GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

mark.waltz Neither a trampy wife or a press hungry Broadway producer can fool with beaten prize fighter John Payne. He's struggling to make ends meet to keep the social climbing wife happy, driving a cab and trying to save money in order to buy a gas station. But it isn't bad enough that his wife nags him to try and make something better of himself, it's watching the fight that destroyed his career on T.V. as well. Nothing can please this bleached blonde harpy (Peggie Castle) who, as it turns out, has been stepping out on him with a jewel thief (Brad Dexter) who wants to sell off his goods so they can get out of the country. Once Payne spots the two together, he is angry enough to kill, and she is terrified. But when things go awry with the fence who refuses to buy the goods, someone is about to get knocked off, and it is Payne who must clear himself of that murder.Not only does Payne have his lascivious wife and her ruthless lover to deal with (not to mention the fence), a struggling actress (Evelyn Keyes) utilizes him in a scheme which gets him more into trouble. But in spite of what she did, Keyes is an o.k. broad, and she finds herself tossed in to helping him clear his name. The race is set and the film noir is off and running. Payne is as brooding an anti-hero as you can find, definitely beaten up by life, and definitely the victim of not only one dame, but two. That makes for film noir at its finest, and in this one, the waterfront streets of New York are utilized in helping the storyline move into a dark and lonely place you can only hope the hero will be able to get himself out of.Well written and acted, excellently photographed, and gripping, this is a sleeper of the mid noir years that is in many ways just as tense as some of the first great films of that genre. Everything is in place to get you hooked, and the twists and turns are as difficult to find your way out of as a quick exit out of Alphabet City. Keyes gets to shine as the promising actress who utilizes her talents to aide Payne, especially in trying to get close to the film's villain. When she puts on her easy broad facade, it's like watching a different character than the nice lady who approached Payne just hours before to pay off her car fare. Finding a rare gem like this is like finding a brand new friend, and in this case, you may find yourself wanting to add it to your film noir collection.

Michael O'Keefe This action, crime drama finds John Payne playing Ernie Driscoll, a former hard luck boxer turned cab driver. Ernie's wife Pauline(Peggie Castle)is disappointed in her four year marriage and begins a relationship with a jewel thief, Vic Rawlins(Brad Dexter). Pauline is planning to run away with Vic; but a botched heist changes plans. The pretty feed-up wife ends up killed and you know who gets the blame; right, her hot tempered husband Ernie. The former boxer ends up with the help of a friend, a struggling stage actress played by Evelyn Keyes. The two are racing the clock trying to find Vic in order to clear Ernie's name. Phil Karlson directs and the story line is interesting in spite of the brief boxing scenes that lack realism. Frank Faylen plays the dispatcher for the cab company that Ernie works for; and turns in a fine performance. Other players include: Jay Adler, Jack Lambert, Ian Wolf and Glenn Langan.

evanston_dad A superb noir from 1953 that stars an appealing John Payne as an ex-boxer who's maybe a little bit nuts and who gets framed for the murder of his wife. The bulk of the movie consists of him trying to expose the real killer before the police nab him, and he's ably abetted by Evelyn Keyes, who brings a sense of zaniness to the film as an actress friend of Payne who walks into this most outrageous and ghoulish scenario and acts like similarly outrageous and ghoulish things happen to her every day.Director Phil Karlson, who was most known to me for directing a more famous and much grittier noir called "The Phenix City Story," guides this story along with a firm hand. The screenplay is pretty preposterous and requires its audience to suspend a great deal of disbelief. But that's part of its fun and charm, and the fact that the film has a really good sense of humor about itself helps tremendously.This is one noir I had never heard of but am no immensely glad I've seen.Grade: A

Michael_Elliott 99 River Street (1953) *** (out of 4)Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) loses the Heavyweight title and soon afterwards finds himself a wash-up taxi driver. This doesn't sit too well with his wife who had dreams of diamonds and furs but she thinks she finds it in a small time gangster. Soon the gangster murders the woman and the blame falls on her innocent husband so with the help of a friend (Evelyn Keyes) he must track down the real murderer. Director Karlson and star Payne made KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL the previous year but in my opinion this film here is much better even though it's not as remembered. All the classic noir touches are here from the dark characters, the shadow, the atmosphere and of course the blonde wife who is purely bad due to greed. I think what makes this noir somewhat different is that we really don't have a good guy anywhere. All of the characters are quite flawed with our hero coming off as a hot-tempered jerk who has many problems of his own. Even the partner comes across rather shallow during one very memorable scene where she admits to murder. I won't ruin how that plays out but it's a brilliantly dark and funny twist. Both Payne and Keyes are terrific in their roles and make for an interesting duo. They both come across so different that you can't help but buy them as some sort of strange friends who find themselves in over their heads. Payne was really impressive as he handled the character extremely well and had no issues playing the jerk and getting that dark side out. Brad Dexter is very good as the hood and Frank Faylen is nice as a friend of Payne's. Peggie Castle also deserves a mention as the cold wife. I really enjoyed the atmosphere created by Karlson as it takes place in dingy clubs, secret back rooms and winds up on some rundown docks. This atmosphere is very rich throughout due to a nice score as well as some terrific cinematography that really soaks everything up. The story itself is one we've seen countless times before but there are a few original touches. My favorite would have to be our main guy working as a cab driver because it allows him to communicate with his friend via the radio system, which was a nice touch. The final ten-minutes features some nice tension and an action packed ending with a terrific fight.