster
4.8

Some bikers are hired by the CIA during the Vietnam War to rescue a captured agent from the clutches of the Red Chinese army. After a round of drinking, fighting, and whoring around, the cycle gang, led by Big Bill Smith, fix up their Yamahas with machine guns, grenades and armor plating, and storm the enemy camp.

The Losers

1970

Kid Blue poster
7.0

Bickford Waner, an apparently naive young man from Fort Worth, arrives in the tiny Texas town of Dime Box and takes on a variety of menial jobs. He's befriended by Reese Ford and his wife Molly, but before long Molly has seduced Bickford. Only with the arrival of Bickford's former girlfriend Janet Conforto is it revealed that Bickford is actually the notorious train robber Kid Blue. Humiliated by a scandal arising from his affair with his friend's wife, Bickford gives up on going straight and plots a crime.

Kid Blue

1973

The Gay Deceivers poster
5.4

Two men try to avoid military service by pretending to be gay, but they must act the part when the recruiting officer doesn't buy it.

The Gay Deceivers

1969

Hollywood Heartbreak poster
5.5

A wannabe writer who's just moved to Hollywood tries to pitch his script idea to various producers who won't give him the time of day.

Hollywood Heartbreak

1988

Brothers in Arms poster
4.7

Two brothers on a hike in the woods, one of them with a hidden motive, get in trouble with hillbillies, when they save a girl from rape.

Brothers in Arms

1988

A Small Town in Texas poster
4.7

A crooked sheriff in a small Southern town frames an ex-convict in a drug bust and takes his girlfriend.

A Small Town in Texas

1976

The Dion Brothers poster
5.5

Two rural West Virginia brothers leave home, rob an armored car and become fugitives.

The Dion Brothers

1974

Nowhere to Hide poster
7.5

A special unit of the U.S. Marshal's Service is assigned to protect a syndicate hitman who is to testify against his former bosses, who have put out a contract on his life.

Nowhere to Hide

1977

The Making of 'First Blood' poster
6.0

This documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "First Blood", the film about a Vietnam veteran pushed too far that started the Rambo series of the 1980's. Includes interviews with stars Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy, as well as other members of the cast and crew, who talk about the effort that went into making the finished film.

The Making of 'First Blood'

1982

Hell's Bloody Devils poster
4.2

Bikers, Nazis, Mafiosi, and the FBI all clash in this wild and wooly exploitation picture from director Al Adamson. Mark Adams (John Gabriel) is an FBI agent who has been assigned to infiltrate an organized crime ring that has obtained a set of printing plates that will allow them to produce nearly perfect counterfeit 20-dollar bills. The plates were made in Germany during World War II, and were discovered by a radical right-wing group hoping to restore the Nazi Party to power. The American gangsters are in cahoots with a group of wealthy American neo-Nazis sympathetic to the new German cause, led by fugitive war criminal Count von Delberg (Kent Taylor); the count has in turn recruited a vicious motorcycle gang, the Bloody Devils, to do his dirty work.

Hell's Bloody Devils

1970

Death Chase poster
3.7

After a man's sister is killed by two gunmen who seemingly come out of nowhere, he manages to find and kill them. He then discovers that the men he killed were part of a multi-millionaire's bizarre "death game", where someone is hunted through the streets of Los Angeles by teams of killers who get a big-money prize for killing their quarry--and he realizes that now he is "it".

Death Chase

1988

Cry Blood Apache poster
2.5

Telling the story of his early life in flashback, a former prospector (Joel McCrea, with flashback sequences featuring son Jody) explains his brutal massacre of a tribe of Indians. The only survivor (Marie Gahua) agrees to lead him to a secret gold mine.

Cry Blood Apache

1970

The Girls from Thunder Strip poster
4.0

A vicious gang of murderous bikers goes up against a trio of beautiful bootlegging sisters.

The Girls from Thunder Strip

1970

Family Reunion poster
5.7

Tom Andrews, his wife Kathy, their two children & Tom's Father Henry are all driving to a town called Silversprings on Christmas Eve to visit relatives. On the way, they decide to stop at a ghost town called Sutterville which by a strange coincidence Tom has had nightmares about every year around Christmas for his whole life. Tom's father is wary & begs them not to go; however Tom's car develops a mind of it's own & takes them there only to break down so that they can't leave. Meanwhile a man arrested for vagrancy by local police is identified as Clarence McCoughlin who supposedly died in Sutterville 40 years ago, not to mention he seems to have some sort of demonic power. As the Andrews family explore the town a feeling of unease starts to takeover, Clarence escapes jail & heads back to Sutterville for a sinister family reunion...

Family Reunion

1989

Angels from Hell poster
4.5

Mike, a biker, returns to California after serving in Vietnam. He uses his war-hero experience to organize a new, united super outlaw gang. When one member is shot by police because he killed a girl at a pot orgy, an all-out cop vs. biker war results.

Angels from Hell

1968

Behind the camera

Cleopatra Jones poster
5.7

After federal agent Cleopatra Jones orders the burning of a Turkish poppy field, the notorious drug lord Mommy vows to destroy her.

Cleopatra Jones

1973

Race with the Devil poster
6.4

Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual.

Race with the Devil

1975

Final Chapter: Walking Tall poster
5.4

It's the final chapter in this chilling, real-life story of Sheriff Buford Pusser, a good-hearted lawman set on keeping his town safe. Still distraught over his wife's death, he blows up every moonshine still in McNairy county and burns the brothels and whiskey joints to the ground. Having gone too far, he's voted out of office, but that doesn't stop the mob from seeking their revenge. Buford soon discovers how small his town is when he runs out of highway with the mob on his trail.

Final Chapter: Walking Tall

1977

Slaughter poster
5.6

Slaughter, a former Green Beret, avenges the killing of loved ones by the Mob, and after being blackmailed by the feds, is forced to head to South America to finish the mobsters off.

Slaughter

1972

The Losers poster
4.8

Some bikers are hired by the CIA during the Vietnam War to rescue a captured agent from the clutches of the Red Chinese army. After a round of drinking, fighting, and whoring around, the cycle gang, led by Big Bill Smith, fix up their Yamahas with machine guns, grenades and armor plating, and storm the enemy camp.

The Losers

1970

Treachery and Greed on the Planet of the Apes poster
7.3

The fugitives Burke, Virdon and Galen try to save the life of a human blacksmith and his son, whom gorilla leader Urko has threatened with death should his horse lose another race. The trio also attempt to expose a crooked gorilla by framing him in a plot to kill Urko. [The third of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "The Horse Race" and "The Tyrant"]

Treachery and Greed on the Planet of the Apes

1980

Hollywood Man poster
4.9

A film crew struggles to finish a motorcycle-stunt epic despite repeated threats of sabotage from the mob.

Hollywood Man

1976

Roger & Harry: The Mitera Target poster
3.7

A millionaire hires a pair of private investigators, who specialize in recovering lost and stolen objects, to find his daughter, who has apparently been smuggled out of the country.

Roger & Harry: The Mitera Target

1977

The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie poster
5.4

A traveling salesman is lured by a precocious teenage girl to her shack in the desert for some sexual escapades. However, a scuzzy biker comes along and they both find themselves dominated and tormented by him.

The Strange Vengeance of Rosalie

1972

Kiss My Grits poster
4.7

A man heads for Mexico with a mobster's girlfriend.

Kiss My Grits

1982

Thaddeus Rose and Eddie poster
9.0

The adventures of two good old boys from Texas, no-account buddies who are finally forced to face reality for themselves and for their girlfriends.

Thaddeus Rose and Eddie

1978

Run, Angel, Run! poster
4.2

Angel (William Smith), an outlaw biker, sells out his gang by exposing their wild conquests to Like magazine for $10,000. With his photo on the cover, Angel skips town and tries to start over with help from sheep rancher Dan Felton (Dan Kemp). An ex-motorcycle enthusiast, Dan becomes a mentor to Angel, giving him hope for a peaceful future. But Angel must put hope aside when members of his former gang viciously attack Dan's teenage daughter.

Run, Angel, Run!

1969

A Small Town in Texas poster
4.7

A crooked sheriff in a small Southern town frames an ex-convict in a drug bust and takes his girlfriend.

A Small Town in Texas

1976

Big Bob Johnson and His Fantastic Speed Circus poster
6.0

A stunt car racing team gets involved in a madcap cross-country auto race that is supposed to determine the disposition of a family fortune.

Big Bob Johnson and His Fantastic Speed Circus

1978

The Dion Brothers poster
5.5

Two rural West Virginia brothers leave home, rob an armored car and become fugitives.

The Dion Brothers

1974

Nowhere to Hide poster
7.5

A special unit of the U.S. Marshal's Service is assigned to protect a syndicate hitman who is to testify against his former bosses, who have put out a contract on his life.

Nowhere to Hide

1977

The Survival of Dana poster
9.0

High school student Dana moves to the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles after her North Dakota parents get divorced and falls in with the wrong crowd.

The Survival of Dana

1979

Night Chase poster
5.9

A man fleeing the scene after shooting his wife's lover forms an unexpected relationship with the tough cab driver he hires to drive him to the Mexican border.

Night Chase

1970

Cry Blood Apache poster
2.5

Telling the story of his early life in flashback, a former prospector (Joel McCrea, with flashback sequences featuring son Jody) explains his brutal massacre of a tribe of Indians. The only survivor (Marie Gahua) agrees to lead him to a secret gold mine.

Cry Blood Apache

1970

No artwork available
NR

A Film Produced By Richard Compton.

House of Zodiac

1969