The Thick of Things

Taking place over a most pressing twenty-four hour time period, director Arnold Laven’s film noir crime thriller Vice Squad (1953) – sometimes known as The Girl in Room 17 and based on Leslie T. White’s 1937 novel “Harness Bull”, places the viewer inside the police captain’s office as he tries to solve numerous complex problems occurring in Los Angeles. After a cop gets fatally shot in the back while a car is being stolen in the middle of the night, Capt. ‘Barnie ‘ Barnaby (Edward G. Robinson – Double Indemnity; Illegal) starts the day off with even further complications when he gets a tip from a desperate rat with a long rap sheet, Frankie Pierce (Jay Adler – The Killing; Illegal), suggesting a bank robbery could be happening any time...

What at first would seem to be your prototypical poliziotteschi (an Italian sub-genre infusing action and crime), Cry of a Prostitute (1974) – its more subtle titles: Love Kills and Guns of the Big Shots), directed by gritty film maker Andrea Bianchi (Strip Nude for Your Killer; Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror), actually holds more in common with the classic spaghetti western. Taking inspiration from Shakespeare’s Capulets and Montagues, the real life Hatfields and McCoys, and perhaps most importantly, films like Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964), you’ll probably note that each reference relates to two feuding families... which is the main element of the story here.

Sometimes, even the best laid plans for your future, discussed and organized for years, Backfire (1950). A post World War II, Los Angeles set film noir directed by Vincent Sherman proves that in life, nothing is a guarantee. Set over Christmas and New Years 1948, even though we are three years on from the conclusion of the War, soldier Bob Corey (Gordon McRae) is still convalescing at an army hospital after undergoing numerous back surgeries. Relying on fellow military tank buddy Steve Connelly (Edmond O’Brien – D.O.A.; The Hitch-Hiker) to do all the legwork (and military paperwork) to fulfil their long talked about plan... that is, to find a ranch property that they can go oil hunting on, they finally think “we’re out of the jungle now”... alas, they’re far from it.

Some people just have a natural aura... a mesmeric vibe that draws people to them. Whether it’s looks, personality, a combination of both, or perhaps something else that’s completely inexplicable, other human beings are just instinctively attracted to them. Of course, that happened in the comedy There’s Something About Mary (1998), but long before that, a similar scenario involving the titular character in the legendary film noir Laura (1944) occurred, all orchestrated by producer and eventual director Otto Preminger – River of No Return)... but more on that complicated tale later. Opening with the news that Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney – The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Night and the City) is dead by way of murder, it is all told by way of our voice-over narrator (and famed writer/radio voice) Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) – there is no denying that he is one of the gents truly infatuated with the lady.

Christmas Eve – usually a day of family togetherness, holy happiness and plenty of joy... that is, unless you’ve been picked up by the coppers and they’re putting the mighty squeeze on you. Directed by Harold D. Schuster, the 1955 crime thriller film noir Fingerman (sometimes spelled Finger Man) finds a longtime mid level thug with good street cred given a less than envious gift for the holidays – the chance to put a sting on one of the most dangerous criminal bosses thriving on rackets in at least eleven different States. Voice-over narrated by our stuck between a rock and a hard place protagonist, Casey Martin (Frank Lovejoy – In a Lonely Place; The Hitch-Hiker), he has recently been nabbed by the Treasury Agency (A.K.A. the T-Men), with their boss, Mr. Burns (Hugh Sanders), giving him his one and only choice – help them grab one Dutch Becker (Forrest Tucker) – a wealthy criminal mastermind who has his dirty paws in everything from illegal alcohol and gambling, to night clubs and prostitution.

Starting out with a riotous jailbreak, the 1955 film noir Crashout, directed by Lewis R. Foster, finds six of the grittiest criminals working together to make a lengthy trip to get their hands on a briefcase full of cold hard cash. Led by the man with the plan and a slug in his back (courtesy of the jailbreak), Van Morgan Duff (William Bendix – The Big Steal; Who Done It?), rules the escapees with an iron fist... it helps that he is the only person who knows where the money is hidden.