Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

boscofl "Riffraff" is a surprisingly well done film noir. It is expertly directed by Ted Tetzlaff and contains a veritable Who's Who of noir cinema: Pat O'Brien, Walter Slezak, Anne Jeffreys, and Jerome Cowan. The plot is fairly routine - a rogues gallery of shady types (or riff-raff) hunting down a valuable item (in this case a map of oil wells) and committing any crime necessary to obtain it. The film boasts a memorable opening sequence devoid of dialogue that sets the tone for the film: a stormy Peruvian airport, a ramshackle aircraft, sketchy-looking passengers, and a man prematurely abandoning an airborn plane by taking the express route to the terra firma. The surviving passenger shows up in Panama with the skydiver's briefcase and immediately hires local PI Dan Hammer (O'Brien, sporting a name that only exists in fiction) to protect him. Unbeknownst to Hammer, the man clips a map onto a bamboo changing curtain and departs. The remainder of the film concerns the quest for this map and how many times the actors can walk past it or be framed by the camera with it in the backround as it hides in plain site. Tetzlaff does a wondeful job of shooting this film; from the brilliant opening sequence to the final fadeout. Many of these RKO noirs prove to be an endurance test to get through despite relatively brief running times but "Riffraff" held my attention with the visuals and performances of a stellar cast. Portly, balding, and painfully over-the-hill Pat O'Brien nevertheless turns in a surpsrisingly virile performance particularly near the end of the picture where he dukes it out with several tough guys and runs down a moving car by dashing through dark alleys & disturbing couples necking in parked cars. Of course he is brilliant at mouthing his lines both laconically and with his trademark staccato elocution. The script isn't particularly great but his delivery makes it seem like snappy dialogue. Despite his appearance the actor's performance is great and holds the film together. Walter Slezak seems to be reprising his role of the treacherous Incza from RKO's "Cornered" although sans moustache. He never runs out of flowery ways to make his point and conveys menace when flanked by his bodyguards. There is a priceless scene of him sitting in the window of Hammer's office, sketching the street outside, while his thugs work Hammer over with the obligatory nosey PI beating. He must be a fast illustrator because Hammer doesn't look too much the worse for wear when the goons finish roughing him up. In fact, after a good night's sleep, he's back to barging around and doing a little threatening of his own the next morning. Anne Jeffreys fills the part of the heroine in a one-note role as the love interest; unfortunately she has no femme fatale duties. However, she does get to wrestle around with Slezak in a late scene and is the first to discover the elusive map. Percy Kilbride adds levity as O'Brien's personal taxi driver and they exchange some curious banter about marriage to each other. Fortunately O'Brien moves on to Miss Jeffreys and Kilbride heads to the hills with Marjorie Main. Jerome Cowan adds a little Warner Brothers flavor with his typical role as a wormy executive who meets a deserved fate. A neat little film, "Riffraff" passes a pleasant 80 minutes, delivers a memorable opening sequence, and demonstrates the hazards of wearing a tie if you're a private investigator.

ksf-2 Anne Jeffreys, Pat OBrien, and Walter Slezak star in the search for a missing passenger. The passenger had a map of valuable oil reserves, but didn't land with the plane in Panama. Of course they question the only other passenger, who claims he knows nothing about it. Then they bring in the private eye (OBrien) to figure out what's going on. Expert viewers will recognize Percy Kilbride as "Pop", the taxi driver, who knows more than he should. He was Pa Kettle for MANY years. It's a decent plot, but everyone keeps getting knocked off, and now Dan, the P.I. is running out of clues. The rest of the story is very typical noir... private eye against thugs, private eye against the authorities. Keeps getting into trouble, keeps getting out of it. Obrien pretty much carries the show.

Alex da Silva Two passengers board a plane during a storm. When the journey is complete, only one passenger is left. It's a great opening sequence filled with tension, angst and progressed without any dialogue. It's pretty stylish and promises great things. However, the film doesn't live up to this gripping start and at only 80 minutes in length, this short film ends up seeming a lot longer.Apart from the excellent beginning, the dialogue is snappy and humorous and Anne Jeffreys (Maxine) sings a great song. The director puts on a good show for this offering. Unfortunately, everything falls apart with the lead actor - Pat O'Brien (Dan) - who is tasked with tracking down a map. He's unlike-able, too old, fat, balding and reminds me of a paedophile. The end sequence with him chasing after a taxi is ludicrous as we watch this fat blob running after and unrealistically keeping up with the car's journey. Ha ha. He looks ridiculous. The film somehow kills the interest and drags on. It's watchable, though.

ThreeGuysOneMovie On occasion I head on over to TCM to see what's on and I walk right into great film that I haven't seen before. This time, I came across Riffraff a little film noir gem that I had never even heard of. The plot of Riffraff is pretty simple. Two men get on a plane headed for Panama. One of the men has a map to some oil locations in Peru. When the plane lands one of the men is missing along with the map. All kinds of seedy characters want the map. So they all seek out the help of Dan Hammer, (could there be a more perfect name for a noir anti-hero?) the local private eye/man about town. Apparently this movie is pretty well known for its opening sequence that involves 6 minutes with dialogue but what sets this film apart is that it has some great acting and some dialogue that you just won't see in movies today. Pat O'Brien is great in lead role. He doesn't really look like the classic tough guy but his performance is definitely a highlight.Walter Slezak does a decent job trying to imitate Sydney Greenstreet and Percy Kilbride is great as the comic relief/older buddy. I was unfamiliar with Anne Jefferys who plays the femme fatale in this one but she really impressed me. My only complaint is that the missing map is hidden in a location that is painfully obvious and it requires a little bit of a suspension of disbelief in order to accept that the characters don't see the map when it is right in front of their faces. Riffraff is definitely not one of the bigger budget noir's of its time but it's a great little B movie and well worth the a watch. Unfortunately, after I watched this I did a little digging around and I couldn't find a DVD release for the movie. I found it on VHS on Amazon but I don't know a single person that still has a VCR. Hopefully someone will release this on DVD soon.