The Missing Juror

Before Budd Boetticher helmed the westerns that were his signature, he spent his early years at Columbia learning his trade in small B-pictures, slight little programmers where economy was the rule. Here, he builds suspense through atmosphere and clever camera placement, making this outing more fun than a plot outline might suggest. Throw in the exceptional George Macready as a wrongfully convicted man on death row, pardoned in the nick of time (through the efforts of a whip-smart newsman named Keats, played by Jim Bannon), and you have the makings of an interesting crime drama. Newly remastered.

Jim Bannon, fresh from his radio success on I LOVE A MYSTERY, stars in this taut suspenser. The jurors of a celebrated murder case are being bumped off one by one. Now only six jurors are left, and one of them has disappeared, whereabouts unknown. Bannon must find the missing juror before the killer does. The cast includes Janis Carter (menaced) and George MacReady (menacing). THE MISSING JUROR was an excellent post-grad course for future "cult" director Bud Boetticher.