The cast was what drew me to tonight's film. How's this for a line-up : Howard Duff, Dan Duryea, Shelly Winters, a very young Tony Curtis (billed as Anthony Curtis), classic bad guy John McIntire, and in minor roles sci-fi hero Charles Drake and Leif Erickson, who we've enjoyed in the "High Chaparral" TV series. Put 'em all together and you've got "Johnny Stool Pigeon"(1948), a tight little Noir directed by our old friend William Castle, he of the classic black and white horror films from the early 60s. Castle is known for his "no-fat" style and he maintains that here, in a basic story with no subplots, but plenty of action in the streets of San Francisco.
"Johnny" is one of those noirs with a narrator, who informs us of the Mission of the Treasury Department. In post-war 'Frisco there's a big problem with narcotics trafficking, specifically heroin coming in from China. But how is it arriving? The docks are tightly policed, there's no sign of it being shipped in. As the movie opens, there's a shootout inside a hotel. Treasury man Duff chases down a hood who escapes, but is then shot dead in an alleyway. Not by Howard Duff, but by a third man (Tony Curtis, a mere kid here). Curtis is an enforcer for a major heroin importer. He's shot the dead man, another one of the gang, to prevent him from talking. Curtis runs off into the night and is not seen again until later.
Having no leads, Howard Duff has little choice but to enlist the help of a convict - Dan Duryea - who's serving a lengthy term at San Quentin. Duryea's doing time for exactly the same thing - drug trafficking - so Duff figures he might know some of the players in the current gang. They also know each other. Duff helped put Duryea away, and Dan hates him for it. But, Duff has an offer for him. If Duryea will help him track down the leaders of the heroin gang, he'll get him a 24 hour pass from prison. Duryea will be able to leave the Joint for a full day, in the company of Duff and his fellow agents. When Duryea balks at the offer ("I ain't no Stool Pigeon"!), Duff shows him a photograph. It's a recent morgue shot of Duryea's little sister, dead on the slab from an overdose. "These guys are evil, Johnny. They threw her life away for money". The revelation turns Johnny against his former crime-mates and earns Duff just enough loyalty from him that he agrees to the deal. But Johnny still hates Duff, telling him : "I'll help you but one day I'm gonna kill you".
And we're off! Johnny is out of prison, and he and Duff are now impersonating "investors", big money men in three piece suits who want in on the heroin trade. Johnny's connections lead them to the Canadian border, where they meet a big shot in the gang. So that's how the Junk is getting in! Through Canada. But this guy turns out to be only a middleman. They're after the Top Dog, who operates from Tuscon, Arizona. The trail takes them to a desert Dude Ranch. Along the way they pick up Shelly Winters, a troubled gal with a heart of gold. She's attached to the gang as a good time girl. Duff wants to keep her out of the takedown - it's too dangerous - but Duryea is falling in love with her and won't continue to play along unless she's included.
So there you have it. That's most of the plot. As I mentioned, it's not complex, but with Castle at the helm it's tightly composed. At 72 minutes, it moves continually from start to finish and your attention never wanes. As also noted, the cast is excellent, with no big stars but plenty of well known names, talented actors all. Keep an eye on Tony Curtis, here in a non-speaking role. He will get ample screen time later in the film, and will have to do everything with his eyes. He's spooky as a mob assassin, and we can see why he became a great actor later in his career.
I give "Johnny Stool Pigeon" Two Solid Thumbs Up", a minor noir lifted up by the cast and William Castle's direction. It's well worth a watch, and we'll have to look for more early (pre-horror) Castle. ////
I've also got a TV show for you : "Friday the 13th, The Series". Does anyone remember it? You might if you're a horror fan. It ran from 1987-90, during a time when there were several such series on the air, based on familiar fright franchises, including "Freddy's Nightmares", which arrived in '88 and was named after You Know Who, and also "Tales from the Crypt", which began it's run in 1989 and lasted seven years, the longest of them all. That one aired on HBO, and since we didn't have cable, I never saw it, but I watched "Freddy's Nightmares" religiously, and as I would come to find out, I'd been a fan of "Friday" as well. I just didn't remember it until recently.
I became re-attuned to it through one of the Usual Suspects, an Amazon recommendation. The synopsis made clear that it was unrelated to the Jason movies, and in reading the description I had a vague recollection of seeing an episode or two, but I needed a new series to binge watch, and what sold me was the price, about 21 bucks for over 70 one hour episodes. You can't beat that, and the era was right (80s horror ruled), so I bought the box set a couple months ago and just recently dug in.
Then something weird happened. As soon as I pressed play on the first episode, the theme music began. "Hmmm.....that sounds familiar". The notes were few, but I was sure I recognized the melody, eerie and simple. It wasn't until the opening credits began to roll, however, that I had my "Aha!" moment. After introducing "John D. Lemay" in the lead male role, the next credit read, simply, "Robey".
That was all it took for me to remember that I'd not only seen a few episodes of this show, but had watched it weekly for quite some time, for at least fifty percent of it's run!
Does anyone remember Robey? She was (and is) a Canadian actress, 27 when the show began, who had just the right look and personality for her role as "Mickey", the female half of a duo of supernatural sleuths, and more on that in a moment, but most of all, she might be remembered for her head of Gigantic Red Hair. If ever an actress captured the Big Hair Ethos of the 1980s, it was Robey, whose fiery mane dominated the small screen, week in and week out. Her full name, I see on IMDB, is Louise Robey, and in truth she only has five credits as an actress. Apparently she was mostly a pop singer and a socialite (married to some Canadian prince or another). Her background suggests high breeding, so maybe she never needed the money, but boy did she pull off her role in the "Friday the 13th" series. It is the only role she is known for, but it was a memorable one. So memorable in fact, that one fan's review suggests that she might've been a prototype for Gillian Anderson's legendary Scully in "The X-Files".
The fan in question wrote something along the lines of "Chris Carter must've been watching" and it's hard to disagree. Robey and Anderson have similar bone structure, similar plucky personas, and both have red hair. Robey's is huge, while Gillian's is close cropped and neck length, but once the reviewer pointed these things out, and included the sleuthing aspect, and Robey's partnership with actor John D. Lemay, it was hard to argue against Chris Carter having seen this series, and that it influenced him to create Mulder and Scully.
I am writing all of this because I'd forgotten all about Robey until some subliminal influence (either Bezos or Mabuse) enticed me to purchase "Friday the 13th : The Series", and it's just plain freakin' weird how you can watch someone on a TV show, they leave a mark on you, however transitory, and then you forget they ever existed, but then they come back and you remember them as if it were yesterday.
We could go one step further and suggest that Stephen King was watching, too. In "Friday" the TV series, Robey and Lemay co-own an antique shop named "Curious Goods", out of which they seek to buy back items of the occult that should never have been sold in the first place. To reclaim these items, which are being used for ill intent, they must first locate the purchasers. This requires them to become Sleuths, and to risk their lives week after week, as they enter into malefic domains with the help of Chris Wiggins, who plays an occult historian.
But as to Stephen King, in 1991, the year after the series finale, he wrote "Needful Things", about a man who sells evil goods to (needful) buyers out of a simliar antique shop, named after the title of the book and subsequent movie.
You tell me : were King and Chris Carter influenced, or were they not? And keep in mind that it doesn't always have to mean a deliberate rip off. Witness the Led Zeppelin/Spirit "Stairway to Heaven" trial. Sometimes an artistic influence can be subliminal yet direct.
Finally, I see on Robey's IMDB that she was "discovered" by J.H. Lartigue, the notable French photographer who captured everyday life in the early 20th century. I only know of Lartigue because Dad had one of his picture books, which I may still have in my Closet Full of Stuff that I don't have room to display in my Tiny Apartment. But yeah.........J.H. Lartigue! The late, great David F. ("Freedy") also liked the Lartigue book, and would often flip through it's pages when he visited 9032.
Ah, the strange connections of life. "It's all too much", said George Harrison. But yeah, check out "Friday the 13th : The Series". It's a lot of fun, with good scripts and horror effects, and it'll take you back to the 80s which is always a good place to be. :)
Have an awesome day. Tons of love as always! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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