Straße der Sünderinnen

It's the first day for New York city beat cop John Dean (George Montgomery). He's taking over from a retiring veteran who allowed for a loose interpretation of the law. John is the opposite and he intends to clean up. Leon owns the local bar, owns the police, and runs the wild streets. Nancy is the underaged wild girl working in the bar. Terry is the local drunk who often takes off her clothes in the street.

It's a police melodrama. It's a 50's fantasy street life. There is an element of selling to middle America. There is over-acting here and characters worthy of pulpy crime comics. It's fun in an enjoyable B-movie way. The actors are pretty good despite the melodramatic material. The characters may be one-dimensional but compelling enough to be rooting interest.

This camp classic deserves more recognition. Rookie cops tries to get the underbelly of society to play by the rules. They resist. "Get your ticket writing fingahs offa me!" The homeliest leading lady in movie history and Geraldine Brooks had come a long way down from her Warner Bros. Starlet days a few years ago.

Law abiding citizens today will yearn for tame 1950s criminalovs. I love sanitized 1950s Hollywood. The hookers wear pearls.

A cop on the beat, looking after the goings on for a street assigned to him, is a rather quaint notion, but given life by straight-shooter George Montgomery in this dated but entertaining B-movie.

It's loaded with stereotypes and cliche plot twists, but the cast does a fine job making it eminently watchable. Nehemiah Persoff is terrific as a truly good bad guy -in fact, his self-serving statements on how he holds the street together and is worthy of running things is far more convincing than George's bull-in-a-china-shop approach as an unbending, old-hat cop who insists on playing everything by the book.

It's a revelation to see young Geraldine Brooks as a sexy drunk with the proverbial heart of gold. As the young teen lead Marilee Earle is a striking and forceful beautiful brunette -I was surprised to see that her career went nowhere in a hurry.

Novice cop George Montgomery starts his beat on a street uptown. Bar owner Nehemiah Persoff controls the neighborhood of drunks and delinquents. He and Montgomery tangle, and when Geraldine Brooks jumps off the ledge of her apartment while Montgomery and her ex-husband are present, Montgomery is suspended.

It's a fast-paced little programmer, and Persoff is terrific as the guy who came out of the gutter and didn't travel far. It's well produced on a cheap budget, but like most of Montgomery's vehicles in this period, it was designed to make a profit without doing much for anyone's career.

John (George Montgomery) is a rookie cop about to start his first beat. However, he is quite naive and knows little about the neighborhood and the hood who runs it. Leon (Nehemiah Persoff) is a small-time mobster who has connections in City Hall....and for years, folks have ignored Leon. But while at first Leon seems like a minor crook who isn't doing much harm, his influence goes far beyond just serving liquor to underage kids in his bar. Can John manage to stand up to Leon and both keep his job AND not get his head blown off as well? And, can John effect change when his fellow officers don't seem to care?

Despite the film initially seeming pretty cheesy and stiff, the film improves as you watch. It soon becomes tense and exciting....and leads to a dandy finale. Well made and very well written.

By the way, believe it or not, Persoff turns 102 this August. Good luck to a fine, fine actor....and he sure plays an excellent villain!