Okay, admit it: never in your wildest dreams did you think we'd find another Ron Foster flick at this stage of the ballgame. But we did, which goes to show that nothing is impossible, you've just gotta keep the faith. The movie was "Cage of Evil"(1960). Foster stars as "Scott Harper", a good cop about to go bad (we learn this from a flat-voiced narrator). Harper is a hotshot whose hot temper keeps him from getting promoted. His captain tells him "if you could just stop beating up suspects, you might make lieutenant one day." He then gets an assignment that he's sure will boost his fortunes - a diamond heist stakeout in which he goes undercover as an out of town businessman. He ingratiates himself with "Holly Taylor" (Patricia Bair), the hostess of a nightclub whose boyfriend owns the joint and also heads up the diamond theft ring. As the cops have suspected, Holly is a kept woman and a forced player in the ring, who has to do as she's told or it's curtains. She's therefore desperate for outside help, which makes her an ideal wedge for the cops, but Harper can't keep his hands off her. She seduces him, now he's compromised. He keeps up a good front for the captain and the surveillance team, but he loses control when Holly begs him to kill her boyfriend. Harper cooks up an elaborate plan, in which Holly rents a motel room for a month and tricks the guy into going there to fence some diamonds. Then Harper appears and shoots him.
But what neither of them counted on was that Harper's partner was watching them the whole time. Now Harper has to kill him, too. He stages the scene to make it look like the partner and Holly's boyfriend were involved in a shootout, then he and Holly take the diamonds and make a run to Mexico, but the airport is staked out too. Diamonds and Lust have done Harper in; it's the end of a once-promising police career and the narrator laments his downfall.
The deal-sealer here is Ron Foster. We got on his bandwagon last year after seeing him in classics like "The Music Box Kid" and "The Walking Target." Not only was he damn good in those pictures, he had an original look and style also. But the reason we noticed him in the first place is because he was a regular on "Highway Patrol", which we binge-watched before we ever saw him in a movie, and on that show, he was as plain-wrap a vanilla cardboard cutout cop character as to be almost invisible on the show; in fact the role would've made any other actor invisible. But for some reason, we kept asking, "who is that actor playing the vanilla guy?" And that's because Ron Foster is very talented, you can't help but notice him even when he's doing nothing but handing papers to Broderick Crawford. He's handsome but in a jagged way, and on edge, like he's pumped full of nicotine and trying to keep his cool. There's no one else like him, which is why we are big fans, and I think we said last year that we are the Tarantino of Ron Foster because we re-discovered him in the same way QT rediscovers actors like the similarly-named Robert Forster (a similarity I think we also mentioned). Anyway, as directed by Edward L. Cahn, the story is taut and involved, though the middle section is taken up with some overwrought ratcheting of the sexual tension. The closer Harper and Holly are to danger and the collapse of their getaway plan, the more they embrace and do that jaw-clenching thing that the Method Acting coaches teach, where the muscles flex in the throat while the lovers breathlessly make goo-goo eyes at one another. This type of thing worked better in movies from the 30-40s, Noirs especially, where the actors underplayed the tension and didn't do all that overwrought stuff. But in every other respect, Foster is first rate. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Cage of Evil". The picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night we had "Vice Raid"(1959), a Cops-versus-The Syndicate tale, also directed by Cahn, in which "Detective Whitey Brandon" (Richard Coogan) is on a crusade to take down a prostitution ring run by "Vince Malone" (Brad Dexter) though his false-front modeling agencies. As with "Cage of Evil", the movie starts with Jack Webb-style "just the facts, ma'am" narration, informing the viewer that The Syndicate controls prostitution, gambling and narcotics, but that prostitution is the hardest to bring down because it involves the most concerted deception. This is demonstrated as Whitey and his partner stop a pimp getting off a Greyhound bus with a blonde. He says he just met her. "Yeah sure," Whitey says. "Both of you are going to jail if you don't tell me who's in charge of this racket." While Whitey is calling in the bust, his partner kills the pimp, making look like he tried to flee. The partner is in the pocket of Vince Malone, setting up an eventual showdown between him and Whitey.
Malone decides that Whitey is a thorn in his side. All the other cops take payoffs, why won't he? Well, it's because Whitey's sister committed suicide after getting caught up in another such ring. He thus has a personal vendetta against prostitution, but Malone doesn't know that and wouldn't care anyway. He just wants Whitey gone, but knows better than to have him killed because that would bring the full force of the police department down on him, so instead, he decides to frame Whitey. To do so, he calls a colleague from Detroit, who sends in his #1 hooker, "Carol Hudson" (Mamie Van Doren).
By this time, the captain has set Whitey up undercover as a professional photographer who specializes in figure models. He's trying to root out the modeling agencies controlled by Malone, and thereby bust the entire prostitution ring. The script makes it very clear how hard it is to arrest and convict The Mafia, because they cover their tracks, even though the whole world knows they're guilty (cough, trump). Carol Hudson comes to town, and when Whitey sees her at the modeling agency, he hires her for photos, not knowing she's a plant by Malone. During the photo shoot, she propositions him, and he shows her his badge and arrests her. But in court, she turns it around and says he propositioned her. The DA and Internal Affairs believe her side of the story, and now suddenly Whitey is suspended from the police force. The captain, however, knows he is telling the truth, and helps him go rogue, to run his own private investigation off the books against Malone.
Meanwhile, Carol Hudson is liking her time in Los Angeles. As Malone's #1 gal, she's making more money than she did in Detroit, but then her kid sister shows up at her fancy new, paid-for apartment. Her sister is a fresh-faced '50s kid from Dubuque, Iowa, all pony tails, wool skirts and effervescence. She has no idea that big sister Carol is a prostitute, and Carol tries to shield her. But Carol is busy with the plan to frame Whitey Brandon, and one day Malone's henchman shows up at Carol's apartment while only her little sister is there. He rapes her and beats her up (it's brutal), and now Carol is 100% turned against Malone and the entire Syndicate. Money or no money, she's out to get them, and now she has something in common with Whitey: both have sisters who are victims of prostitution. Carol goes to the cops and offers her services to catch Malone and the henchman who raped her little sister. But to convict them - because the Mafia is so tricky (cough, trump), they need absolute proof, and the only way to do that is to tape record them. Carol will have to sneak a tape recorder into a meeting of Malone, Whitey and the Midwest Mafia bosses. Can she do it and remain alive? Director Cahn has a flair for these police dramas, which are intricately cut for B-movies. We've seen Mamie Van Doren several times now, and have mentioned that - when you get past her well-known physique - she's a pretty good actress for films of this type (even in non-bimbo roles). She was like Marilyn, smarter than she let on, and had a sense of humor about the whole Blonde Bombshell thing. Brad Dexter is good in the Malone role, slick and handsome but absolutely oozing slime. And Richard Coogan is appropriately hard-case as the angular Detective Whitey Brandon. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Vice Raid". The picture is razor sharp. Make it an Edward L. Cahn double-feature night. Both pictures are highly recommended. ////
That's all for tonight. My blogging music was Alan Parsons' "I Robot" and Atomic Rooster "In Hearing Of". Late night is Mahler's 7th. I hope you had a nice weekend and I send you Tons of Love as always!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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