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ElMaruecan82
There was a time when "The Simpsons" were influencing Pop Culture. Now, it's Pop Culture influencing "The Simpsons"
I love movies that challenge my intelligence, please my eyes, and talk to my heart
Personal Top Lists:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur4234119/lists
IMDb Daily Poll Selection History :
Most classic one-word movie quote : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-02-27
Most classic "written" quote : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-04-02
Movie quote said in front of your mirror : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-04-15
Favorite cinematic 'Frank' : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-04-28
Most classic 'three-word' movie quote : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-05-25
Movie title best defining your life right now : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-06-09
"Morning" movie quote best defining your mood when you wake up : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-07-07
Most elaborated revenge scheme featured in a movie : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-08-09
Most iconic three-word movie quote (with a contraction): http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-09-17
Favorite pairing from the list of Best Actor nominated duos : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-10-11
Favorite female villain from the American Film Institute's list : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-10-16
Favorite Actress from the top 10 of AFI's "America's Greatest Legends": http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-11-09
Favorite Actor from the top 10 of AFI's "America's Greatest Legends": http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-11-10
Most classic 'two-word' movie quote : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-11-27
Movie genre matching your own resolution for 2010 : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2009-12-31
Favorite cinematic hero from a Best Picture Winner : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-01-05
Favorite gangster film from AFI's Top 10 : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-01-28
Favorite one-word TV catchphrase : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-03-06
Most memorable "walking" movie scene : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-03-14
Favorite TV Duo with names beginning with same initials : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-03-24
Favorite highest ranked movie by genre from AFI's Top 100 : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-03-25
Favorite iconic female movie quote from AFI's Top 100: http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-04-05
Favorite of Top 10 Voyeuristic movies: http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-04-16
TV show title best defining your life right now: http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-05-01
Favorite Harrison Ford movie nominated for Best Picture oscar: http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-05-04
Film icon most likely to win a staring contest: http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-05-15
Favorite gangster from one of AFI's Top 10 films: http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-06-01
Favorite movie set in a hotel (or motel): http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-06-03
Movie with the most claustrophobic feeling : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-07-01
Favorite "Flying" movie moment : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-07-05
Favorite cinematic pig : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-07-12
Favorite cinematic photographer : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-07-13
Favorite one-word Mystery film : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-07-19
Favorite TV-themed movie : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-08-04
Favorite actress with oscars nods in at least 4 decades : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-08-12
Favorite actor with oscar nods in at least 4 different decades : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-08-13
Favorite TV/movie cliffhanger quote : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-08-14
Most iconic TV item of clothing : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-08-25
Movie quote best defining Al Pacino : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-08-31
Favorite TV/Movie Butler : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-09-25
Favorite narrator from IMDb's Top 50 : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-09-27
Favorite TV large group of siblings : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-11-06
Most iconic four-word movie quote : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-11-15
Director most likely to direct a Best Picture winner first : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-11-26
Most enjoyed TV's opening credits sequence : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-12-01
Most memorable cinematic question : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-12-10
Most tiring ciliché movie profession : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-12-19
Most memorable child's movie quote : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-12-26
Favorite TV's male and female team : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2010-12-29
Favorite TV show that regularly broke the 4th Wall : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-01-05
Favorite TV's "acronym"-named character : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-01-08
Most memorable mystery from a TV series : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-02-02
Favorite 1960's tough-guy film : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-02-13
Best written film from Top 10 Favorite Screenplays : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-02-25
Favorite medical doctor from a non TV medical show : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-03-09
Favorite horror-themed TV series : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-03-11
Favorite classic sci-fi film released in 1982 : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-04-07
Favorite cinematic moving object : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-04-17
Most original cinematic deadly object : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-05-05
Favorite TV series with a titular setting : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-05-11
Most iconic TV gameshow cathcphrase : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-05-18
Favorite TV bespectacled character : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-05-25
Most deserving film-maker of a theme park : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-05-31
Favorite Western-themed TV series : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-06-08
Most iconic movie cop : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-06-17
Favorite Best Picture moment from Ebert's 100 greatest : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-06-21
Disney film that should be remade by David Lynch : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-06-28
Favorite oscar-winning Columbo "murderer" : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-06-29
Favorite 1999 existential film : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-07-01
Favorite TV show featuring puppetry : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-07-02
Favorite first performer to win Oscar twice in the same category : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-07-18
Favorite TV show aired during 11 seasons : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-07-20
TV kid best defining your childhood personality : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-07-23
Movies with the most nightmarish feel : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-07-25
Favorite character "good" or "bad" : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-08-14
Favorite TV character using a wheelchair : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-08-17
Favorite top ranked 70's one-word title film : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-08-30
Director that "owned" the 60's : http://www.imdb.com/poll/results/2011-09-01
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Which of these lines from Marty, QT, and many others, is the most memorable?
PS: it has to be a title sequence, not just a song featured in the beginning of the film.
PS: these criteria can overlap one or another, like it's possible to rank the movies by director and rank the directors alphabetically by name (Altman, Bertolucci, Chaplin...) or first name (Akira Kurosawa, Brian de Palma, Clint Eatwood) but the main parameter will remain the director.
So, which of Denzel Washington as Malcolm X (1992) or Edward Norton as Derek Vinyard in American History X (1998) gave the most unforgettable performance?
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Reviews
Dead Reckoning (1947)
Bogart is good, the rest is a collection of deja-vu feelings ...
"To Have and Have Not" was a déjà-vu of "Casablanca" with a novelty though, and not the least, it had Lauren Bacall in her first starring role. And she didn't just steal Bogart's thunder; she stole his heart too, revealing herself to be the perfect match for Bogie, in every meaning of the word and both on the screen and in real-life. The genuinely growing chemistry between them during the film was enough to cement the film's legend.
"The Big Sleep" was a déjà-vu of "The Maltese Falcon" and while it didn't have its colorful supporting cast (no Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre or Mary Astor) it did delightfully on the female casting department. Besides, as a Rubik-cube of plot complexity with one double-crossing, two lies and three false tracks by inches of celluloid that it was, it still had Bacall all the way. As long as she and Bogart ended up embracing, it was worth its ticket's price, the pop-corn box and the little spot in Hollywood's firmament.
Where am I going at with all these comparisons?
"Dead Reckoning" suffers from the same déjà-vu syndrome but without any redeeming quality. It only exists on the basis that the stuff film-noir was made on already worked, that all it took was to place Bogart in his tough-guy routine and let him go through it. Well, as much as I admire Bogart, he never did without partners, lovers or fitting antagonists. Here, he carries the film alone, and while it's always a pleasure to watch him as his typical lone rider with a soft spot for a female outcast, there has to be something new we remember the film from.
Take "Dark Passage" for instance, it had Bogart and Bacall, it was far from being a masterpiece, but it still had that Hitchcockian vibe sweating out of each frame, it had Agnes Moorehead and the memorable fact that Bogart's face isn't seen for two thirds of the movie.
This is where "Dead Reckoning" fails, it has everything to satisfy its audience, except the most important one: something to remember the film for. Granted its contrived plot was easier to follow than "The Big Sleep" but the investigation didn't have that punch-and-guts dynamite style, these brief flirtatious moments (like that slutty sister or that nymphomaniac librarian), it didn't have a sidekick, some comic-relief to drown our bitterness on, it had only Bogart and Lizabeth Scott. But while we care for Bogart, we never really care for Lizabeth Scott, who seems like a poor man's Lauren Bacall.
This is not to dismiss her talent or anything, she could pass as a fitting love interest to Bogie and I loved that beatnik fashion she was dressed in, in the last act, but there's an obviously intended physical resemblance to Babe, and it's so blatant it is distracting, you can't help but making comparisons : same blonde hair, same facial features, same husky voice although I hated her accent which made her sound like Kaa the Python. Sssssseeee what I mean? And the director John Cromwell didn't pull much effort to let her exist on another basis than being a Lauren Bacall's second choice.
Take the 1950 film, "In a Lonely Place", there was something that Gloria Grahame brought to the screen that only belonged to her, not even to Bacall, she had that dignified look but average beauty, that sadness and melancholy graved in her face, that lack of glamor and superficiality that could make her fall in love with a loner like Dixon Steele. But in "Dead Reckoning", Scott never quite makes it as a potential love interest for Bogie, because she's never given the choice. When she's not Bacall, she becomes Mary Astor-like villain inspiring a "you're good" rip-off (among many other stolen lines) but the tears in her eyes are as artificial as that goddamn rain scene at the end of the confession.
Speaking of it, what was the point of even making it a confession when the listener, a priest has nothing else to do than watching the hero disappear before raindrops start falling as if sky was urinating (the lousy effect of a garden hose) Nothing really makes senses from the beginning. Bogart investigates over his army-buddy's disappearance, but is the paratrooper or the taxi-cab owner who does it, in both cases, where did he achieve his Private-eye skills, why not making it a PI movie from the beginning? Never mind, Bogart is good, even very good, but is that enough when the supporting cast doesn't hold a candle to the heavyweights I mentioned, not even Elisha Cook Jr.
Morris Carnovsky as the mastermind Martinelli and Marvin Miller as Krause, deliver remarkable performances and it would be unfair to blame them, but I couldn't buy baby-faced Krause as a thug with sociopath impulses, if one thing, it was Bogart who seemed to bully him and we're almost glad when he gets it and Martinelli was just severely underused. But that wasn't even the problem; it's just that the casting didn't help elevating the movie higher than its timid level of entertainment. And I know there's something wrong in the film when I start talking about other movies, and seems like I broke a new record with this one.
Well, to conclude on a positive note, at least, there is Bogie, and he's good, but the rest is just an ersatz of all his previous films without something new to hang our hopes on.
They Made Me a Criminal (1939)
A great combination of natural 'acting' talents ... wasted by an improbable ending...
"They Made a Criminal" seems to be the product of a collective screen writing work, it's just as if each writer were assigned to prepare for a specific part of the film, and at the end they tried to reassemble the pieces with more or less of consistency. The result is that many things happen in the film, and most of them are less likely to happen. So much for a great deal of realism mostly conveyed by the performance of John Garfield and the 'Dead End' kids.
To give you an idea, the first twenty minutes of the film contains more twists and false tracks than the last twenty minutes of "Psycho", "The Usual Suspects" and "Fight Club" combined. It starts where Johnnie, a lightweight boxer (John Garfield) wins a shot to the title and publicly dedicates his victory to his mother, he passes for a sassy but in the following locker room scene, he confirms to the journalists that he doesn't care for women and booze. Next scene, he's having a good time with his gal, played by Ann Sheridan a few minutes later, he admits this 'mother' thing is just a publicity scam.
Bad luck, one of the guests is a reporter, bad luck for the reporter, while Johnnie misses him (too drunk), his manager hit him so badly, he collapses, dead. At that point, the title gives the first clues, obviously the manager will make it Johnnie's fault, with the help of Sheridan's character, they transport him to his house and agree to never reveal what they did (obviously). And just when you think it's a wrongly-accused-man story, the two dies in a car crash, even the top-billed Ann Sheridan, here go the only persons who could prove Johnnie's innocence. But wait a minute, you ain't read nothing yet, I'm not giving the film away, that's only the first 10 minutes.
The corpses are so burned they're unidentifiable, except that the manager took Johnnie's watch so, the Police think the body is his, so Johnnie's officially dead. He dies a criminal but nevertheless, it's still better than living in jail. His lawyer advises him to disappear, and to invent himself a new identity, to never fight anyone, let alone with his famous left punch (he's a southpaw) Phew! At that point of the film, we're allowed to catch our breath and enjoy a seemingly linear story. Although there's one that doesn't believe Johnny's death, he's played by Claude Rains, an odd choice for a private detective, but he makes a convincing Detective Phelan.
After traveling along America, Johnny ends up in a date ranch in the middle of Arizona belonging to an old lady (May Robson) taking care of some kids from a reformatory school and this is when John Garfield meets the Dead End kids. Good old buddies are still there, Leo Grocey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell and Billy Halop who -again- is the one with a sister, Peggy, played by Gloria Dickson, a gentle blonde actress I didn't recognize and for good reason, she prematurely died in 1942 in a tragic fire accident. There is also Bobby Jordan and an oddly underused Bernard Plunsy (I don"t think he ever says a word) The whole part with the 'Dead End' kids is the film's reason to be and to be appreciated, because John Garfield is one of the most natural actors of his generation, the whole part I described were played in a natural and convincing way, whether drunk or upset, I never felt the guy acted. and I thought I knew anything about movies, that Garfield guy is one of the most natural talents I've ever seen in a Hollywood classic, and the way he got along with the 'Dead End' kids it's like they weren't even acting, I know Brando is the pioneer of 'method' acting, but Garfield had nothing to envy from him.
And what a match he found in the 'Dead End' kids, who also act naturally on the screen, that bonding between the ex-boxer and young hoodlums is the salt that gave the film its delicate spice, and justifies why the suspicion from May Robson and Gloria Dickson turn slowly into admiration. Naturally, he teaches them how to fight and one of the kids takes the picture of him while doing it, so we suspect the picture to get on the hands of the copper but at that part, the plot was so behind me, I was enjoying the interactions and the greatest part of the film, the trip to the water tank.
This is one of the most suspenseful sequences I've seen from a 30's where the kids and Johnnie get trapped in the water tank where the level of water is dropping enough to make reaching the top impossible but not enough so they can stand on their feet and one of them, played by Bobby Jordan, can't swim. A really heart-wrenching and well-directed sequence with a use of camera on-the-water ahead of its time, well, of course, it was 1939, and Hollywood Golden Age was reaching its pinnacle with "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz", but within its own limitations the film had some pretty good shots, even the use of hand camera gave it a dizzying effect but that was so overused I wonder if it was genuine.
Never mind, the film evolves to its obligatory conclusion : a boxing fight, we know it's ought to happen because the leopard can't change its spots, it can earn 500 bucks to help the kids to start a gas station business, that's the only thing that defines him, and there has to be something to prove the detective right but then the film seems in a hurry to rush to a conclusion that seemed to belong to another kind of story, since the main character was in a dead-end, anything could set him free except that.
The Harder They Fall (1956)
The harder they fool, they fail, they feel...
There are two kinds of boxing movies. The inspirational depicts the boxer as a modern-day hero who translates in the ring, man's struggle against adversity, "taking the hits but moving forward". The disillusioned story shows the other, uglier, side of the coin, where "taking the hits" implies a crooked manager taking the dough, where the boxer gambles his life the Casino, always wins. The boxer is a modern-day gladiator destroying himself for sheer entertainment. And while Romans wanted blood and victory till death, people want knock-outs, that are how civilization has progressed over the course of centuries.
Boxing is torn between the agony of being the prey of an angry crowd, the puppet of a greedy mobster, and the foil of heartless journalists, and the ecstasy of victory, of being an idol, a worshiped individual who gets rich and famous, without working. The paradox of Boxing makes it one of the most cherished sports in Cinema, the one that inspired the greatest movies, and it's not surprising that the two voted most iconic American Sports movies were "Raging Bull" and "Rocky", and even less surprising that each one shows one of the two facets of the game : the bad and the beautiful.
And from its title, "The Harder they Fall" sets the tone, it belongs to the dark-side category. The film was written by Budd Schulberg, whose name might ring a bell for classic movie fans. Indeed, when you watch "The Harder they Fall", you can feel the vibes of his more prestigious work "On the Waterfront". In the iconic taxi cab scene, Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) blamed his brother Joey (Rod Steiger) for preventing him from being "a contender", "somebody, instead of a bum". In "The Harder they Fall", Terry Malloy could've been any of these boxers asked to dive by their crooked managers, to let the newcomer Toro Moreno, win the fight.
Yet this Moreno is a bum, his only 'strength', so to speak, is his gigantic size, a natural talent (a euphemism for freak). Convinced that a guy of Moreno's size can attract the crowds, promoter Nick Benko calls a famous sports journalist. He won't refuse the offer, he's broke after his newspaper went under. The dynamics between Rod Steiger as Benko and Humphrey Bogart as Eddie are as exciting as the boxing scenes. In the dishonest side of the ring, we have a man often flying off the handle but within his own crookedness, competent and convincing. Steiger, probably drained the stressful energy of his amazing performance from Lee J. Cobb in "On the Waterfront".
And while Steiger is terrific as the voice of twisted reason, Bogart plays the voice of tormented conscience. His mission is to turn the untalented and slow-witted Toro, into a sensation, and convince the world he's a real challenger for Heavyweight championship. People wouldn't a man of that size to be weak. But he is, and the task reveals harder but Eddie handles it well, with an advertising bus touring around California, the best location for freak-shows and with his connections. He convinces a TV sports host friend (Harold G. Stone) to close his eyes, out of friendship, he accepts but not without showing him a heart-breaking interview of an ex-prize fighter whose life has fallen down. That scene foresees the future of many boxers sacrificed on the arena, certainly not what Eddie wishes for Toro, who despite his naivety is the typical gentle giant, friendly and trusting.
The interviewed boxer says "champs stay forever but managers come and go", but in a poignant irony, the following scene where Eddie invites boxing managers to a conference, asking them to buy 1000 dollars their boys' pride, they're all reluctant, treating their 'protégés' like bums or dirt, one says "boxers come and go, but managers stay", that's the gap between two visions, and this is where Eddie reveals his well-meaning motives. He wants to make it the easiest for boxers, including Toro. The way he sees it, that little scheme will earn Toro money and a reputation, both useful when he'll be back to his country, it has to be a win-win situation. Naturally, it's an ethical dilemma and his wife exhorts him to quit, but everything is money in that world, for athletes and managers, and he's no exception, the show must go on. But we know the title, and we wait, with our hearts pounding, to see the titular fall.
Like another Bogart movie "Kid Galahad", "The Harder they Fall" paints a gloomy portrait of sports' backstage, with the real fights being transactions between promoters, sponsors and journalists, pulling the strings of puppet-like boxers, with the gripping realism of the 50's deprived from any romantic subtext, a dynamite-script and a magnificent cinematography, the film is even more impressive example of the sport-business genre, a sort of common link between sports and gangster movies à la "Raging Bull" and "On the Waterfront", and the climactic sequence is one of the most brutal and nasty fights ever and I don't know whether that or the following aftermath is uglier. When you realize how boxers are treated and rewarded, when you see how low a boxer's life can sink when he loses a match, how harsh can a crowd be, you got to wonder why this sport even exists.
The film is extreme on its take on boxing and former Heavyweight champion Primo Carnera sued the film, as he felt it an attack against his (controversial) career, but nonetheless, it's a film with a message to deliver and whether we accept it or not, we know these things exist, and we'll always keep our guard while watching a boxing march. And if the film didn't reach as an iconic status as all the masterpieces I mentioned in this review, it'll forever belong to posterity as, Bogie's last movie. Bogart went as high as his talent could put him without ever falling.
The Petrified Forest (1936)
When you're a hostage of your own existence, a real hostage taker can set you free ...
A drifter is hitchhiking in the middle of Arizona's desert, but the cars passing by him are as eager to stop as the tumbleweeds. The opening shot of "The Petrified Forest" reflects our very loneliness : we all have goals, we all wander in our lives and we all depend on helpful people.
The man makes it to a roadside diner to find people with seemingly purposeful lives. Gabby Maple, played by Bette Davis, is the owner's daughter, a young idealistic servant killing time by painting, reading French poetry and dreaming of visiting Bourges, her mother's hometown. Her father (Porter Hall) who couldn't keep his war-bride wife in USA, spends time, expressing an ironic bitterness toward anyone's bitter at his country. Dick Foran is Boze, a former college football player who sees Gabby's heart as a trophy to win. And Grampa (Charley Grapewin) keeps bragging on his status as the one guy "missed by Billy the Kid".
The characters divide the world in two: those who look at the future, Boze and Gabby, and those who remember the past, angrily (the father) or enthusiastically (Grampa). Generation is an important factor since the film is set during the Great Depression, which more resonates as a state of mind, what kind of future such a gloomy period can ever paint, except for the younger generation, who didn't live, or merely, the War? Gabby thinks of the Great War as the event she owed her existence to, and the source of an existential quest.
The mysterious voyager is Alan Squier, as if Alan was a wording of Alone, and with his dandy look and affable mannerisms, he belongs to another era and since eras condition states of mind, his is enigmatic. Indeed, the man, a writer, played by a suave and wonderful Leslie Howard, speaks in poetry and philosophy, a failed artist who wasn't cut either for marital commitment. Alan's constant amazement hardly hides what he is deep inside, a misfit, an outcast and an intellectual malcontent. Yet his detachment gives him an undeniable aura, he has no goal but is not turned to the past either. And if Gabby is enamored, she doesn't want to marry either, she just sees in him an invitation to escape.
People with high hopes believe in their destiny, what they wait for is a sign, a little oddity that breaks up the morbid routine and enlighten moroseness with a light of hope. When Alan finally leaves, mooching a car belonging to wealthy tourists, the Chrisholms (Paul Harvey and Genevieve Tobin), you can see desperation in Gabby's eyes as if the only sparkle that could've her ignited it started to fade. But destiny didn't say its last word, the passengers are carjacked and when they all join the diner, they find a new guest : Duke Mantee.
And it's one thing to have people blabbing about life and death, their views are elevated to another dimension when their lives are endangered. Mantee will be the trigger, so to speak, to a series of self-revelations. played by a youngish Humphrey Bogart, Duke Mantee is less an imitation of gangster-legend John Dillinger than Bogart's own approach to the role he played on the Broadway play, a man so worn-out, so tired of being pursued by Police, on having to keep his guard, that he ended up walking slowly and carefully as if he was at the verge of starting a shootout.
He's a living tickling bomb, a man who's had enough. Even at 37, Bogart could illuminate the screen with tiredness, combined with a savage reputation and the fact that he risks his life, by waiting in the diner, for a mysterious Doris. Mantee is not the immigrant gangster; he's the quintessential, romantic desperado with an attitude, and a respect to the old-timers. Gramps loves him immediately, he's an authentic bandit, and inevitably, Mantee fascinates the hostages and there's more than Stockholm syndrome in that.
There's an obvious identification between Duke and Alan, both are from the past, a vanishing breed, one by not acting enough, another by acting too much. Duke is the Yin to Alan's Yang and between them grows the genuine bonding of men who got nothing to lose, inspiring among the hostages, various reactions from various personalities, Mr. Chrisholm tries to buy his freedom as if the usual rules were still applicable. Boze tries his luck but Duke neutralizes him, he's the only to speak overtly against criminals, but while he's right in the absolute, in a life that became relative, he missed many points. Mrs. Chrisholm wants to run away with Duke, she exhorts Gabby to follow her dreams, unlike her. Duke's presence is a conscience's catalyst.
Duke incarnates a sort of a new order, an escape from codes and conventions, sometimes with positive results, see how obedient the black chauffeur is, contrarily to Slim Hope, there's no segregation in gangster world since they reject everything from society, the good as the bad. And even a bad action can deliver from a bad condition. Duke will give Alan's life a meaning. Alive, he's useless, but dead, with his life insurance policy, he can build Gabby's future. After all, when Depression is caused by money, maybe money is the solution? Since people are valued through their wealth, so why not translate it into a generous sacrifice? Alan came to the end of his road to better start Gabby's. Their romance was doomed, because Gabby's happiness depended on Alan's act but for the brief time it lasted, it was magnificent.
And if you don't believe it can happen, keep in mind that without Howard's insistence to have Bogart playing his part, Bogart's career would have fallen down. Bogart would be grateful for Howard, who sadly passed away during World War II, by calling his daughter Leslie. Howard was to Bogart what Duke was to Alan, what Alan was to Gabby, a life-changing blessing.
Crime School (1938)
Too kind for its own good ...
Directed by Lewis Seiler in 1938, "Crime School" doesn't have the documentary-like realism of "Dead End" nor the religious resonance of "Angel with Dirty Faces" but it works as a good follow-up of one and a fair premise to the other, and if the overall result doesn't leave much to criticize, it doesn't leave more to praise either.
The film is the first Warner Bros production starring the 'Dead End' kids after their misbehavior during the shooting of "Dead End" convinced United Artists to let them go. Warner tried to advertise the film by branding them as the 'Crime School' kids, but they were such a hit that the audience would forever associate them to the initial movie, probably expecting another dynamite-story with this one.
And my expectations were high too, "Dead End" ended with the gang's leader, played by Billy Halop, being taken to the Police, and "Crime School" could have worked as a sequel. Halop's character also had a struggling sister played by Gale Page, and the story could have been a riveting commentary on the reformatory system in the USA, at first, you try to fix the evil from the roots, now, in its early blooming.
Unfortunately, that terrific premise turned into a gentle story about a good man, played by Humphrey Bogart, trying to put kids on the right side. I loved seeing Bogart in a character totally opposite from his "Dead End" 'Baby Face' Martin, proving once again that he wasn't an actor to be typecast in gangster roles and could as well pose as a decent gentleman. Watching the kids' interactions and Bogart's restrained performance were the film's redeeming qualities.
"Crime School" had so much to offer. Indeed, while "Dead End" was a neighborhood story following many character's arcs, in "Crime School", the kids were the main protagonists, especially Billy Halop, who, through his conflict relationship between his overprotective sister and his reputation with the gang, tries to find the balance between being a good brother and not appearing soft. His paradox is also highlighted by the pivotal arrest; it was for getting money to buy his sister a writing machine that the fight started
And the bargained turns wrong; Leo Grocey (always the cause of troubles) hit the junkman's head with a hard object, knocking him out. The man survives so they could escape from a more severe sentence, but following their code of honor, no one divulged who hit him, since "Dead End", we know the value (and the reward) of a squealer. They're all arrested and put in reformatory school, in jail-like conditions more likely to 'educate' them about violence and crime, than rehabilitating them, hence the thought-provoking title. Good start.
This is a terrific premise but the script, surprisingly cautious for a Warners' production, was too shy to reflect the real image of violence, or to emphasize its dramatic value. The same man dying would've been a great turning point for the story. Another under-exploitation was the great character of Warden Morgan (Cy Kendall) whose terrifying eyes and authoritarian voice would've been a great match to these hard-boiled kids. What an antagonist to good old Braden (Bogart) he would've been, but he had to be fired for once, I wished Bogart wasn't too omnipresent.
What I can't overlook though is the furnace scene, where an angry Frankie decides to put too much coal to teach them a lesson, naturally, this thrilling scene ends up in an explosion that merely kills Bobby Jordan, the sweetest and gentlest of the group. Had he died, it would have been a shock, and a significant self-revelation for Frankie or another fuel of anger. Instead, it was just the occasion to show an act of bravery from Braden and make him and Frankie bury the hatchet war, a bit too hazily. A man like Braden should've slapped Frankie in the face to teach him a lesson about using your own anger to endanger your friends' lives, no, it was like all ends well that ends well.
It's a great sight to the eyes, Halop and Bogart shaking hands, but at 15 minutes of the film, what was left was only a last-minute frame from the head-guard that fails in a blatant anticlimactic way. Frankie was lead to believe that his sister was paying Braden in exchange of good favors, sort of prostituting herself, but why not making Braden a less clean-and-cut character and his motivations more ambiguous. His ambition to parole the kids could've been genuine but he had the right to have his own selfish reasons.
What saves the film from a rather simple, but not exciting storyline, is the performances, everyone is outstanding, the kids are more rooted in their characters, Leo Grocey is as sneaky as usual, Frankie delivers a great heart-breaking performance, the villains are good. And it's precisely for this reason that I wished the film had the guts of "Dead End" or "Angels" something that would cut straight to your heart.
The film is full of good intentions, but its approach to delinquency and criminality is naive and tends to minimize it, the same positive message could've been delivered at the end, but the story deserved more. What do I mean by that? In "Blackboard Jungle", a sort of "Dead End" kids of the 50's, one of the lessons was that some kids are irremediable and they have to be pushed away not to influence the other ones. Not intolerant, realistic.
Speaking with the languages of the 21th century, "Crime School" has the appeal of a low- budgeted TV movie.
Dead End (1937)
When it's tough to be poor, but even tougher to stay honest ...
'Dead End' is the East Side limit where New Yorkers got nothing but the Atlantic horizon to build their dreams on, dreams that can vanish though when, for instance, your own mother wishes you dead: that's 'Baby Face' Martin's dead end.
Humphrey Bogart plays a Public Enemy, back to the coast he grew up in to 'test the waters', emerging from plastic surgery with a new face and tailor-made civilian suits. Naturally, 'coppers' don't recognize him, kids want to shine his shoes, and while his reluctant associate Hunk (Allen Jenkins) wants to leave, Martin keeps contemplating his childhood slums, watching rich and poor people mixing up, wandering and wondering if he couldn't settle down and have kids and family too, but there's no redemption in retirement for a gangster.
Ma Martin, far from the usual motherly stereotypes, stares at him, then slaps him and disowns him. The former enthusiasm in Bogart's face slowly turning into an expression of total devastation can't leave anyone indifferent; Bogart is so poignantly spectacular we almost witness the flame in soul progressively fading. And when he discovers his youth sweetheart became a cheap and syphilitic prostitute (Oscar-nominated Claire Trevor), it's his turn to feel repulsion, and this second and fatal encounter is a no less painful 'slap in the face'.
These two pivotal moments in Martin's journey reveal the meaning of "Dead End" as a state of mind, when life reaches a no-return point. Martin can't escape his fate and with this new injection of anger and hatred, he'll stick to what he is, a criminal, and let it out on the very society that rejected him, ignoring that he's the one who put him in that situation. He didn't forget his background but forgot that he once had a choice. His fate resonates as the pessimist omen awaiting the film's main characters, fittingly nicknamed the 'dead end' kids.
And the gangster genre needed these kids to illustrate the roots of criminality, forever handcuffed with poverty. In the backdrop of a crisis-stricken America, everyone tries to work his way out: Joel McCrea is an architect working as a painter, contemplating his double- failure, he can't fulfill his dreams nor the needs of Kay, the beautiful girl from the upper building. Sylvia Sidney is a worker, she doesn't hate society, but doesn't like cops either who hit her during a strike. The film is so socially loaded it even allows the cop to speak for himself: he only follows the orders.
In this environment where everyone is a victim of circumstances, the 'dead end' kids are the embodiment of life's roughness you want to pay it back. They're no bad kids, they're bullies but they bully each other as well, and when a rich wealthy boy confront them, in all flashy white suit, the "oh boy, oh boy" uttered by one of them has the resonance of a lion's glance before jumping at his prey. It's not hunger; it's not greed, but the thrill for one opportunity of social revenge, using the one strength they have: their strength precisely. And once you make your bones on a rich kid, you might get bigger ideas, enough to become Martin or Hunk.
In the meanwhile, Joel McCrea swallowed his frustration and Sylvia Sydney struggled keeping her brother Tommy (Billy Halop) on the right side and makings ends meet. As tough as it was to be a criminal, it was even tougher to be honest. And William Wyler's multi-layered story, not only introduced the 'neighborhood' sub-genre with a poetic mixture of nostalgic authenticity and retrospective historical significance, but something that foresees the Post-War Italian neo-realism à la De Sica, with an authenticity mostly relying on the Dead End kids' frail shoulders.
They were new acting prodigies whose rude manners exuded a fresh air dusting off Hollywood's typical campiness. United Artists couldn't find young 'established' actors to play the parts so the original gang from the Broadway play was kept and a collective legend was born: the charismatic leader Billy Halop, the benevolent Bernard Hunstly, the goofy and likable Gabriel Dell, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan and the sneaky and treacherous Leo Grocey. They were all there, for the first juvenile-oriented movie, in a time where teenagers served no other purpose in movies than playing the younger versions of the main characters.
And it's such an exhilaration to have teens from the 30's behaving and talking like those of any generation. The 'Dead End' kids not only provide a timeless but also a universal appeal. I live in Casablanca, I know these urban areas where rich and poor aren't too far from each other, and belonging to the middle class, I find myself caught between the two polar opposite that can destroy a society: the violence of the poor and the arrogance of the rich, nourishing one another.
Joel McCrea's character is a man with talent and brains being stuck up between violence and arrogance, he can't provide the kind of wealthy life his love interest needs, but can't stand seeing the kids following Martin's path. There are allusions of "Angels with Dirty Faces" in the way they admire Martin, but Pat O'Brien was a better vehicle for the path to redemption than McCrea whose distracting handsomeness and one-sight-noted heroism, despite a good performance, took away the movie from its gripping realism. The ending was satisfying though by not having him declare his flame to Sylvia Sydney.
That's it, the kids didn't just steal suits and watches, they stole the show and if it wasn't for them and Bogart's extraordinary performance, the story wouldn't have the same impact. The film was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture, but I believe Bogart or the screenplay should've got a few nods. Its status as Best Picture contender is well-deserved for the film gave more maturity to the gangster genre, through this eye-opening American pre-War's slice of life.
White Heat (1949)
White Heat : from a burning rise 'to the top of the world' to an explosive descent into madness...
In 1941, Raoul Walsh forever changed the face of gangsters; they would stop being these big shots defying the Law to rule the street with smiles and machine guns, becoming multifaceted loners living their life to the fullest before surrendering, if not to cops, to fate.
It was the fate of "High Sierra", before World War II, to make the transition between gangster movies and film-noir turning Bogart, the 30's eternal outsider, into the new icon of the 40's. It also paved the way to a new generation of gangster-noir, a timely combination since noir has always been about disillusion and failure, embodying the condition of outlaws, who carelessly stole and killed to fulfill their instincts of greed, lust and power, yet ultimately failing.
And the pioneering noir-gangster movie was "White Heat", whose Oscar-nominated script was based on Virginia Kellogg's bestseller. And while the film took distanced itself from its glorious predecessors to better absorb the elements of film noir, it did keep one thing in place: the villain. His name is Arthur 'Cody' Jarrett, 26th villain in the AFI's Top 50, and Cagney's career-defining performance. Indeed, just like Walsh who both closed the first gangster era and started the new one, it's all the more fitting that he picked the seminal gangster actor to redefine the genre he previously defined.
Indeed, Cody is in a class of sadism and ruthlessness of its own. In the 30's, they were charismatic, then they became tragic like Rocky Sullivan in "Angels with Dirty Faces" or romantic like Bogart in "High Sierra", but Cody is beyond redemption. In the opening train robbery scene, coincidentally set in the same location "High Sierra" ended -as if the torch was definitely passed- Cody cold-bloodily kills a train engineer who remembered his name, then his partner. Later, he abandons one of his guys accidentally burnt during the robbery, Cody doesn't take any chance, he doesn't trust his men, and they don't trust him.
And neither does his wife, the treacherous Verna, played by Virginia Mayo, who spends time whining and flirting with 'Big Ed', Steve Cochran as Cody's right-hand man, a big man, with 'big' ideas, who wouldn't mind filling Cody with lead to take the lead. But Cody has a guardian angel, although angel isn't quite an appropriate word. It's Ma Jarrett, played by Margaret Wycherly, in a 180° turn from her Oscar-nominated role as Sergeant York's devoted mother. She's still a loving mother but wouldn't a monster mother love her own child, for Ma Jarrett, nothing is too bad if it can her son to "the top of the world", their mutual motto.
And when Cody is struck by one of his first headaches and outbursts of dementia, a condition inherited from his father who ended in an institution, he takes refuge in his room where his Ma gives him a drink and tenderly massages his head before getting him up on his feet. Cody is a living paradox, ruthless in one side, vulnerable in another, a pathologic sociopath but a cunning individual. Later, Cody manages to outsmart the Police by confessing a lesser crime committed the same time than the crime robbery to avoid gas chamber.
This is where Inspector Fallon (Edmund O'Brien) intervenes; he must befriend his cell-mate Cody to track the mysterious 'trader' who makes business with him. From a study with Oedipal undertones, we get to the ancestor "Serpico", "Reservoir Dogs" and "Donnie Brasco". O'Brien delivers a fine acting-within-acting performance but the script leverages the actors' performances with so many subtle moments of tension where Fallon's credibility is challenged, like when he enters the cell and doesn't recognize his official wife's picture, officiously his intermediary. And we never know exactly if we want his cover to be blown or not.
This is how ethically challenging and thought-provoking "White Heat" is. Cody is a maniac, but these betrayals inevitably make him sympathetic, the same goes to Big Ed, we despise the traitor he is yet we feel sorry for the bullets he took that should've gone to Verna. And of course, we can't help but feel an immense sorrow during the infamous breakdown when he learns about his mother' death. Walsh' strike of genius was not to tell the extras and the crew what Cagney would do and let him implode his talent to their face and when you look at O'Brien's genuinely bewildered face, you know that trick worked.
Finally, as if it wasn't enough, another of "White Heat"'s remarkable aspects is the use of methodical police procedural and technology. Police isn't just a bunch of noble law enforcers, they're as methodical, rational and clever than their preys, whether for tailing Ma or tracking the gas truck used like a Trojan Horse to rob a chemical plant, never has shown them so efficient. All in all, "White Heat" carries a documentary-like realism, so needed in a genre that often requires suspension of disbelief. So this is where it goes: a psychological dilemma, an undercover story, a great robbery, a police procedural story of betrayal, cynicism and double-crossing, all that in one film.
And all that follows Cody's "rise to the top" before marking his descent into madness. When Cody learns that Fallon is a copper, he's almost crying at his own naivety and we almost feel for him, the rest is pure existential nihilism, he gets away, not in the mountains of Sierra Nevada, but in a gloomy and cold chemical tank with globe-like tanks. Times have changed, it's not the Sierra Nevada, but technology, cold and unpredictable, just like Cody who start shooting everywhere at the cops, the tanks and his surrendering friends, like modern-antiheroes, he wanted his blaze of glory to die in.
Cody's "Made it Ma! Top of the world" remains one of the most memorable exits of a character ever, the only possible one for such a spectacular gangster movie and multi-layered masterpiece
High Sierra (1941)
1941 was a great year for Cinema : it made Bogart a star ...
Never has a climax been so illustrative of its own meaning than that defining moment from "High Sierra" where Humphrey Bogart, surrounded by L.A. cops during a tense siege, climbs his way up to the highest peak of USA in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, only to get shot by a sniper and fall to his death.
That sequence alone elevates, so to speak, the film to its tragic dimension, a bizarre suggestion of nobility within the one who died without surrendering, owing his demise to a dog's barking averting about the presence of the woman he loves. Whoever lives by the gun perishes by the gun, but in the movies, it's often by the heart. Little Caesar, Tony Camonte and Montana ultimately failed because of their softness and Roy Earle was no exception. And Bogart gave his finest early performance as a criminal with a chilling record but a warm heart, doing such peculiar things as gently walking through a park or helping a crippled girl. And as condemnable his criminal actions are, we distance the actions from the man, with Bogie, it becomes possible anyway.
Directed by Raoul Walsh, the film also marked the ending of the first gangster period, outdated by World War II. But the most defining of the talkies' era needed a grand finale, and it's not James Cagney, not Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni or George Raft who'd provide it. Indeed, it's the eternal outsider, sidekick or antagonist, that man who played ungrateful roles of treacherous low-rate criminals to better fool the audience with one of the best anti-heroic performances. The fifth wheel of the Murderer's Row finally got it, but just like the heart-pounding car chase from Lone Pine to Sierra Nevada, it was a long and tortuous before reaching the peak, Bogart drove his way, carefully and patiently, swallowing all his frustrations and counting on talent and luck.
Fate finally helped when Raft turned down the role after Muni's refusal, Muni was the first choice to play an aging gangster but demanded so many changes he'd be finally cut out. Raft who played the lead in Walsh' previous "They Drive by Night", also refused, following Bogart's tactical advice not to play another 'heavy who gets shot at the end'. What do you know, Bogart knew he had a chance to take. And all these fortunate chains of events lead reluctant producers to give the eternal supporting actor a shot at 'Mad Dog' Roy Earle. And Bogart gives the performance of a lifetime as if he could finally implode the frustration he had to repress for being so many times snubbed. Much more, a pre-HUAC committee that suspected him of Communist obedience was harassing him and before his name would be cleared, he had that anger-toward-society-mark graved in his face.
Bogie was indeed as mad as Earle, the convict released after a friend pulled a few strings to obtain the governor's pardon, but not without selfish reasons. Earle would thank him by robbing a resort in Palm Springs during the holiday season. But pioneering the plots of many caper films, the heist matters less than the set-up and the obligatory doomed aftermath, "cherchez la femme" her name is Ida Lupino, the 'human factor' that would make Earle take wrong decisions for good reasons. And for her sensational performance in "They Drive by Night", she got top billing maybe another fuel of anger in Bogart's performance. And this time, it's not the dull and no-nonsense Raft confronting her, it's a man as boiling and passionate as she is, and their interactions certainly cemented the film's popularity.
"High Sierra" foresees Bogart's gift for romantic roles as the story is also a beautiful romance between two underdogs who got everything to lose by sticking together, except the essential. And Earle is sure capable of kindness, there's a magnificent scene where he shows the stars to a young Joan Leslie, feigning to caress her hand. Jack Travers' character, a brave little farmer, can see in Earle that he's one of his own, a man of the land, good people, Bogart fooled him like he fooled us, and the Code, so vigilant to highlight the criminal's darkest side. Ironically, it was more blatant in the Walsh' similar film "White Heat" where Cody Jarrett, played by James Cagney, was portrayed as a more sadistic individual, despite his devotion to his mother.
The Sierra Nevada was Earle's "top of the world" while "White Heat" can be regarded as the missing link between "High Sierra" and the future gangster movies to come, coincidentally heist movies like "The Asphalt Jungle" and "The Killing". Sterling Hayden would also play a Roy Earle-like character who'd try to have a last connection to his past a before his demise. Bogart's performance pioneered the popularity of heist movies and the figure of gangsters as existential characters rather than charismatic villains. The film would also pioneer the use of specific locations to give a film a unique touch, establishing an eternal connection between the condition of a gangster and the thirst for escapism, a recurring theme in Huston's movies along with failure.
And it's another masterstroke of fate to have had Huston on the writing department, as he'd become rapidly fond on that "newcomer" named Bogart, before the gangster genre would be dethroned by film-noir. It was a close one for Bogie, because his performance caught the eye of Huston for some movie he would make the same year, one involving a sort of bird-like statuette the curtains were closed for Roy Earle but opened for the most legendary Hollywood star, who'd never got second billing ever again.
So mirroring its iconic climax, Bogart was born to play Earle because in a way, they were the same, misunderstood, tough but sentimental guys, and like Earle, Bogart would finally climb the highest peak of Hollywood, but no one would ever make him fall.
A Slight Case of Murder (1938)
Not a laugh riot, but still enjoyable ...
"A Slight Case of a Murder" is also one of a mildly enjoyable gangster comedy, foreseeing the laugh riots Billy Wilder would make two decades later, therefore, the fairest comment I could give is that the film was too decades ahead of its time.
At the dawn of the gangster-movies' era, when the distinguished members of the murderer's row, Cagney, Muni and Raft wanted to prove their cinematic value on new fields, Robinson was no exception and the film was precisely marketed at the first comedic attempt on the gangster genre, and Robinson's first comedic role. And I guess that's the film's problem.
Indeed, as comedic as it was, it didn't need to get too far from the archetypes forged by the most defining genre of the 30's. Like I said in my review of "Little Caesar", only musicals and gangster movies could drive the popularity of the talkies, and give audiences the very sensations they've been missing for decades, the sound of machine-guns and the outburst of such Napoleon-like figures as Tom Powers and Enrico 'Caesar' Bandalo, or the menacing suaveness of Tony Camonte would fascinate a public, secretly attracted to these rebellious figures fighting against the system. They were murderers, killers, but played by actors and damn good ones, actors, who knew how to inject charisma and sympathy in these (seemingly) irredeemable outlaws.
Therefore, it didn't take much distance to make all these archetypes work for comedic purposes, especially for Robinson. With his catfish-like mug, his inseparable cigar, and his nasal fast-paced delivery punctuated by his trademark 'See?" and "Yeah", the figure of Edward G. Robinson was begging to be parodied in cartoons, and "Racketeer Rabbit" with Bugs Bunny was perhaps one of the greatest tributes to Robinson before Bogart would dethrone him in "Slick Hare". The gangster, as played by Robinson, was the perfect inspiration for comedy, but here's a trap where the film could have fallen into, yet thanks to Robinson's natural talent, it didn't.
Robinson finds the perfect tone to adapt to comedy: he doesn't do anything, he plays his part with seriousness and it works. Even Cary Grant and James Stewart have to pull off some mimics or eye-language to emphasize their comedic style, Robinson keeps being this irreplaceable authority figure, with his cigars, his elegant suits, and his unique way to boss around his boys.. This is a credit to his naturalness when it comes to acting, he's such a larger-than-life character it's the genre that adapts to his persona, not the opposite. It kind of cancels off the whole publicity over his first comedic performance, he's still the same. Only the situations change, but then, they better be funny.
The problem, once again, is that the premises are more interesting than the real thing and the film never leaves up to expectations. It starts with the celebration of Prohibition's ending, in Marko's future ex-speakeasy, a scene that reminded me of "Once Upon a Time in America" where a coffin-like cake carrying the name 'Prohibition' was shown to the guests, as if gangsters were mourning their 'Golden Age' and approaching the new one with anxiety. Yet Marko is optimistic, he plans to open many breweries all over America trusting that his Gold Velvet will be profitable. Needless to say that he'll be severely disappointed for there is a large consensus that people mostly drunk his beer because they had no alternative.
Marko's quest for legitimacy is the film's running gag, while his boys, on the top of them Allen Jenkins as Mike, the right-hand man, driver and care taker, are nostalgic of the good old days. Yet it's time for all these thugs with dirty mugs to behave properly, and even Marko's wife, played by the delightful Ruth Donnelly is priceless when it comes to act sophisticated in the present to better hide a shameful past. "A Slight Case of Murder" is less about criminals than ex-criminals, and naturally, for conflict's sake, they'll be mixed up with a tedious criminal plot, making Marko wonder if he should stay on the level or make a few shortcuts with the law.
Surprisingly for a gangster movie, most of it is set in Marko's mansion where four robbers were mysteriously killed by a fellow of them (the comments on their deaths are hilarious). Meanwhile, Marko visits an orphanage to pick up one of the kids for his vacation, and it's the opportunity to enjoy Margaret Hamilton as one of the workers, and one of the dead-end kids as the picked kid. Yet, he won't make much as a comic relief, and his antagonism with Jenkins fell flat most of the case. Another minor flaw is the subplot, Jane Bryan, Robinson's sister in" Kid Galahad" and his daughter now, enamored with a dull start trooper, a copper nonetheless. He comes to party with his father who suffers from heart condition, which leads to some funny yet predictable gags.
Many visual gags are childish while the comedy should have relied on the screenplay thanks to the trio Robinson - Donnelly- Jenkins. I guess the premise to have Robinson in a comedy gave the film enough publicity, but it was a time where the gangster genre needed a grand finale and it would finally be over with "High Sierra". Speaking of its star Bogart, the world was about to enter a new World, a new Age, film-noir would be the new defining genre, so I guess audiences had it with old-school gangsters, and wouldn't feel the need to laugh at a gangster screwball comedy, "The Dictator" was more a comedy of its time. Even Robinson will shine in such roles as "Double Indemnity" and "Scarlett Street".
A nice little comedy, but the context didn't help.
They Drive by Night (1940)
Wheels of wrath, doors of madness ... and the last time for Bogie to sit "next to the driver" ...
"They Drive by Night" starts as a powerful blue-collar drama involving two embattled truck drivers, George Raft and Humphrey Bogart as siblings Joe and Paul Brasini, and it ends like a traditional film-noir with Ida Lupino as an over-possessive femme fatale and George Raft as the unfortunate object of her twisted affection. Raft is the common link between two stories that could've been easily separate, making the title even more questionable. In French, it's "A Dangerous Woman", a wiser choice given how prominent Ida Lupino gets in the second half of the film, delivering the most powerful performance among its star-studded cast.
But let's get back to the first act, it is a brilliant social commentary about the hardened conditions of truck drivers, traveling in pairs, switching roles in order to gain some sleep, the dialogs cut straight to your heart, the male brotherhood, the solidarity between drivers, their economical struggle while depending on crooked bosses, no mention of unions or drivers' right, it's not "Hoffa" but more of a Steinbeck-like "Wheels of Wrath" with some heart-pounding sequences à la "Wages of Fear". The part featuring Bogart trying to resist to sleep left me on the edge, having just experienced a similar moment while driving alone on a monotonous road, I knew how it feels to feel your eyes heavy and then close them enough to see you getting off the road.
The first act is a riveting experience, and it wouldn't have hurt the story to keep on that direction. I loved Paul's melancholic monologues about missing his wife, getting to bed, this speaks something powerful about the way these men lived, they didn't need money to live fancy lives, sleeping was the cherished treasure. And like modern-day explorers or sailors, their benevolent wives waited for them, expecting the worse, for it wasn't uncommon to some drivers who dreamed of sleeping to sleep once and for all. The film oscillates between dramatic moments and some comic reliefs, through Roscoe Karne as the drivers who waste his pay on pinball's. But don't get it wrong, this isn't just a man's film, women play a significant part, and this is how fresh and modern that first act feels.
Ann Sheridan plays her usual wisecracking roles, with the waitress who'll always outsmart all the witty quirks addressed to her, she's not just an eye-catching red head, she sure knows how to catch a man's heart, and the look no-nonsense George Raft keeps on her says a lot. But it's Gale Page who caught my heart as Paul's wife. She begged him for children believing it would at least conceal her loneliness, but Paul doesn't feel ready. Her speech in the hospital after Paul lost his right arm is intelligently thought-provoking; she's glad he lost an arm, it's a small price to pay if it could finally earn her peace of mind, and a stability in her couple. It's not cynical, it's only a tough reaction to one of the toughest rackets ever, one that make gangster look like wimps.
And now I guess it's time to get to the second half, to Ida Lupino. Her Lana Carlsen is not the dedicated housewife, or the street-wise down-to-earth girl, but the ultimate gold-digger with only contempt for her jovial and fun-loving husband, Alan Hale as Ed Carlsen an old friend of Joe who obviously succeeded. She must've loved something in Ed, and it's not his age, his bonhomie, his looks, his childish puns, the way he keeps laughing at them, or his incomparable talent as a party animal, so she's a venal woman, and the only spot in the heart is for Joe. By the way, Al Hale gave a scene-stealing performance a lovable buffoon, and his brutal murder was certainly a turning point in the film. We're plunged in an ocean of darkness as soon as good old Ed leaves the screen.
The murder, memorable for its use of electric eyes, borrowed some elements from Bette Davis' "Bordertown" to boost Lupino's reputation as a new Davis. And somewhat, she deserved that publicity because she added a tragic dimension to her vileness, and her portrayal of mental dementia is still efficient even from a modern perspective. But what was the point to feature a murder so late in the film, and rushed up the rest in less than twenty minutes. So many things happen events lose their impact, Joe, after working for Ed, Joe becomes Lana's partner, business works, but she's so wrapped up by her ego she admits her murder after learning about his marriage with Cassie (Ann Sheridan). She then, accuses him of setting up the whole scheme but on trial, she breakdowns and repeat anxiously : "The doors made me do it" (the film's defining moment)
While, it could have done without that manic laughter, her performance was the highlight of the film and it was one of the most despicable female villains ever, but there's nothing Joe ever does, he owes his freedom to Lana's breakdown, his job to their partnership and to Ed's friendship, his figure is so diluted that you wonder what she found in him in the first place, was that man worth that waste? Sure, there's Lupino's performance but I'm not sure it was worth abruptly cutting on that powerful truck story, or maybe with a stronger lead I have nothing against Raft, but as the film's top-biller, he's clearly out-shadowed by all the other protagonists.
My DVD of the film belongs to the Bogart's collection and it couldn't have been more misleading: an elegant Bogart drives a car while holding Lupino, with Raft sitting next. Thankfully, this is one of Bogart's last performances as a sidekick, and Raft's greatest contribution to cinema was to allow his career to take off by turning down "High Sierra", "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca". After "High Sierra", Bogart would never sit on the front side, he'll drive his movies
by himself.