Jean Peters is a tough nut who gets mixed up in stuff over her head and pays the price - particularly in really nasty assault scene in hotel. All cast good: Richard Kiley is the assaulter, Richard Widmark is the pickpocket who starts all the trouble in the first place, Thelma Ritter was Oscar nominated for her role as a snitch (who ends up in Potter's Field, a generic term for a common grave) and Murvyn Vye is the vengeful police captain. But Peters is just memorably good - it's probably her best performance (even though I've seen hardly any of her films!)
Fuller somehow disguised downtown LA on a low budget so it looked like Manhattan and Brooklyn. Because Fuller is so specific about Manhattan locations in the script, he tricks you into thinking you are there (the ex journalist at work).
I agree with myself, it does end too happily for a noir, but is a tough and exciting thriller in which the commies are ultimately the bad guys (not that Widmark really cares). Memorable moments, like the way the guy is eating his Chow Fun, fight in subway tunnel, Widmark's shoreside hut. Joe MacDonald good behind camera.
Ritter's character is like the glue that holds it all together. It's through her we realised Widmark isn't quite the bad guy we think he is. Fuller himself said 'What I got a kick out of in the picture - the idea of having a pickpocket, a police informer and a half-assed hooker as the three main characters.'
No comments:
Post a Comment