“Anthony Mann is a master at …
directing these cheapie films and making them look stylish.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A “B” thriller noted for its renown noir scene of the protagonist
getting worked over by a ruthless gang in their dark basement hideaway
while overhead a single light bulb swings back and forth from the force
of the beating. Anthony Mann is a master at directing these cheapie films
and making them look stylish. He gets the most out of this thin story because
of the complementary performances of Raymond Burr and Steve Brodie. Burr
makes for an excellent villain, while Brodie is refreshing as the innocent
hero on the run from both the cops and the criminal gang.
Married for only 4 months, independent trucker Steve Randall (Brodie)
brings his wife Anne (Audrey Long) flowers to celebrate how happy they
both are; but, while getting ready to celebrate that evening he receives
a work related call offering him a chance to make more than he normally
does for delivering merchandise. It turns out that Steve is being duped
by an acquaintance he knew from before he went into the army, and is forced
by them to deliver stolen merchandise. Somehow Steve manages to work the
blinking lights on the truck to get the attention of a passing policeman
in the warehouse area. But the cop is killed after wounding the beloved
brother of the gangleader, Walt Radak (Burr). The brother is captured and
convicted of murder, and he is sentenced to die in the electric chair.
Walt escaped with Steve still held hostage by the other gang members
(Steele, Frederick & Challee). Walt then administers that classical
noir beating of Steve as he tries to get him to go to the police and confess
he murdered the cop, which would thereby free his brother. When Steve refuses,
even after the beating, Walt blackmails him by saying he will hold his
wife hostage until he does.
Steve manages to elude the hoods and calls his pregnant wife, telling
her they have to get out of town immediately. Steve says that when he gets
her to safety in her aunt’s farm in Minnesota, he’ll go to the police.
But on the way to the farm, he tries to buy a car from a crooked used-car
dealer who cheats him out of his money. Steve ends up stealing the 1927
car, but it breaks down on the road and he is given a lift by the local
sheriff. When the sheriff discovers who they are and tries to arrest them,
his car goes accidently off the road and he loses consciousness. Steve
will flee with his wife and reach Aunt Klara’s farm. Steve then turns himself
over to homicide Lieutenant Ferrari (Jason Robards Sr.-Robard’s father).
Ferrari says he doesn’t believe him but lets him go to be the bait for
the rest of the gang, as he realizes they are after him.
Walt hires a sleazy private detective (Fowley) to find Steve, who
is followed by the cops to the farm and then back to Walt’s hideout. The
cops get into a shoot-out with the gang, severely wounding Walt. But the
gang escapes, and it’s now 5 months later and Walt’s brother is to be executed
at midnight. The climax comes as Walt nabs Steve and threatens to execute
him at midnight, just when his brother is scheduled to die.
Violence and desperation are the themes. They are both very real
themes, as the innocent couple is more afraid of what the ruthless gang
can do to them than afraid of the law. If examined closely there are many
holes in the story, but what works very effectively is how the film shows
that middle-class aspirations for the postwar period are tinged with cynicism.
It’s shown how there’s a sense of brutality that fills the everyday American
social scene. The paranoid couple feels the urgency to look out for themselves,
not trusting anyone else to help them. This feeling of hopelessness the
couple has, gives this film its classic noir look.
