... because I had heard its reputation as an excellent film noir, but the viewing experience was somewhat disappointing.
Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) took sole blame for a crime he committed with Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr). Coyle arranges the enabling of Sullivan's escape from prison, with Joe's girlfriend Pat Regan (Claire Trevor) waiting for him with a getaway car. But the prison guards managed to shoot the gas tank as the pair fled, and they have to ditch the car a few miles away when it runs out of gas. Joe and Pat commandeer a taxi and this is where the plot bogs down. He goes straight to the house of Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt) the paralegal of his attorney, who has been visiting him on behalf of her boss about his case, and kidnaps her. Ann knows how to press all of his buttons, what makes him tick, and how to reach him. Why would Joe do such a goofy thing? He'd be smarter kidnapping some stranger off the street who is just completely afraid of him and therefore more compliant.
So the film bogs down in "torn between two women" territory. Joe owes Pat for sticking her neck out, but he is at least fascinated by Ann, the honest woman on the straight and narrow. The action does return in awhile, but it seemed like a long while.
What makes this film worth it are the performances. Especially Raymond Burr as a gangster with a completely out of control temper who thinks nothing of setting someone on fire for disrespecting him. Not until Joe Pesci's performance in Goodfellas over 40 years later will there be such a nasty character in a crime film.
Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) took sole blame for a crime he committed with Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr). Coyle arranges the enabling of Sullivan's escape from prison, with Joe's girlfriend Pat Regan (Claire Trevor) waiting for him with a getaway car. But the prison guards managed to shoot the gas tank as the pair fled, and they have to ditch the car a few miles away when it runs out of gas. Joe and Pat commandeer a taxi and this is where the plot bogs down. He goes straight to the house of Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt) the paralegal of his attorney, who has been visiting him on behalf of her boss about his case, and kidnaps her. Ann knows how to press all of his buttons, what makes him tick, and how to reach him. Why would Joe do such a goofy thing? He'd be smarter kidnapping some stranger off the street who is just completely afraid of him and therefore more compliant.
So the film bogs down in "torn between two women" territory. Joe owes Pat for sticking her neck out, but he is at least fascinated by Ann, the honest woman on the straight and narrow. The action does return in awhile, but it seemed like a long while.
What makes this film worth it are the performances. Especially Raymond Burr as a gangster with a completely out of control temper who thinks nothing of setting someone on fire for disrespecting him. Not until Joe Pesci's performance in Goodfellas over 40 years later will there be such a nasty character in a crime film.