In some kind of dream classic film world, you would watch a movie with Broderick Crawford, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Kiley, Neville Brand, with a brief walk-on from Charles Bronson. It’s no dream, it’s reality, but you have to claw back to 1951 for that one–well before most of those names had achieved star status.
Crawford is as solid as ever, and it’s fascinating to see Neville Brand’s face smooth and young. The script is spot-on and clever. There are plenty of twists all the way to the end; it’s not as predictable as you might think at first.
Matt Crowley, as Smoothie, exudes a kind of Kevin Spacey menace, and all I could think about was that Spacey would fit that part well in a remake, and it’s a rich part.
Note
Lynn Baggett plays floozy Peggy Clancy so well, perhaps because in real life she had her own set of problems. In one of the most unfortunate acts of her life, she ran over and killed 9 year-old Joel Watnick at the corner of Orlando Avenue and Waring in Los Angeles, on July 7, 1954. She had borrowed a station wagon from actor George Tobias, best known to modern audiences as Abner Kravitz in Bewitched.
If she had stopped, it may have been one thing. But Baggett sped away. To compound her evasion, she took part of the car to Arnold’s Body Shop at 8746 Baird Avenue, Northridge (now AutoWorx) to repair the damage and the chassis to 13627 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks to straighten it out. She spent 55 days in jail.
