Greetings again from the darkness. This one showed up near the finish line of the classic Film Noir era, and has some features that make it stand out: unusual female characters, a quasi-parody feel, and a twisty ending unlike others from the genre. Based loosely on the Mickey Spillane pulp novel, the screenplay comes from A.I. Bezzerides, who is best known as the creator of the TV series “The Big Valley”. The biggest impact comes from director Robert Aldrich.
Aldrich (pictured below) is a bit under-appreciated in Hollywood history having also directed Whatever Happened to Baby Jane; Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte; The Dirty Dozen; and The Longest Yard (the good one). Here he turns up the intensity on the Private Investigator story by having Mike Hammer (a terrific Ralph Meeker) be quite a bit more forceful and aggressive than Marlowe, Spade and the other famous movie 
PI’s.
The film starts quite abruptly with one of the more fascinating beginnings in all of cinema. A panicky woman is running barefoot down a highway at night, wearing nothing but a bathrobe. That woman is Cloris Leachman (her screen debut) and she nearly causes Hammer to wreck his pristine Jaguar. Their relationship doesn’t end well, but it leads to a very unique torture scene that is almost entirely out the viewer’s sight line. Still, we quickly realize Hammer is in some deep trouble and he’s not the kind to let it be.
Two other very interesting female characters are part of the story: Gaby Rodgers plays Lily Carver as a conniving trickster, and Maxine Cooper (pictured below with Meeker) is outstanding as Velda, Hammer’s trusty assistant and maybe more. Ms. Rodgers and Ms. Cooper have other common ground. They soon disappeared from Hollywood films as both married powerful men in the business. Rodgers married the famous songwriter Jerry Lieber, who wrote many Elvis Presley hits. and Cooper married an Oscar nominated writer, Sy Gomberg.
The cast features many prominent and recognizable actors of the time including Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Wesley Addy, Nick Dennis, Jack Elam, and Jack Lambert. There is also a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid connection. Strother Martin has a brief scene as does Percy Helton (as the Medical Examiner). In the Butch Cassidy movie, Martin is the colorful Bolivian payroll supervisor who hires the boys, and Helton is “Sweetface” who gives away their hiding place. Another note on Helton: he had one of the longest acting careers in history 1915-1978 (which was 7 years after his death).
If you love films from the 40’s and 50’s, then this is a must see. It certainly has a place in Film Noir lore (say that three times quickly), and also has numerous other points of interest. Keep in mind that it was filmed at the height of the Atomic Bomb era … when scare tactics were the norm.
watch the trailer:
Posted by David Ferguson 
Movie Reviews from the Dark 