Thursday, July 1, 2021 at 3:41:00 P.M. EDT
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night at 12:30 a.m. ET is Joseph Lerner’s Guilty Bystander (1950) with Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Mary Boland, J. Edward Bromberg, Kay Medford and Sam Levene.
Since this is Fourth of July Weekend, there is only one showing.
Film Noir Guide: “Scott stars as an alcoholic ex-cop eking out a living as a house dick at a seedy hotel owned by Boland.
“After his ex-wife (Emerson) comes to him for help in finding their missing child, Scott searches for his son, while struggling to stay on the wagon.
“His investigation leads him to a floozy (Medford) and a murderous gang of jewel thieves led by a hypochondriac gangster (Bromberg).
“Levene plays Scott’s former boss at the department.
“Noir veteran Scott is disappointing as the rum-dum ex-cop, and Boland, who was known for her comedic roles in the 1930s, is miscast as Scott’s spunky boss.” [N.S.: Maybe the producers should have cast Celeste Holm instead.]
David in TN: In his outro last week, Eddie Muller boasted how “grungy” Guilty Bystander is.
On Friday Night, TCM is showing “Neo-Noirs.” At 8 p.m. ET, Harper (1966), with Paul Newman and Lauren Bacall. Point Blank (1967) with Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson at 10:15 p.m., and Warning Shot (1967) with David Janssen and Ed Begley at Midnight ET.
Harper is kind of a 20 years on update of The Big Sleep. Paul Newman gives a characterization he had a patent on. Lauren Bacall plays her character in The Big Sleep 20 years later.
1 comment:
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:15 and 10 am ET is an Argentinian film, Los tallos amargos (1956),The Bitter Stems.
Eddie Muller's choices the last several months have in my opinion been not so hot. The plot for this is: A reporter and a Hungarian expatriate start a scheme.
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