Steve Cochran |
I Mobster traces the rise and fall of gangster Joe Sante (Steve Cochran of The Big Operator), whose father virtually disowns him and whose mother (Celia Lovsky) eventually follows suit. As a boy (played by an uncredited but talented youngster), Joey was taken under the wing of Black Frankie (Robert Strauss), and later also works for crime boss Paul Moran (Grant Withers of the Jungle Jim serial). Joe takes up with a nice neighborhood gal named Teresa (Lita Milan), who is at first highly disapproving of his activities but ultimately there's no arguing with love. But Joe's ambitions and high-risk lifestyle may become his undoing ...
Saucy Yvette Vickers |
In the long run, however, I Mobster doesn't really rise above all of the hoodlum cliches -- sobbing mother, worried, conflicted girlfriend, rivals and hits -- but the darn thing is too entertaining and well-played for that to matter much. As for Cochran, a hell-raising lover boy off-screen, he died at only 48 under very mysterious circumstances.
Verdict: Fast-paced Corman melodrama with a well-chosen cast. ***.
2 comments:
Wow, will check this out just to see Lili St. Cyr--have never seen her in a film, only a few still photos. True, she was a genuine burlesque sex symbol, rather than the persona that Gypsy created, which was much more a comic spoof or satire and not truly titillating, at least from the films Iand TV clips I have seen her in.
-Chris
I think you summed it up beautifully. Lee was almost a parody of a stripper, which may have been the point all along. Cyr was genuinely sexy.
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