CODE TWO

Ralph Meeker, Jeff Richards, Robert Horton

CODE TWO (1953). Director: Fred M. Wilcox.

Three young men -- Chuck (Ralph Meeker), Russ (Robert Horton) and Harry (Jeff Richards of Born Reckless) -- join the police academy in Los Angeles and eventually ask to be assigned to the motor(cycle) squad. Chuck is a cocky if likable lug who goes after Russ' sister-in-law, Jane (Elaine Stewart of The Tattered Dress) but her focus is more on the shy-but-sexy Harry. Russ at first keeps the news about his assignment from his wife (Sally Forrest) because she fears for his safety, but tragedy is in store for one of the other men, with his two friends doing their best to avenge him. It all leads to an exciting climax in a warehouse with a boiling lime pit and a host of bad guys trying to make mincemeat of our heroes.

The three leads all give solid performances with fine support from the ladies and from Keenan Wynn as Police Sergeant "Jumbo" Culdane. William Campbell [The Young Racers] is also notable as a nasty, murderous trucker. Also on hand in smaller roles are Chuck Connors as a cop and James Craig as a police lieutenant. As for Meeker, he struts through the film with great charisma and authority.

Verdict: Well-done if minor cop melodrama. **1/2. 

SMALL TOWN GIRL

Farley Granger and Jane Powell

SMALL TOWN GIRL (1953). Director: Leslie (Laszlo) Kardos.

Rich and patronizing playboy Richard Livingstone III (Farley Granger) speeds through the small town of Duck Creek, sasses Judge Kimbell (Robert Keith), and winds up thrown in jail for thirty days. Richard importunes the judge's daughter, Cindy (Jane Powell), to let him out one night for his "mother's" birthday. Richard has a jealous if unfaithful fiancee in Broadway star Lisa Bellmount (Ann Miller), but during a night in New York he and Cindy start to fall in love. How will the judge react when he is apprised of this situation?

Jane Powell

Small Town Girl is the perfect example of a well-turned out MGM musical. The players are fine and enthusiastic (Granger is much better than you might imagine); the TechniColor is vivid and beautiful; there are a couple of more than pleasant tunes ("Small Towns;" "The Fellow I Follow"); some excellent production numbers; and an essentially amiable if lightweight veneer that puts over the slight but entertaining storyline. Jane Powell [Seven Brides for Seven Brothers] again proves an adept leading lady with a lovely voice and good delivery. And besides Granger, Powell has a host of excellent supporting players and character actors to back her up.

Bobby Van 

First among these is Bobby Van [Lost Horizon], who plays Ludwig Schlemmer, the boy next door who has Broadway aspirations. Van is by no means handsome in Hollywood terms, but he is so irrepressible and talented that it doesn't matter; he has a kind of Al Jolson delight in performing. The most famous highlight of Small Town Girl is when Van literally hops his way across town in sheer spirited excitement, a well-choreographed (Busby Berkeley) sequence that was filmed with only a few cuts. When Ludwig meets Ann Miller and tells her his name, she says "Well, keep it quiet and no one will notice." Ludwig's father is played by "Cuddles" Sakall, whose character in this seems more grumpy and unpleasant than lovable.

Miller struts her stuff

Then there's Ann Miller [Carolina Blues]. There may well have been better female dancers in Hollywood musicals, but in this Miller stars in a zesty production number, "Feel That Beat," wherein the members of the band are hidden behind walls and under the floor, with only their arms and instruments protruding. As for the rest of the players, Robert Keith is fine as the judge, as is an uncredited Chill Wills as the friendly sheriff, Happy. Fay Wray is the judge's wife; Billie Burke is her dithery self as Richard's society mother; William Campbell is a reporter; Marie Blake is a shop customer; and Beverly Wills, the daughter of Joan Davis, plays Ludwig's sister, Deidre. Nat King Cole also sings a number, "Burn Low." Photographed by Joseph Ruttenberg.

Verdict: Delightful MGM musical. ***.   

MONEY, WOMEN AND GUNS

Jock Mahoney

MONEY, WOMEN AND GUNS (1958). Director: Richard Bartlett.

Western detective "Silver" Ward Hogan (Jock Mahoney) rides into town and is immediately assigned the case of an elderly murdered prospector. Hogan discovers that the killer might be one of the people mentioned in the old man's will, so he sets out to find them and see what's up. The beneficiaries include a cute little boy named Davy (Tim Hovey), who lives with his widowed mother, Mary (Kim Hunter), and who ignites Hogan's cautious interest. Then there's the bearded Briggs (Don Megowan); the supposedly reformed crook Clinton Gunstone (William Campbell), who lives with his wife Mary (Judi Meredith); and the oldtimer Henry Devers (James Gleason), whose best pal is Art Birdwell (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Hogan also has a rival in bounty hunter Johnny Bee (Jeffrey Stone, who makes a good impression in a strange role).

The comically generic title of the movie, along with its poster, promises something that the flick doesn't quite deliver. One imagines Mahoney stumbling out of a dance hall with a smile on his lips and lipstick all over his face, but any dance hall gals in this movie are kept far, far in the background. Instead, Money, Women and Guns is a relatively serious and well-written western-mystery whose major flaw is its very abrupt wind-up. Smaller roles in the film are played by Phillip Terry as a lawyer, Tom Drake as the brother of two desperadoes, and Gene Evans [The Giant Behemoth] as an autocratic sheriff. Kim Hunter [The Seventh Victim] is fine if a bit out of place as Mary, little Tim Hovey is a scene stealer, and James Gleason [Racket Squad] arguably offers the best performance as Devers. Mahoney has charisma and is competent but is frankly out-classed by some of the other actors. From Universal-International, this is a color CinemaScope production.

Verdict: Entertaining, minor western with a good premise. **1/2. 

THE YOUNG RACERS

Friends or enemies? Mark Damon and William Campbell

THE YOUNG RACERS (1963). Director: Roger Corman.

Stephen (Mark Damon of Young and Dangerous) is a writer who discovers that his fiancee, Monique (Beatrice Altariba), has been seduced and abandoned by a famous Grand Prix driver named Joe Machin (William Campbell of The High and the Mighty). Stephen's initial intention is to write an expose of the married, womanizing sleazeball, and to that end befriends the man and even joins his team. Joe is unaware of Stephen's history with Monique, but discovers it just before the climactic race, with surprising results.

Marie Versini and William Campbell

The Young Racers is an odd, strangely unconvincing picture that somehow manages to hold the attention -- it helps that the pace is fast -- but just never builds up to anything especially explosive (despite the car wrecks in the movie). Mark Damon would have been better cast as the married playboy driver, but he gives a disconnected, unemotional performance -- probably because for some reason his every line was dubbed by William Shatner! -- and Campbell is only somewhat better. You sometimes get the sense that the actors in this were given the script pages only moments before stepping in front of the camera, which may well have been the case. Marie Versini is appealing as Joe's neglected wife, Sesia, but R. Wright Campbell, who wrote the screenplay for this and other Corman films (such as Masque of the Red Death) and was William Campbell's brother, is pretty wooden as Joe's brother, Bob, who hates him but loves his wife. It's no surprise that Wright Campbell never acted in another movie.

Mark Damon

Although Luana Anders [Dementia 13] , who plays Stephen's secretary, Henrietta, can be very effective in other movies, in this she just seems weird, even giving off-kilter line readings. Christina Gregg and Margrete Robsahm make a better impression as two of Joe's girlfriends. Also notable is Patrick Magee, who plays another man whose wife was stolen away by Machin. The action in this veers from Monte Carlo to France to England, and the race at the climax is well-edited and fairly exciting, but this has too much flat acting and a rather inferior script despite its interesting premise.

NOTE: Francis Ford Coppola, who has a bit in this film and was assisting Corman, was allowed by the boss to shoot his own movie with the same crew, set and actors -- Anders, Campbell, and Magee -- as long as it didn't interfere with the shooting of the main picture. The result was the aforementioned Dementia 13, which is lots better than Young Racers.

Verdict: Even Vincent Price couldn't have saved this one. **. 

THE BREAKING POINT

Patricia Neal and John Garfield

THE BREAKING POINT (1950). Director: Michael Curtiz.

"A man alone ain't got no chance."

NOTE: Some plot points are revealed in this review.

Harry Morgan (John Garfield) is married to a loving wife named Lucy (Phyllis Thaxter) and has two adorable little girls. Harry is trying his best to keep his charter fishing business afloat, but it doesn't help when one client takes off and stiffs him, leaving behind his girlfriend of the moment, Leona (Patricia Neal). Harry resists Leona's charms, but he can't resist getting into criminal activity to pay his bills, and after an interlude with some smuggled Chinese, winds up using his boat as a getaway in a robbery. But will anybody get away with anything? The Breaking Point is the second (and apparently more faithful) version of Hemingway's To Have and Have Not, and for much of its length plays like gritty if meandering film noir. Patricia Neal makes the most of her few scenes, but she seems thrown in for little purpose except to test the anti-hero's resolve -- at least one scene seems completely contrived. Garfield is good, while Thaxter perhaps underplays too much as his wife. Wallace Ford [The Mummy's Hand] is memorable as a slimy lawyer who offers Harry less kosher jobs when he needs the money, and Victor Sen Yung [Charlie Chan in Honolulu], formerly one of Charlie Chan's sons, scores in a sinister role as a man smuggling his fellow Chinese but who doesn't give a damn about them. One of the most notable performances comes from William Campbell [Dementia 13] as a smart-talkin' hood with an itchy trigger finger. Juano Hernandez is also fine as Wes, Harry's ill-fated deck hand who tries to keep his boss and friend out of trouble to his ultimate regret. The final shot of the film, showing Wes's little boy all alone on the dock wondering where his father is, is absolutely heart-breaking, reminding the audience of the tragic cost of  Harry's actions. It is an unusual way to end the film, as generally the lives and deaths of supporting (especially minority) characters were forgotten by the closing credits. The Breaking Point is imperfect, but it may be the best adaptation of Hemingway ever. Superior cinematography from Ted D. McCord. Composer Max Steiner was clearly not allowed to break out all the stops but he should have been.

Verdict: Absorbing, generally well-acted melodrama with an extra layer of depth. ***.

PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW

Rock Hudson with co-eds

PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW (1971). Director: Roger Vadim.

In a California high school, a horny 17-year-old named Ponce (John David Carson), student manager for the football team, finds the body of a pretty female student in a bathroom. The football coach, and assistant principal "Tiger" McDrew (Rock Hudson), although married, is sleeping with many of the high school girls, and even encourages the new teacher Betty Smith (Angie Dickinson) to make nice with the virginal, always excited Ponce -- the two begin an affair. Soon there are more murders, with Capt Surcher (Telly Savalas) leading the investigation. Roddy McDowall is the principal, weird Susan Tolsky is his secretary, Keenan Wynn is the police chief, and William Campbell (Dementia 13) is another cop. Not being a far-out black comedy or farce, Pretty Maids is just one of those strange, bad movies that seems to exist only in its own unreal universe. There is absolutely no suspense, and the identity of the killer certainly comes as no surprise. Hudson, Dickinson and Carson all give good enough performances, but the movie is superficial and uninspired and not even especially entertaining. Director Vadim could have directed this in his sleep. Carson also appeared in Empire of the Ants.

Verdict: Even a "mad slasher" movie is more fun than this! *1/2.