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Tough private detective Mike Hammer (superbly played with unflinching ferocity and steely resolve by Ralph Meeker) stumbles onto a nefarious plot that puts his life in great danger when he decides to investigate the mysterious death of doomed hitchhiker Christina Bailey (Cloris Leachman in her fine film debut).
Director Robert Aldrich astutely nails the pervasive paranoia of the 50's Cold War era, offers a vivid depiction of a harsh world that's largely populated by deadly and hostile people (ironically, ostensible "hero" Hammer in particular comes across as one real nasty and selfish bastard), delivers several startling moments of savage violence, and maintains an unsparingly bleak, gritty, and amoral tone throughout. The hard-hitting script by A.J. Bezzerides provides plenty of spot-on stinging commentary on mankind's self-destructive nature. The sterling acting from a topflight cast keeps this movie humming: Albert Dekker as elusive scientist Dr. G.E. Soberin, Patrick Stewart as shifty bigwig Carl Evello, Maxine Cooper as Hammer's loyal secretary Velda, Nick Dennis as jolly mechanic Nick, Gaby Rodgers as ditsy dame Gabrielle, and Wesley Addy as the browbeating Lt. Pat Murphy. Moreover, there are memorable bits by Jack Lambert and Jack Elam as a pair of vicious goons, Juano Hernandez as streetwise boxing manager Eddie Yaeger, Strother Martin as antsy truck driver Harvey Wallace, Marion Carr as the flirtatious Friday, and Percy Helton as sniveling worm coroner Doc Kennedy. Gorgeously shot in moody black and white by Ernest Laszlo, with a brooding score by Fran De Vol, and a complete doozy of a nightmarish apocalyptic ending, this honey rates highly as one of the best film noirs from the 1950's.
score 9/10
Woodyanders 17 August 2016
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3527382/ |
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4-3-2021 12:07:09