Kokain

A narcotics agent helped by an ex-con and a blonde floozie goes undercover to nab a criminal gang.

The routine story is boosted by a good cast and some nice production touches. That opening shootout grabs us right away, along with the moody location shots of San Francisco, and later, in and around Tucson. The film was made at a time when movies were hitting the streets instead of the sound stages, so it's a good chance to catch styles and relics, circa 1949.

Surprise, surprise, veteran bad guy Duryea actually gets a semi-sympathetic role and only has to snarl once. And catch the unforgettable Shelley Winters, just starting her whiny isn't-she- cheap act. Between them, they lend real color to the production, along with a sneakily jovial John McIntire as the dude ranch host.

Some film buffs may not be aware of director William Castle's career before becoming a notorious schlockmeister with gimmicky teenage films like 13 Ghosts (1960) or The Tingler (1960). But he had a very respectable career at RKO with the brilliantly offbeat The Whistler series of the late '40's before coming over to Universal for this crime drama.

There're a number of good touches here. Catch a young Tony Curtis as the mute hit-man, a role made all the more effective by his pretty-boy good looks. Also, what a great way to heighten suspense by handing off that life-or-death message to a possibly non-English speaker, or by filming the climactic scene at an actual border-crossing with its rows of backed-up cars.

No, a programmer like this won't win any awards, but it's another example of how energetic movie-making was during its studio period.

The movie starts off like a police procedural of the period, but twists into something quite different and intense. Howard Duff is a cop and Dan Duryea is a criminal who infiltrate a drug mob. Both are top notch actors who keep us guessing as to what they're really thinking. Shelley Winters is sexy as the girl who flirts with both in order to escape from her life as a gangster moll. Hanging around on the edges of the film is Anthony (Tony) Curtis. He is quite chilling portraying a cruel thug without saying a word. This was the 24 year-old Bernard Schwartz's third film, but the first one where he is really generating interest. William Castle is known as a director of gimmicky films, but he has some surprisingly effective horror films, "The House on Haunted Hill," and "the Tingler" to his credit. This movie is also surprisingly effective.

In what I rate as the greatest year in the golden age of movies, 1949, the ever reliable William Castle cranks out what would seem to be a routine B programmer about federal agents getting in the thick of crime (drug smuggling) to weed out some highly execrable outlaws, only this time Castle has a super cast at his disposal which clearly lifts this noir above B status.

To Castle's credit, he extracts very good performances from Duff, Winters, McIntire, Kelley and, especially, Dan Duryea, a con doing time who has sworn revenge against US Treasury agent Duff, but turns out to be more decent than imagined after seeing his wife killed as a consequence of consuming narcotics.

Soaring above the film's lofty acting standards, Duryea posts possibly his career-best show in a rare and surprising role as a seemingly inveterate baddie with a decent streak which ultimately redeems and finds him love and happiness. The revenge he warns Duff about turns out to be the wonderful woman who recognizes his worth in the end.

Winters and McIntire also deliver superb performances, the latter as the cold and calculating master villain. Interesting to note that the following year, 1950, Duryea, Winters and McIntire would re-assemble in one of the greatest Westerns ever, WINCHESTER '73.

As would a very young Anthony (Tony) Curtis, who in JOHNNY gets a small and wordless but crucial part as a baby-faced good for nothing... other than killing.

Cinematography deserves considerable praise throughout, the highlights being the early scenes at a dockyard, the apparent alacrity of all in a restaurant/dancing room, and the hangar at the end.

Chases and other action sequences are crackingly well staged, including the shootouts and, above all, the decisive plane-police car crash.

True, the script does not rise above some predictability, but then it is based on true FBI reports, and you know that good will win over evil. Thank God!

Treasury agent George Morton (Howard Duff) convinces a prisoner he knew as a kid (Dan Duryea) to help him go undercover in "Johnny Stool Pigeon" from 1949.

Along the way, they meet Shelley Winters, who works in a mob club, and she becomes involved in their scheme. The three of them wind up at a Tucson dude ranch run by John McIntire as they attempt to uncover a heroin smuggling operation going through Nogales.

Duryea and Duff share a mutual dislike. The question is, will Duryea reveal to the mobsters that Duff is a cop? Meanwhile, a mute mob associate (Tony Curtis) recognizes Duff from somewhere, but he doesn't seem to be able to put it together.

Pretty routine story with good acting, directed by William Castle, told in the sem-documentary style that was popular for movies involving the government in the '40s.

The striking thing about this film to me was how incredibly young these actors were! Shelley Winters was slender and pretty, Duff was trim and handsome, and Curtis was positively adorable. This was his third film; he came to the attention of audiences when he danced with Yvonne DeCarlo in Criss Cross. Easy to see why. I'm prejudiced. I used to work for him.

Dan Duryea only had a few years in Hollywood before Richard Widmark came on the scene and took all the good roles, and in Johnny Stool Pigeon, he pulled out all the stops to make audiences loyal to him instead of the newer blond bad boy. It was a very good performance, and I hope he had a lot of fun playing the title character.

Against his better judgment, he agrees to work with the police in exchange for his freedom. He hates Howard Duff, the federal agent who helped put him behind bars in the first place, but he has to work closely with him to plan a huge drug bust across the Mexican border. Shelley Winters goes with the pair, and while Dan is smitten, she only has eyes for Howard. Poor guy!

Check out this exciting crime flick to find out if she ever changes her mind. It's a great salute to Dan Duryea, and the story has some twists and turns you won't see coming. Plus, you'll probably recognize the mute, menacing villain even though he doesn't reveal his distinctive accent: young "Anthony" Curtis.