Remember two nights ago, in "The Man Who Cheated Himself", we had a Good Cop/Bad Cop theme happening, with John Dall and Lee J. Cobb in those roles, respectively, as homicide detectives? Cobb covered up a murder and his Honest John partner (Dall) found out about it? Well, we have a similar plot tonight, and boy is it a good one. The movie is "Shield For Murder"(1954), about a psycho cop who kills a runner for a rackets boss, in order to steal the 25 Grand in cash he's carrying. Noir legend Edmond O'Brien, who also co-directed the film (along with Howard W. Koch), plays "Detective Barney Nolan" as pure evil, a powder keg ready to blow. His colleagues suspect him of murder in the shooting of the runner, but it's ruled as legit by the precinct captain. But just like Lee J. Cobb in the previous movie, O'Brien has a by-the-book partner, played by.......gotta have a drum roll for this......... the one and only John Agar! How weird is that? In writing about "The Man Who Cheated", we said that John Dall might be "the John Agar for 2021". Agar must have read that blog, because tonight he comes storming back to reclaim his crown, in a non-smug good guy role as the cop who has to shut down his partner O'Brien, who goes crazy with rage - and more murders - as the evidence builds against him.
Explosive is the word for this flick, which features some great mid-'50s L.A. locations, in Cheviot Hills near Culver City. When Edmond O'Brien played a heavy, he was as bad as they came, and in this movie he is willing to destroy everyone around him, including his beautiful girlfriend, in order to avoid detection. For a while, he is protected by the Blue Wall of Silence, even though everyone on the Homicide Squad knows he's guilty. But it isn't until new guy John Agar starts examining the chain of evidence that the police face up to the fact that their lead detective is a stone cold killer.
We struck gold with this one, not only because it's an excellent movie, but because we are huge John Agar fans. We became such because of his smug, and often downright smarmy and condescending performances in C-Grade sci-fi flicks from the same era. But here, not only does he turn in a sincere effort, but he's actually quite competent in his role as the morally upright investigator who faces a crisis of conscience, in having to turn in his partner. "Shield For Murder" is brutal in it's depiction of a corrupt, cornered cop, and all the way back in 1954 it sets the tone for what we see in the news today, with police shootings and the internal investigations thereof.
I give it two big thumbs up. But that's not all.....
Last night I found a character driven crime drama of the type Martin Scorcese might've made, had he been working in 1955. Perhaps he was even influenced by this film. It was called "The Naked Street", the story of a Brooklyn mobster (Anthony Quinn) whose domineering ways land hard on his kid sister (Anne Bancroft) and her punk boyfriend (Farley Granger). Quinn is one of those gangsters who thinks of himself as a Legitimate Businessman, and though he's loaded with dough, it's never made clear exactly what his business is. Loan sharking, maybe, with some protection racket thrown in. He has an office, and wears a shiny suit, but he's strictly a neighborhood Hood, not one from the big time. And none of that is the point of the film, anyway. This is a family drama, because - sociopath though he is - Quinn does love his Mama and his sister.
The movie opens with a man on fire, literally. This brief scene demonstrates Quinn's ruthlessness in dealing with his enemies, and allows us to know him in full, before the real story begins.
He plays at loving his family, which could be said to be the reality of all Mafiosi, and it's interesting to consider the way this has been portrayed in films. We always see the Benevolent Mafia Kingpin, who provides for his family, takes care of the neighborhood, and attends church, at least when it helps his image. My guess - which I make because of my ongoing attempt to understand the sociopathic personality - is that the Mafioso is attempting to "fit in" to what would be expected of him from his (usually) very religious, ethnic family. So he hides his corruption behind a facade of material respectability. By becoming rich, and playing the role of Gentleman Benefactor to his blue-collar (or poverty stricken) family, he can be seen as a hero, and thus legitimize himself as much in his own eyes as in theirs. I know that's not a profound insight, but it's brilliantly portrayed here, by Quinn and an ensemble of actors.
Well anyhow, as the story continues, at a family dinner, Quinn finds out that his sister is pregnant. Worse, it's by Farley Granger, a small time neighborhood romeo who's sitting on Death Row in Sing Sing. Granger has only two days to live, for killing a liquor store owner in a holdup. But Quinn has pull. He uses his henchmen to put the muscle on the witnesses who got Granger convicted. They recant their testimony and he is set free. Quinn orders him to marry his pregnant sister straight away, and Granger - in awe and grateful for his new lease on life - obeys.
Talk about your shotgun weddings. Anthony Quinn wants to be loved and respected by his mama and his little sister, the only two people who have emotional power over him, because of his Catholic upbringing. They live right by God and he does not, so he tries to usurp their moral authority by providing luxuries in their lives, which they do not want or need. Finally, when he springs Farley Granger from Death Row, to force him to marry his sister, he's taken his dominance a step too far. You see, Granger is a criminal, and has a criminal mind just like Quinn. He's grateful to be spared the gas chamber, but he'll only take Quinn's orders so far, until he's had enough. Then he stands up for himself, with his wife Ann Bancroft caught in the middle. Bancroft is very young here, and looks like a different person entirely from her later performances in the 1960s and beyond. But this is Anthony Quinn's picture, and he owns it with an authoritative acting job that would've been right at home in "The Godfather" or any other Oscar caliber Mafia film.
Both of tonight's films are available in razor sharp Youtube prints (we've been lucky on that score lately), and both are highly recommended. Please note that I wrote this entire blog from scratch, tonight, so if it reads like gibberish or has unfinished thoughts, come back and re-read it again tomorrow. I will fix all syntactical errors and typos in the morning. Thanks.
Tons of love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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