Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Jackson Booth-Millard I remember the title clearly from the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, probably because of what I assumed was a misspelling of the word "phoenix", it was apparently "sensational" in its day, needing severe cuts, I just hoped for something worth my time. The film opens with news broadcaster Clete Roberts interviewing many of the actual participants of the real-life event, before it moves on to showing the acted version of events. Basically the story takes place in Phenix City, Columbus, a corrupt town in Alabama, run by a crime syndicate, with growing prostitution and crooked gambling, it is referred to as the Sin City of the South. Lawyer Albert L. Patterson (John McIntire) has big plans for his son John (Richard Kiley) and his family when they return home after his military service in Germany. John is surprised at how so little has changed since he's been away, his father assures him that he won't know the mob are running things, as long as he minds his own business. But this proves to be hard for John, he is severely beaten by mob thugs, after trying to help two members of a civic reform from being harmed. Albert comes to realise that things need to change, he is urged to run for office and clean up Phenix City. He obtains the nomination to run as State Attorney General, but as soon as he elected following a successful campaign, he is killed in cold blood by the mob. It is up to John to avenge his father, at the risk of the rest of his family being in danger, he uses the law instead of violence to make change. Also starring Kathryn Grant as Ellie Rhodes, Edward Andrews as Rhett Tanner, Lenka Peterson as Mary Jo Patterson, Biff McGuire as Fred Gage, Truman Smith as Ed Gage, Jean Carson as Cassie, Kathy Marlowe as Mamie and John Larch as Clem Wilson. The opening newsreel footage adds extra emphasis to the true-life origins, it is an interesting story of corruption, investigation and political change, I admit there were only a couple of eye-catching bits, especially the bloody murders and lawbreaking moments, but overall it is not a bad documentary style crime drama. Worth watching, at least once!

mark.waltz Phenix City is a border town in Alabama on the Georgia border, separated by the Chattahoochee River, and over-run by a crooked vice ring. This documentary like film dramatizes the events which exposed the crooks who dominated the red-light district filled with gambling and prostitution, resulting in a mob-like rule and a horrifying murder. Real-life people involved in the case actually appear in the film, and the location shot footage at the very beginning only taps the surface of what the dramatized film will present.Right from the very beginning, you learn that the local attorney general candidate (John McIntire) will be murdered when he vows to break up this vice and how his son will organize the end of this mob, run by veteran character actor Edward Andrews. From the moment you see gambling house entertainer Meg Myles singing the "Phenix City Blues", you know there's something going on other than innocent crap games. Details go into how the cards are marked, how those who stand up to the machine are threatened, and in one truly disturbing sequence, the poor innocent young black daughter of a witness is abducted and disposed of like trash. Some of the sequences are not for the squeamish or sensitive, and the theme of the film will stay with you for a long time. A cameo by an obviously beloved local Phenix City resident Ma Beachie adds honesty and heart to the drama, telling the viewer that many of the town's residents were totally unaware of the corruption within their own community, and thrilled to see it brought down. The busty Myles stands out in her brief scenes, a thrill for 80's soap fans who remember her as the kindly restaurant owner Sid on "The Edge of Night" and the devious Joanna Yeager (Stuart Chandler's first wife") on "All My Children".

dougdoepke Sometimes rush jobs really work out, like Phenix City Story. Consider that the movie was scripted, shot, and processed in less than a year after the triggering event of Patterson's murder. Credit the producers or someone for coming up with a first-rate cast, a marvelous director, and a big enough budget for location filming in the actual Phenix City. The result is the best of the "city expose" movies so popular at the time.There's a rawness to the violence here that's more convincing than usual, in part because of director Karlson's "feel" for the material and also because it appears to grow organically out of the seedy surroundings of honky-tonks and carousing soldiers on leave from Fort Benning. Credit too the fine, underrated Edward Andrews for blending oily charm with ruthless violence, just the qualities needed to run an operation of that sort. Kiley too delivers in spades, his rage unusually intense and realistic. The only questionable note is Katherine Grant's Ellie, seemingly too sweet and naïve for a dealer in a crooked set-up.Getting Karlson was a real coup. He was just hitting his stride as a top crime drama director during this period. His staging of the little girl's murder is a real grabber, along with the parking lot beating. In fact, the movie has an unusually pervasive atmosphere of unrestrained evil. Credit should also go to screenwriter Dan Mainwaring for a good tight script and some timely notes on the downside of vigilantism. Apparently, the lengthy prologue was added to ease censorship concerns, and, aside from historical value, can easily be skipped.Anyway, the film's a must-see for B-movie fans, a happy coming together of a number of underrated Hollywood talents.

Robert J. Maxwell As Judge Learned Hand said, "A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few; as we have learned to our sorrow." P. 190, The Spirit of Liberty (1944).The conflict between the greater good and individual liberty has gone on for years, swaying back and forth. In Phil Karlson's movie, made in the wake of World War II, there is too much liberty. People can do whatever they want. And those with the greater lust for power and money dominate others who are more like you and me, virtuous except for our collections of stiletto heels.Richard Kiley is the Army major who returns from the trials in Germany to find his home town has been taken over by thugs and gangsters who run rigged gambling and whore houses that cater to soldiers from nearby Fort Benning. Kiley's father, a lawyer, John McIntire, is a detached citizen, not objecting, not endorsing. Kiley is all moral about things. And he has a friend who is a kind of spy in the gambling house, Kathryn Grant, looking a bit more plump and juicy than she did in later motives.The thugs beat hell out of anybody who objects to their machinations. They kill a little black girl. Then they kill a WHITE guy. The white citizen is found in a ditch outside of town. "Could have been a car accident." "But he didn't have his car." "Could have fallen out of somebody else's car." Sure, it's a cliché. But this was the South in the 1950s and it was real enough. I remember hitching through the South and running into those old-fashioned signs, "Colored" and "White." Now, it's mostly history, thank God. If all this story sound familiar it's because we probably saw it more recently in "Walking Tall," with the same director recycling some of the same material. But this story deals with a regional problem, the Social Darwinism of the South, whereas "Walking Tall, virtually a remake, deals with what is strictly a local problem -- some bad guys doing bad things. "Walking Tall" could have taken place in Michigan. Now, this ethnography of Phoenix City, Alabama, is pretty primitive. If the "good" side seems to be making points in a trial, Richard Kiley is shown grinning, which is unlikely under the circumstances. When guys get in a fight, it doesn't last long but they emerge as bloody and bruised as they did when I was in high school. Frankly, neither movie ends with a chipper note. In "Walking Tall," a revenge movie, the protagonist's son is seen entering the hospital with a little .22 rifle to protect his Dad. (Did they think what they were doing? The kid is going to continue the tradition of killing the enemy.) In this one, martial law is imposed.Why should martial law be the answer? In the movie it seems to solve all the problems, at least for the moment. A more interesting question is why those soldiers from Fort Benning continued to come back to a rigged casino. Were the casinos and hookers providing something the soldiers wanted? If so, was it morally wrong? How about the cocaine industry? Some of us seem to want it desperately. Is it wrong for poor Colombian farmers to provide what we want? Can we condemn addicts and condone soldiers? Just asking.