Last night was spent with The Peaceable Man himself, Bill Elliott, in "Footsteps in the Night"(1957). You can't beat Wild Bill in these detective movies, playing "Lt. Andy Doyle" of the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. We've seen three of 'em now; they should've made 100. There's nothing like his deadpan delivery, which by all rights should put you to sleep, but there's so much going on under the surface of that long face of his, that he commands the screen, just like he did in his many Westerns. This time he's working another homicide case, involving a dead man in a Hollywood motel. Young "Henry Johnson" (Douglas Dick) is the suspect, having fled the room of victim "Fred Horner" (Robert Shayne) after a card game. Johnson found the body, but why did he run and hide all night, if he didn't kill Horner? That's what Lt. Doyle wants to know. When he and his partner "Sgt. Mike Duncan" (Don Haggerty) finally catch Henry, after he tries to take a cab to Union Station, they interview him in lockup and find out that he suffers from gambling addiction, which we already knew.
On the night of the murdalization, he was talked into a poker game by Horner, a miser with a lot of money. The script includes a lot of psychologically interesting characters, and even takes the time to explore their idiosyncrasies, if briefly. Horner loves to gamble, but - as a miser - hates to lose. Think of the infamous miser Hetty Green, who was worth a fortune but collected scraps of soap. Misers aren't cheapskates; they have a fear of being poor, or an addiction to living in poverty, despite being rich. This describes the murder victim Horner. After interviewing Henry Johnson, Lt. Doyle comes to the conclusion that he isn't guilty. Who, then, is the killer? Could it be Henry's shrink? How about his girlfriend? The investigation leads to the electronics factory where Henry held his last job, working for a top secret defense contractor. As noted, this is an interesting script, which gets into obscure details like why defense workers would take home bits of wire from the job. The plot is, however, just the slightest bit telegraphed, and I shant tell you the character involved, in fact I haven't named him or her, but the context will switch to catching this person, once Lt. Doyle clears Henry.
Toward the end, he realises that an identical motel is situated next door to the one in which Horner was murdered. Could the killer have gone to the wrong building, and if so, was Horner a victim of mistaken identity? "Footsteps in the Night" gets Two Big Thumbs Up just on it's tight direction and the presence of Bill Elliott, but it's also interesting for it's serious examination of gambling addiction, mentioned by Henry's shrink as in the same category as alcohol or drugs. Highly recommended, the picture is razor sharp. ////
The night before, we watched Bob Steele in "The Feud Maker"(1938), a Range War tale pitting cattlemen against "Nesters", i.e settlers, with a schemer in the middle fanning the flames. Featuring a starring role for Budd Buster (hooray!), the movie has Bob playing "Tex Ryan", a former outlaw and current hell raiser, who rides into town to help his uncle at his ranch. At the local saloon, Tex hears some Nesters beefing with the cattlemen. The Sheriff (Roger Williams) shows up to stop the trouble before it turns deadly, and Tex helps him out with some quick-draw shooting. Taking note of Tex's skills is "Rand Lassiter" (Karl Hackett), the town big shot and an alleged peacemaker between the feuding factions. Lassiter's a land baron; he poses as a diplomat desiring to stop the feud for the good of the citizens, but when Tex sees him, he knows it's all for show. Lassiter is not what he seems, and in fact, he's a stage robber whom Tex used to ride with, until he raised his gang's stakes to include killing. Tex didn't go in for that, and when he sees Lassiter in the bar, he corners him in a back room and calls him out. "That's not even your real name, as you know I happen to know." Lassiter defies him to try and prove it. "The people here know me as a man of peace". Hmm, sounds like Bill Elliott, but anyhow, before Tex can follow up, more trouble breaks out at the ranch of "Cowlick Connors" (Budd Buster), who'd previously steered clear of the feud. But when two of his men are killed by Nesters, he sides with the other cattlemen, and Tex falls in love with his daughter, forming an alliance that gives Cowlick a gunslinging advantage. Realizing that the gig is up, Lassiter threatens to expose Tex's former membership in his gang, but by now, with the support of everyone at the Connors Ranch, Tex can move forward into a law-abiding future.
"The Feud Maker" features more than the usual amount of horse chases at full gallop, which reminded me of my Dad's old maxim about making Westerns: "first you have all the actors ride in one direction wearing white hats, then you have 'em ride in the other direction wearing black hats. Saves money." In this movie, it turns out Dad was right, as IMDB lists, under Trivia, that the procedure was specifically followed. Lol. Also amusing is the character Rand Lassiter's real name, revealed early on by Tex Ryan. You'll see why. "The Feud Maker" is grade-A Bob Steele, and thus gets Two Big Thumbs Up. The picture is very good. ////
That's all for tonight. I'm listening to "Fish Rising" by the great Steve Hillage. Late night listening last night was Mahler's 3rd, once again conducted by the showy Leonard Bernstein. I'm still playing Wordle, haven't missed a Nerdle but I'm starting to think Factle sucks. I hope your week is going well, and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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