Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

dglink Sterling Hayden was the image of male masculinity in such films as "The Asphalt Jungle," "The Killing," and "The Godfather." Tall at 6 foot 5 inches, well built, ruggedly handsome in the true sense, Hayden rarely cracked a smile or betrayed a tender emotion. He had screen presence, and that strong image serves him well in 1954's "Naked Alibi." Hayden is Chief of Detectives Joe Conroy, who has been accused of police brutality, an easily believable offense. When Al Willis, a local baker, is pulled in and roughed up by his subordinates, Hayden looks on impassively. Played by Gene Barry, Willis has a devoted wife and a child; his arrest is evidently wrongful, and he is released. When the policeman who roughed up Willis is shot later that night, Hayden immediately hones in on Willis as guilty. With a screenplay by Laurence Roman from a story by J. Robert Bren and Gladys Atwater, "Naked Alibi" plays with the audience. When the police come to arrest Willis after the fatal shooting, he runs, but is caught and brought in again. However, without evidence and under pressure from above, Hayden is forced to release Willis one more time. When two more officers are killed in a bomb blast, Hayden tails and harasses the sympathetic Willis, who seems intent on managing his bakery, tending his family, and remaining a model citizen. However, when Hayden is caught in a photo assaulting Willis, he is fired from the force. Undaunted and convinced by gut instinct of Willis's guilt, Hayden follows Willis, when he unexpectedly leaves town and goes to sleazy Border Town, where, in El Perico, a local dive, pouty singer Gloria Grahame appears on the scene as Marianna, and, to coin a phrase, the plot thickens and starts to boil.The action unfolds against the deep shadows and dramatic lighting of Russell Metty's cinematography, which provides some stunning black and white images. Surprisingly produced by Ross Hunter, the man usually behind lush Lana Turner weepies, "Naked Alibi" is well paced by director Jerry Hopper, who went on to become a prolific director on television. However, the film belongs to Sterling Hayden. Tough and brutal, Hayden is central to the film's success, although Gloria Grahame is also excellent, and Gene Barry is appropriately ambiguous in the pivotal role of Willis. As a bonus, fans of "The Rifleman" will be pleased to spot Chuck Connors in a small role as a police captain. While not at the heights of the best Sterling Hayden classics, "Naked Alibi" is nonetheless a crackling police pursuit drama that engages and entertains.

morrison-dylan-fan With having seen actor Sterling Hayden mentioned in a number of posts on various IMDb boards for the last few months,I was thrilled,when a DVD seller revealed that he had recently tracked down a near forgotten Hayden Film Noir,which led to me getting ready to see an alibi undress.The plot:Attempting to beat a confession out of him, Chief Joe Conroy and his fellow police officers find out that due to a strong alibi and a lack of evidence,that Al Willis must be freed from his cell.Shortly after Willis is freed,two of the officers that beat him up are killed.Suspecting Willis,Conroy goes to interrogate Willis,but is caught in a photo threatening him,which leads to Conroy getting fired from the force.Trusting his instincts,Conroy decides to go above the law and secretly follow Willis.Quickly finding out that Willis has suddenly decided to stay in a different town for a few days,Conroy decides to follow Willis on his "travels" in the hope of being able to finally undress his alibi.View on the film:For the opening 30 minutes,the screenplay by Lawrence Roman, J. Robert Bren and Gladys Atwater offers a tantalising glimpse that the movie may give the characters a real moral ambiguity,thanks to Conroy acting more like a real gangster than Willis ever does.Disappointingly ,once Conroy and Willis head to a new town,the writers give up on any criss-crossing morals,and instead give them each clear moral lines,which whilst they lead to a nice,downbeat Film Noir ending,do lead to the movie really struggling to build any tension.Matching Jerry Hooper's rather stilted directing, Hayden gives an unexpected stoic performance as Conroy,with Hayden giving Conroy a calmness when the character should have a real thirst for Willis blood.Keeping the character away from any hint of being straight-lace, Gene Barry gives a very good maniacal, smirking performance as Willis,with Barry showing Willis increasing desperation to keep his alibi naked.

Spikeopath Naked Alibi is directed by Jerry Hopper and adapted to screenplay by Lawrence Roman from the story "Cry Copper" by Gladys Atwater and J. Robert Bren. It stars Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame, Gene Barry and Marcia Henderson. Music is by Joseph Gershenson and cinematography by Russell Metty.Urgh! It's one of those lesser grade film noir movies from the classic cycle that should have been super, but isn't. It's also a Sterling Hayden film that gives his knockers ammunition to call him wooden, yet the tedious direction of Hooper and all round over staging of the production is what's at fault here.Plot has Barry (over acting) as a suspected cop killer who walks free to apparently wreak more misery on the police force. Hayden's stoic and robust detective is not having a bit of it and becomes obsessed with bringing Barry's edgy character to justice. Grahame slinks into view in shapely fashion after half hour of film, to naturally stir the hornet's nest still further.The potential is there for a hot-to-trot noir of psychological substance, a peek under the skin of men teetering on the thin line separating good and bad. Sadly it's all so laborious and fake, the male actors indulging in what I call auto-cue acting as they act out badly staged scenes. Grahame comes out of it relatively unscathed, while Metty gives the production an atmosphere it doesn't deserve with some slats and shads dalliances. But really it's average at best and the cast are wasted. 5/10

doc-72 Finally caught up with this on AMC. I wish Sterling Hayden had focused more on his Hollywood career, instead of returning to the sea from time-to-time. He's easily in the league of the Noir "Roberts" (Taylor, Ryan, Mitchum)...with a little JohnWayne to boot. Good picture....not *really* Film Noire....and not Gloria Grahame's best.doc