By David in TN
friday, july 5, 2024 at 9:46:00 p.m. edt
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:15 and 10 a.m. ET is Richard Fleischer’s Armored Car Robbery (1950), with Charles McGraw, William Tallman, Adele Jergens, Steve Brodie, Don McGuire, Douglas Fowley and Gene Evans.
Film Noir Guide: “McGraw and Talman give standout performances in this early heist noir, which was released the same day as its more famous noir cousin, The Asphalt Jungle. Talman, a vicious killer, is the brains behind the planned heist of an armored car during its stop at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.” (David in TN: WRONG! In 1950, there was a Wrigley Field baseball park in L.A. for its then minor league team.) Fowley, Brodie, and Evans are his accomplices.”
“Things go wrong (as they invariably do in a noir heist), and one of the gang is wounded in a shoot-out with police detective McGraw and his partner, who is killed by Talman. The robbers get away, but there’s more dissension over the split and (surprise!) Talman winds up with all of the dough. In an attempt to trap the cop-killer, McGraw and his new partner (McGuire) stake out Fowley’s stripper wife (Jergens), who is also Talman’s lover. A guaranteed no-snoozer.”
David in TN: Another one on Noir Alley before. Richard Fleischer packs a lot of action in 67 minutes.
N.S.: As David has noted more than once, Richard Fleischer made excellent crime pictures. He also helmed the s-f classic, Soylent Green.
"...helmed the sf classic, "Soylent Green"... And two that are a Hell of a lot better, 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and FANTASTIC VOYAGE (One of the rare movies that takes place in real time!). And some other great movies like THE BOSTON STRANGLER and COMPULSION (a propaganda piece, but brilliantly done). Very under-rated director, though he had some notorious flops in the 60's (DR. DOLITTLE and CHE!). His autobiography is worth reading, especially for the hilarious account of the endless making of HIS KIND OF WOMAN for the lunatic Howard Hughes.
ReplyDelete-RM
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Robert Stevenson's The Woman on Pier 13 with Robert Ryan, Laraine Day, Janis Carter, John Agar, Thomas Gomez, William Talman.
ReplyDeleteFilm Noir Guide: "Ryan, the newly married vice-president of a shipping company has a secret past: As a young member of the Communist Party, he killed a man during a Party-agitated riot. Unfortunately for him, Commies Gomez and Carter (Ryan's former lover) want him back now that he holds such an influential position. They blackmail him into sabotaging labor negotiations with the longshoreman's union, forcing a strike."
"Ryan's bride (Day) is in the dark about his tainted past and is justifiably confused by his violent mood swings. Her impressionable brother (Agar) falls in love with Commie temptress Carter and begins spouting Party propaganda at union meetings. Carnival worker Talman doubles as a contract killer for the Party."
"Also known as I Married a Communist, this standard Red hysteria film was produced by billionaire Howard Hughes (see Hughes' other Red films I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. and The Whip Hand. Carter is enjoyable as the Party's femme fatale."
David In TN: Well, what you can expect from Film Noir Guide. We'll see what Red Eddie Muller does with this one. Years ago the late Robert Osborne showed it in prime time and blasted it with the usual epithets--"Paranoia," "Witch Hunts," "Failed at the box office," etc.
Robert Ryan was, as you said, a "crypto-communist," whom Eddie will slobber over. Laraine Day was a conservative Republican, very anti-Communist. We'll see what Red Eddie sys about her.
On Sunday night, TCM shows a Robert Siodmak double bill, starting at 8 p.m. ET, The Killers (1946) and Criss Cross (1949). Burt Lancaster gives a similar characterization in both.