The Pay Off

Lee Tracy once again returns to the role of the fast talking newspaper reporter for PRC's The Pay Off. Tracy could do this role in his sleep, but fortunately put a great deal of conviction into his performance.

The murder of a special prosecutor and the disappearance of his assistant with $100,000.00 in pay off money is the kind of story Tracy can sink his teeth in. He's also got an assistant in this story, young Tom Brown has been told by his publisher father Robert Middlemass to learn the newspaper business from Tracy.

The Pay Off falls into Tracy's hands in the form of a key to bus locker terminal. As for the assistant, Tracy uses it for bait to flush out the bad guys including the mysterious Mr. Big. By this time Brown and Tina Thayer the daughter of the assistant have fallen in love.

As for Tracy he gets to out fox a sly fox of a hit woman in Evelyn Brent. His scene with her when she thinks he's dying of a gunshot wound is the best in the film.

Jack LaRue has a good part as a lizard like gambling club owner who will make your skin crawl.

Tracy's career took a downward skid when he got fired from MGM off the Viva Villa set. For the next dozen or so years he caught on with a lot of low budget studios, but I will say he gave as much conviction to his parts with places like PRC to those films he did with MGM in his top years.

The Pay Off is a good example of that.

Lee Tracy pretty easily carries the show in this fast-moving drama featuring fast talking and a set of familiar supporting characters ranging from the cub reporter to the police inspector needing help to the shady club owner to the girl whose father is in trouble. Evelyn Brent is the one other somewhat interesting character—as the wise female on the wrong side of the law, she's a challenge for Tracy to try and pull over to his side.

Tom Brown is the publisher's son who doubles as the cub reporter trying to learn the business; he's not particularly exciting but eager and fresh-faced and he does throw one punch. Tina Thayer as the daughter of the missing suspect doesn't have much to do and isn't given much to say, but she wears a worried look the best she can. Many other familiar faces populate the rest of the cast—the usual assortment of cops, crooks and reporters.

Oh, the plot? It's fairly complex, actually, having to do with a murdered special prosecutor investigating corruption and a $100,000 payoff that gets chased around for most of the picture.

The script is full of snappy dialog, some of it having to do with the plot, some just clever filler (Brown asks Tracy what they're going to do now, to which Tracy responds, "Slight pause for station identification."). Tracy also tells Brent in the first moments after their meeting, "After one drink, I propose," which adds a little nicely-calculated tension to their future encounters.

Worth a look for those of us who like rapid-fire dialog and don't mind a few clinkers or clichés.

Lee Tracy made a career out of playing wise-cracking reporters, in fact, the model for such roles. Interestingly, this film was made for him, Tracy personally investing in a series of dramas for PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation). Unfortunately, with WWII just beginning, Tracy could only star in one feature before joining the US Army as a first lieutenant.

Despite a low budget, what PRC was famous for, the script by Edward Dein is excellent, and Tracy putting in a 100 percent. He plays reporter Brad McCay, who with his adult son, Guy (played by Tom Brown), investigates the murder of a district attorney, who yes, was on the payroll. Money, money, money! Character actor John Maxwell plays Moroni, lead suspect, although Brad has a difficult time linking him to the crime, while Moroni claims he knows the true killer.

So WHODUNIT? I agree, the cast of familiar B-film actors make this worth a look. Silent screen star Evelyn Brent plays Alma. Ian Keith portrays a detective, and long time villain Jack LaRue makes an appearance. Why not? Tina Thayer plays Phyllis, who appeared mostly in films in the 40s.

Edward Dein went onto write several cult films, later lead writer for tv's HAWAIIAN EYE, a hero to all us kids.

Thanks much to RETRO TV for bringing back this oldie. The film is on dvd, often in box sets with other B films favorites.

Lee Tracy fans rejoice! "The Payoff" (1944) is absolutely essential must viewing for Lee Tracy's legion of fans, so I'm giving it a "Recommended" tag even though it's only available on a very good VintageFilmBuff DVD which you'll need to track down. Admittedly, two of the support players, namely the diminutive but mysterious Tina Thayer (even IMDb can tell us very little about her) and the wonderful Evelyn Brent do get a bit of a look-in, but it's plainly a Lee Tracy vehicle specifically designed for Lee Tracy fans – and for Lee Tracy fans only. Lee has twice as many lines as all the rest of the cast put together and two hundred times more close-ups than Tom Brown. (If memory serves me correctly, Tom has one). True, the lines are third-rate compared to those hatched up for Tracy in "Blessed Event" (1932), but self-indulgent Lee makes the most of them anyway. Arthur Dreifuss is credited as the director here, but I can't for the life of me figure out what Arthur did. Tracy needed no coaching and he simply talks right into the camera. Maybe Dreifuss shot the 10% of the movie in which Tracy doesn't appear? If so, he didn't do a very good job.

Hot-shot newspaper reporter Lee Tracy is involved in a poker game when a prosecutor is murdered. Tracy was reporting on the DA's latest investigation, so he's called in for help. Instead he has to clear the prime suspect, John Maxwell, because he was also part of the poker game when the murder happened. Maxwell tells Tracy to look into the prosecutor's assistant Forrest Taylor, as he was on the take. Soon after Tracy meets Taylor's daughter Tina Thayer, and Maxwell ends up dead in Tracy's apartment. Tracy and Taylor need to find out the truth soon before more people end up dead, being targeted themselves as well by Maxwell's partner, casino owner Jack La Rue.

A mystery/crime programmer done at PRC, the plot is overly complex and convoluted, and relies too much on conveniences and plot holes. But it also uses a most effective means to deal with this, it moves at a quick pace, so there's little room to think about the previous scene, as the current scene demands attention.

Lee Tracy ('High Tide', TV's 'Martin Kane') was once a big name, but in the 40s he was a has-been, and relegated to these low-budget features. His talent for fast & sharp talking works well here, as it fits the character perfectly. Tina Thayer is also quite decent as the demure but determined daughter who wants to find out the truth about her father. She went into a different career, ending her short acting career. Jack La Rue ('The Story Of Temple Drake') also had a decent career in the 30s before losing steam. These has-been actors were a gift for the poverty row studios tho, as they offered decent acting skills and somewhat recognizable names.

While IMDb classifies this movie as film noir, it is only remotely noir-ish. It is a much more straight-forward crime/mystery that also lacks the noir visuals. Director Arthur Dreifuss (a couple of Boston Blackie movies) does what needs to be done to get the story onto film and DoP Ira Morgan (lensing such classics as 'Criminal Investigator' and 'Sensation Hunters' aka 'Club Paradise') manages to sneak in a few decent shots, but all in all they handled the material as routinely as possible. Given it's a PRC production and they probably had no budget or time to experiment with setups, they can hardly be blamed. It's decent enough, but then again I am partial to these movies. 6-/10