99 River Street
Directed by Phil Karlson
1953/USA
Edward Small Productions
First viewing
[box] Ernie Driscoll: There are worse things than murder. You can kill someone an inch at a time.[/box]
I could not get behind this odd and violent noir effort from B-picture specialist Phil Karlson.
Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) is an ex-boxer who was barred from the ring after suffering repeated blows to his eye during a championship bout. His wife has lost all use for him now that he his driving a cab and is having an affair with thug Victor Rawlins (Brad Dexter) who recently pulled off a diamond heist. Unfortunately for her, his fence doesn’t like dealing with women and is not happy that Victor murdered a man in the process.
During Ernie’s very bad day, he discovers the affair. Then his friend Linda James (Evelyn Keyes) deceives him into helping her with a murder cover up. Finally, Victor offs his wife and dumps her body in Ernie’s cab. Ernie proves his continued ability with his fists by pummeling his many antagonists. Linda gets off easy when she uses her seductive ways to help Ernie beat the murder rap.
This two-fisted thriller just wasn’t for me. It’s pretty brutal with sound effects heightening all the many punches and the plot is all over the place. For example, Ernie has an arrest warrant out against him for assault during the “murder cover-up” episode and this is never referred to again during the second half of the movie. The film also features some of the most totally unnecessary voice-over coverage of a fist fight in cinema history. Everything is pumped up to the max and made as lurid as possible. It is, however, a relatively highly rated film and could be a fun watch for those in the mood for it. The trailer gives a very good feeling of what is in store.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNrKueIJbko
Trailer
