By David in TN
friday, march 29, 2024 at 9:50:00 p.m. edt
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday (Tonight) Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 and 10 a.m. ET is Richard Quine’s Pushover (1954) with Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak, Phil Carey, Dorothy Malone, E.G. Marshall and Paul Richards.
Film Noir Guide: “MacMurray plays a good cop gone bad over a gorgeous dame and a case full of money. As part of an undercover operation to catch Novak’s bank robber boyfriend (Richards), MacMurray romances her while he and partner Carey spy on her with binoculars and tape her phone conversations, hoping that Richards will show up with the 250 Gs from a recent bank heist. Although Novak discovers his deception, she realizes that she loves him anyway and tempts him with a plan to kill Richards and run off with the dough.”
“At first, he’s repulsed, but later agrees to her plan, which, of course, immediately goes awry. Watching MacMurray’s world crumble around him might arouse some viewer sympathy and a secret hope that he’ll get away with it, but this has happened to too many film noir characters too many times to expect a different outcome now (to MacMurray himself in Double Indemnity and to Charles McGraw in Roadblock, among others).”
“Malone plays Novak’s next-door neighbor, a nurse whom the lecherous Carey has been admiring from afar with his binoculars. Marshall, who went on to star in the highly successful 1960s TV series The Defenders, has a small role as MacMurray’s boss.”
“This is a fast-moving, nicely acted film, a worthy addition to the bad cop theme so prevalent in film noir.”
David in TN: This is another one that’s been on Noir Alley before. A good example of the “sap falls for the wrong woman leading to his destruction” trope.
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 a.m. ET is Jack Bernhard's Violence (1947) with Michael O'Shea, Nancy Coleman, Sheldon Leonard, Peter Whitney, Emory Parnell.
ReplyDeleteFilm Noir Guide: "Special agent O'Shea and reporter Coleman go undercover to expose a shady veteran's organization that has been duping ex-G.I.s into committing acts of violence by 'priming them with hate.'"
"Funded by a mysterious 'Mr. X,' the ring (headed by Parnell, Leonard, and Whitney) promises vets better housing conditions, relief from shortages and good jobs if they'll only join the organization and follow orders. It's slow going but there's an interesting gimmick that might keep the viewer interested--investigative reporter Coleman develops amnesia and gets caught up in the ring's propaganda."
David In TN: I've never seen it. Made by Monogram. Let's see if Red Eddie Muller will claim it relates to today.