Tonight I watched another Noir from yesterday's jackpot at the Central Library : "Drive A Crooked Road" (1954), starring Mickey Rooney and Dianne Foster. The Mick flexes his dramatic muscles in this one, playing a timid auto mechanic who works at a high-end sports car dealership in Los Angeles. Rooney is an expert mechanic and even races cars occasionally as an amateur, out at March Field in Riverside. But his confidence extends only to automobiles. Otherwise he is shy and socially inept. On lunch breaks at the shop, his macho mechanic buddies ogle women walking by on the street. Rooney doesn't join in and is chided for his reticence.
But one day, the stunning Foster drives her ailing roadster into the dealership. "It keeps stalling", she tells the owner, and then she specifically requests the mechanical services of The Mick, who she says was recommended by a friend.
Something is up. We know this from previous information given in an early scene, but Mickey Rooney does not yet know it. Still, he wonders, "why is this woman flirting with me"? She looks like a fashion model and he is of small stature and covered in engine grease. Foster, who I have seen in only a couple of films, seems to have been a very good actress. She pulls off the flirtations in a realistic way that is not forced nor overly titillating, but instead seems to show real interest in the unassuming Rooney as a person. We the audience smell a rat, and Rooney is at first confused "This woman likes me"?) but after fixing her car he begins to respond to her advances incrementally. She mentions to him that now that her car is running again, she is going to spend the afternoon at Malibu beach. It is a clear invitation for him to join her when he gets off work, and despite the probability that he's never been on a date in his life, he cannot help but head for Pacific Coast Highway when his workday is done.
Soon he is on the sand with her.
It almost seems like a fantasy, but before long she has invited him back to her apartment. She isn't "easy". Nothing happens except conversation, but they become close, and then closer.
We in the audience are trying to warn The Mick : "Don't fall for it! She's not who you think".
But maybe she has a conscience after all.
Or maybe not.
Foster asks Rooney to escort her to a party, given by one of her wealthy Beach Dweller friends (played by the friendly but insidious Kevin McCarthy). This man is tall and handsome, and seems to know Foster pretty well. In fact, they seem to have a "thing" for each other, though they try not to show it.
Rooney can't figure out what is going on, but Foster soon returns her full attentions to him and all is once again well. After the party is over, she suggests to Rooney that he get to know McCarthy. He is wealthy, she tells The Mick, and might be able to help finance his hobby of race driving.
Rooney has a feeling about McCarthy, but he visits him anyway, just to please Dianne Foster.
That's when McCarthy (and his wise cracking buddy Jack Kelly) let Mickey in on the real deal :
They are planning to rob a bank in Palm Springs. They need a getaway driver to haul them through the desert after the job is over, at top speed on a bad road. They chose Mickey because they've seen him race. They offer him 15 grand for his participation. In 1954, fifteen thousand could buy you a house, or a nice race car and a trip to Le Mans to race it. Still, The Mick tells them no, flat out. "I am not a criminal", he says.
But there is Dianne Foster to think about. She was wormed her way into his heart, and she seems to think that the bank robbery is a good idea. Rooney still can't figure out what is plain as day to the rest of us : that in reality she is McCarthy's girlfriend. She has been playing Mick the whole time.
Now, this is me talking, your movie reviewer. I am breaking in here to ask you, "is that a great setup, or what"? I already know your answer.
Both "Drive A Crooked Road" and last night's "The Burglar" were released as part of TCM's Vault Collection, a series I was not aware of until I found these films at the Central Libe. Both movies feature introductions by Martin Scorcese, who is becoming known as much for his historical expertise as he is for his directing, so it tells you something when he champions both of these works as top-level classics in the Film Noir canon, though he is at a loss to explain their relatively unknown status. Everyone has heard of "Out Of The Past" or "Double Indemnity", or "Nightmare Alley".
But I consider myself a big Noir fan, enough so that I am always seeking out and Googling new titles, using every keyword combination I can think of. And yet, I had never heard of "The Burglar" or "Drive A Crooked Road" until yesterday. So I agree wholeheartedly with Martin Scorcese, who says that these films are some of the best of the genre and deserve to be well known.
But I will go Marty one better, and say that these were just flat out great movies, genre or otherwise. They were so good, in fact, that at the end of tonight's film, "Drive A Crooked Road", I was saying to myself and to the now dark TV screen, "They just don't make movies that good anymore; I don't know if it's even possible".
And even back then, these two would have been at the top of the heap.
Ten Stars, then, for "Drive A Crooked Road" and "The Burglar", and Four Thumbs Up as high as you can raise them. If you are a Noir fan, or if you simply wanna see great movies, I give these two my absolute highest recommendation. Extra plus marks for the 1950s Hollywood, Palm Springs and Malibu locations in "Crooked Road", just incredible stuff really, with Mickey Rooney going dark on you to top it all off. ////
See you in church in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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