PRIVATE PROPERTY

Corey Allen

PRIVATE PROPERTY (1960). Written and directed by Leslie Stevens.

Boots (Warren Oates) and Duke (Corey Allen) are drifters who spy a blonde in a corvette and decide to follow her with the temporary assistance of the frightened businessman Ed Hogate (Jerome Cowan). The handsome and more intelligent Duke decides it's time that the older and somewhat simple-minded Boots have a woman, and the blonde, Ann (Kate Manx) -- who lives in a beautiful home with her husband, Roger (Robert Wark) -- has been selected whether she likes it or not. Holing up in an empty house next door, the two watch Ann and plan their next move ...

Robert Wark and Kate Manx

Private Property has its admirers -- it has some atmosphere and moody photography -- but it is by no means a lost masterpiece. The picture takes forever to get going, the antics of the two men and the views of Ann and Roger at home become equally tiresome, there is virtually no suspense, and by the time anything of real interest happens it's far too late to save the picture. Yes, it is clear that Ann, despite her love for her husband, is attracted to Duke, and some sequences almost have a simmering quality, but the chief feeling you get from the film is that Corey Allen -- good-looking, charismatic and talented -- deserved a much bigger career and could have easily played romantic leads. Allen has a rare leading role in this film and is excellent (he later became a very successful director). He gave top-notch, quirky performances in such films as The Big Caper and The Chapman Report.

Allen, Oates, and Cowan

Warren Oates, of course, who is also good, went on to better things. Jerome Cowan appears briefly and is as adept as ever. Kate Manx, who gives an appealing performance, was married to the writer-director Leslie Stevens [Fanfare for a Death Scene] at the time, and did a second film with him, Hero's Island, in which she was James Mason's leading lady! A year after her divorce from Stevens she committed suicide at 35. As for Stevens, he wrote the stage play The Marriage-Go-Round (as well as the screenplay for the adaptation) and created The Outer Limits and It Takes a Thief, among others. Ann and Roger's house in this movie was actually the home of Stevens and Manx.

Verdict: Over-rated B movie features an arresting performance by Allen, who deserved a better vehicle. **1/4, 

THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND

Warren Oates and Ray Danton

THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND (1960). Director: Budd Boetticher.

After doing a dancing act with his partner, Alice, (Karen Steele), Jack Diamond (Ray Danton) manipulates his way into the camp of roaring twenties' mobster Arnold Rothstein (Robert Lowery) and even romances his woman, Monica (Elaine Stewart of Most Dangerous Man Alive). Rothstein christens Jack "Legs" and is somewhat amused by his rival's all-too-obvious ambition. As Jack becomes a competitor, as well as a murderer many times over, he also manipulates Alice into marrying him, to the consternation of the authorities who'd hoped for her help. Legs brags that he is unkillable -- but is that really the case? Legs Diamond is another film that takes a few facts about a legendary gangster and somehow manages to make the man's life more cliched and less interesting than it actually was. Although Ray Danton [I'll Cry Tomorrow] offers his customary charismatic performance, he is hardly perect casting -- what this needs is the almost manic energy of a Cagney. Robert Lowery [Batman and Robin] scores as Rothstein, and there's some good work from Steele; Stewart; Warren Oates as Legs' brother, Eddie; Joseph Ruskin as Rothstein's bodyguard, Moran; and Judson Pratt as Legs' associate Fats. Simon Oakland is the cop investigating Legs; Dyan Cannon is another bimbo; and Gordon Jones -- the second serial hero in the cast -- is an old Army "buddy" of Legs' who goes to work for him. The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond is not especially well directed and despite the subject matter even becomes boring after awhile. This is one of the few starring roles handed to Ray Danton, and it's a shame Warner Brothers couldn't have assigned him to a better picture, as he was certainly a dynamic figure. The following year Danton reprised his role of Legs in Portrait of a Mobster about Dutch Schultz, and David Janssen played Rothstein in King of the Roaring 20's, in which the character of Legs did not appear.

Verdict: This study of an unrepentant sociopath should have been much sharper. **.

THE SPLIT

THE SPLIT (1968). Director: Gordon Flemyng.

McClain (Jim Brown), fresh out of jail, comes to see his attractive lady friend, Ellen (Diahann Carroll). But he's even more interested in another lady named Gladys (Julie Harris) who has the set-up money for another score: McClain and five associates are going to rob a football stadium of its booty. But will any of them get to spend the money when thieves fall out? And who is that weird guy, Herb (James Whitmore) who is coming on to poor Ellen? The Split is a suspenseful and entertaining caper film with an excellent cast and some intriguing developments. Oddly, the robbery itself is sort of tossed off -- it's what happens later that matters --  but there is a very exciting scene with Brown and Jack Klugman getting into a chase involving a limo. Brown is okay, but there are fine performances from Whitman, Warren Oates, Klugman [Twilight Zone], Gene Hackman [The French Connection], Donald Sutherland, and especially Julie Harris [The Last of Mrs. Lincoln] in her tough, highly memorable portrayal of no-nonsense she-boss Gladys. The well-edited movie is based on "The Seventh," a novel by Donald Westlake ("Richard Stark") that features his amoral protagonist Parker.

Verdict: Quite absorbing and well-acted. ***.