michaelchager

The camera work, screenplay, acting and direction provide a real 1955 vehicle starring also Fords and Mercuries. There is a wonderful car collision that throws off the drive-by shooter. Guns are used periodically. Ellen Corby adds her familiarity to a special cast particularly if you spent the1950s watching TV. There is a sense of reality that even if these anre actors they are real actors. Edward G Robinson in a fatherly role. Hugh Marlowe as the protagonist is so great an actor- reminiscent of Richard Basehart. Nina Foch provides a strong character. If this is noir it is also realism as these adults could have lived down the street in 1955 in these roles. So fortunate that Warners was still turning out really good black and white movies about crime this late into the fifties.

The underpinnings of society are removed here as law and order are reversed. This becomes entertainment with the popcorn and jujubes of a darkened movie theater near the end of the careers of Hume Cronyn, Burgess Meredith, Alan Hale, Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda. A swashbuckling pirate movie set in the desert, Douglas channels Errol Flynn. The sunken treasure becomes the point. The removal of the cast follows the logic of the era-1970, addition by subtraction. How Martin Gabel became involved is a marvel and somewhat legitimizes what is otherwise indefensible. One fast forwards because the ending is awaited with interest like a fireworks show or a B Western but not too fast so as to miss some o the intricacies.

Dern is the dictionary photo of best supporting actor here on his way to Family Plot. Rosenberg made much of what we used to watch on TV that was so compelling. Here at full strength he gave us a SF homicide worthy of the legends of the place with replete with some obscure locations. This comes a long way from Barton MacLane and Ward Bond in Maltese Falcon. Here the police team solve the crime. Worthy inclusion in the 1973 class of the police action golden era of locations, conversations, dead bodies, etc. Matthau get a chance to play an action role and Dern has his back. This is a Dern that made Family Plot turn out as he did here.