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Writer-producer-director-star Hugo Haas offers his take on THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, with psychotic Vince Edwards driven mad with lust for Haas' new wife, Cleo Moore. Haas is no dummy, and he has his own twist in store for them. In many ways, his work reminds me of the sort of paperback original novels of the era, with people murdering each other for sex at least as much for money. Whether this was an outgrown of film noir or a source of the film genre is hard to say. Possibly each egged the other on.

If you're looking for high cinematic art, this is not a movie for you. Haas paid for his own productions and then sold the finished project to a distributor, so it came out pretty much as he wanted within the limits of what he could afford. Still he knew what his audience wanted, like turbo-charged lion tamer Dolores Reed, who suggests to Edwards that he join her act.

Cleo Moore was one of the sexiest blonde starlets of the 1950's but sadly this 1957 release was her swan song. She had starred in around ten films and was well known by the public but I guess there was just too many beautiful blondes around at the time. She's the best thing in this standard little film noir of the beautiful young wife, middle-aged husband, and the young hunk who comes between them. Looking fantastic as a platinum blonde, Cleo gives an excellent performance and her love scenes with hunky Vince Edwards are fairly torrid. Director-costar Haas seems a little too sympathetic to his own character for my liking, a boisterous auto repair shop owner who woos option-less showgirl Moore. Never a particularly good director (to say the least), Haas notably wastes the potential in one scene in the wrecked car "graveyard" beside his repair shop which manages an eerie touch nevertheless. The movie quite low budget but that proves to be an asset in capturing the angst of low-income 50's America.

And it was their last film together. After "Hit and Run," Cleo married a multimillionaire, went into the real estate business, and never looked back. This potboiler also stars Vince Edwards.

Haas, a garage owner named Gus, meets Julie in the club where she works and gives her his card, telling her to call him about a car. You don't have to ask her twice. She shows up soon after. Before you know it, wedding bells.

From the beginning, there's a sexual tension between her and Hugo's helper Frank (Edwards). One night, Frank grabs her and declares his love. Julie is attracted to him, but tells him to leave town. Gus, meanwhile, catches on that there are some sparks.

This story has a little twist to it.

Cleo is stunning, and as usual, the focus is on her. Besides her looks, she had a strong presence. Edwards' looks normally don't appeal to me, but he is quite hunky here. Haas turns in a good performance. He was actually quite well known in his native country of Czechoslovakia.

Some trivia, the woman from the circus, whom Frank meets later in the film was Robert Mitchum's older sister. She retired after getting married.

This story isn't pretty, in fact it's downright scuzzy:

He's old and fat, with a bank account to match his belly. She's young and hungry, with too much peroxide and not enough scruples. Toss in a muscle-bound mechanic with a yen for faux-blonde skanks with alley cat morals and you can be sure that the postman who always rings twice will be heading for the doorbell again.

Welcome to the lower depth digs of Hugo Haas & Cleo Moore, a particularly grimy rung of the film noir inferno. Like most of their collaborations, it plays like a lurid, dog-eared pulp mystery paperback come to life, chock full of murder, mendacity, horny Hungarian junkmen with goulash for brains, Italian studs with sky-high pompadours, and femme fatales with bosoms the size of Tucker Torpedoes.

HIT AND RUN was the final collaboration between writer/director/star/gutter auteur Haas and his slatternly muse Moore. Along for the ride is Vince Edwards as the beefcake buddy who covets his best friend's bride. As with all Haas/Moore noirs, everything they touch turns to pig slop.

All told, it's one of Hugo's better efforts, a compelling, typically feverish riff on the DOUBLE INDEMNITY formula (albeit told from the perspective of the elderly cuckold) festooned with several oddball twists and turns and touches. Well worth seeking out. With Julie Mitchum, Robert's lookalike sister, as an undertaker's sassy wife.

The Hugo Haas Bio Deserves Attention from Anyone Interested in B-Movies, Especially of the Film-Noir Type,

that He Made His Specialty in the Last-Act of a Long and Rich Career in the Movies, that Ended where He Did Everything but Sweep the Floor.

In this one, He Follows the Film-Noir Mainstay that He Repeated Now and Then of an Older, Well-to-Do Man who Manages to Snare a Young, Pretty, Bad-Girl.

Only to be Set-Up for the Knock-Off by a Femme Fatale (Cleo Moore who made 7 Movies with her discoverer).

The Handsome-Hunk on the Side-Lines Willing and Able to Do the Deed is Vince Edwards (a smoldering, sexy, Body-Builder in real life), whose Claim-to-Fame was Playing "Ben Casey" on TV for 5 Years. (1961-66).

"Hit and Run" has a Number of Thrills (check out that lion tamer Dolores Reed), Twists, and Spills, and Like Always Hugo's Bang-for-the-Buck, Delivers.

This Would be Cleo Moore's Last Film After Giving Hollywood a Try in a Few Films with some Minor Success, but Never Hit the Big-Big-Time. Just Like Her Mentor Hugo.

Once Again Check Out His Bio. A Fascinating Immigrants Hollywood History if there ever was One.

He was one of the Most Hard Working Talents that was Chewed Up by the Movie-Industry that He Loved and was Dismissed as a "Bottom Feeder" and in Later Years was Given the Undeserved Nick-Name of the "Foreign Ed Wood".

He was Once Gregory Peck's , among others, Acting Coach for Heaven Sake.

Hugo Haas almost always played a role himself in the films he made and often he played the character of a more or less naive fool who is cheated on by his beautiful wife who wants to run away with the young guy, or his money .

Frank can't stand Gus's new wife at first (or so it seems) but secretly he is also crazy about Julie, when she finally seems to fall for him after a few advances he hatches a plan to get rid of Gus.

Hugo Haas dared to do something that many bigger film makers would rather avoid, and that is portraying the nastiness and evil of women, here that plot story is less extreme, especially the few twists in the plot towards the end that give this film that extra push that makes it just that little bit better than Hugo's other work.

The king of low budget film noir with cleavage, Hugo Haas, is to be commended. Haas had the knack for remaking classic films, like THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and with him starring as the old man in the way, accompanied by lovely femme fatale Cleo Moore.

Nice to see some of his films surface of late, a rerun favorite back in the days of black and white tv. HIT AND RUN is a campy gem, all about young hunk Vince Edwards working at Haas' garage and discovering flirtatious Moore. Haas (who plays Gus) gets run over (why not?) and Vince and Cleo live happily ever after --OR do they?

Let the grade-B suspense begin, and what a tangled web these two weave. I would bet even Hitchcock watched some of these films, getting ideas for his offbeat tv show, which had similiar mechanics. It fits.

Recommended late show stuff and with all the cheap trimmings. Some of Haas films are on dvd, but you have to do your homework. Double bill or box sets floating around. Check ebay for best results. Worth your time.

Cleo Moore and Hugo Haas starred in a terrific and very original film, "The Other Woman". Well, three years later they're back and starring in "Hit and Run" and they are joined in the leads by Vince Edwards (of "Ben Casey" fame).

Gus (Hugo Haas) Owns a garage and asks a young and pretty woman, Julie (Cleo Moore), to marry him. Soon after they marry, their employee, Frank (Vince Edwards) begins making passes at the missus. She never encourages him...but she also doesn't tell her husband. Frank takes that to mean she loves him and has come up with a scheme to kill the old man and then dismantle to car for scrap so there is no evidence! She is horrified when she is in the car with Frank and Frank runs over Gus! She had no idea about Frank's plans...but when the police later notify her of his death, she says nothing about Frank's actions. Clearly she has very mixed thoughts about what has happened.

So far, so good. While the plot isn't wholly original (with films like "Therese Raquin" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice"), it's not bad and interesting. The problem is what comes next....it's really, really nuts. A new plot involving an identical twin brother that no one knew about comes into play...and the film basically goes into the toilet. Rarely have I seen a film where the second half simply goes 100% wrong like this one!

King of the cuckold's Hugo Haas once again makes himself a fool over a woman in this Postman Rings Twice featuring his fatale regular wife, Cleo Moore in her cinema swan song. Both look a little frayed around the edges (slovenly Haas, no neck Moore) though and it translates energy wise into little more than lackadaisical passion and suspense.

Gas station owner Gus Hilmer has the hots for dancer, Julie, who could not care less about him. Frank (Vince Edwards) his mechanic is another story however and she marries Gus but carries the torch for Frank. They devise a plan to off Gus but an ex-con twin brother shows up and threatens to upend matters and expose them.

The last of his collaborations with Moore Hit and Run is a little more threadbare in look and storyline than his previous B-work. Both Haas as the gullible mark and Moore the crass fatale seem fatigued with moody Edwards waiting around for them to catch-up. The brother's arrival (Haas in different hair, color) leading to the cat and mouse climax becomes a shabby battle of witlessness. Drabber than usual for masochist auteur, Hass.

Another highly original production by Hugo Haas with his one choice actress Cleo Moore, but this became her last film, but as usual her performance is memorable. It's the same old story again, an old fool gets enamoured with a young splendid blonde and marries her, while she after the marriage betrays him with another, and that other man is his closest associate, a fellow worker and mechanic at his garage, and it's actually he who insists on seducing her, while naturally her protests are not enough. There is a circus involved also, which appears towards the end, with a real bombshell for a female director, Dolores Reed, who brings some real titbits of sequences to the film. She even tries to seduce Cleo Moore's lover, which of course infuriates Cleo Moore who while drinking gives the whole plot away - there always seems to be a lot of drinking in Hugo Haas' films, which adds to their charm and comic touch, although Haas never reaches the height of the great jokes of Hitchcock. Still, Hugo Haas is brilliant in his own way, writing his own scripts and producing his own films and giving them a solid direction, and their plots are always ingenious. So don't miss any detail of this very carefully blended drink of a wondrous film thriller.

Doubt if I'll be rushing down to the ol video store to stock up on Hugo Haas films despite tcchelsey's admonition below and Eddie Muller's advocacy of the guy as an admirable maker of low budget films "on his own terms". Problem is, Haas' "terms" include lots of crappy acting, flat, cliche ridden dialogue and cinematography that, at best, merits the phrase "gets the job done". I also share with another previous IMDB reviewer an aversion to this writer/director/star having a penchant for hogging the few good lines in the screenplay as well as seeming to lavish undue attention to the scenes he's in and relegating Vince Edwards and Cleo Moore to the dustbin of B movie steamy standardization. Give it a C.

PS...Don't know about you but when it comes to a brunette alternative to Cleo I sure coulda used more Dolores Reed and less Mara Lea.

That Hugo Haas was a small gem of a producer/writer/director. "Hit and Run" is the second Haas film I've seen after "Pickup," and while I didn't like this one quite as much as the other one, mostly because this one has the misfortune of not starring Beverly Michaels, it's still a lurid and pulpy good time.

Haas is a really winning screen presence, and you end up rooting for him based on the strength of his charm. It helps that he's always a pretty decent guy who finds himself saddled with a no-good dame, who usually brings along with her some other bohunk who wants to do him harm. Cleo Moore is said dame in this one, and if she's not exactly a femme fatale, she also doesn't do much to stop the grisly proceedings carried out by said bohunk, played here by the smoldering Vince Edwards. Edwards comes across as a dim bulb, but good grief did that dude drip with sex, and the scenes with him and Moore have a real erotic charge.

"Hit and Run" is my favorite kind of noir, because it's cheap and tawdry. It also has a sense of humor, and I think one of the things I like best about Haas is that he never took himself or his films too seriously. That gives them a unique playfulness that sets them apart from other films of their kind.

Grade: A-

N. B. Startpoint= IMPORTANTLY, NO spoilers here; coz has good unexpected twist in its unfolding.

But, ah - a 'romance' (of sorts):

For cineastes, fans of the 'lower graded' film oeuvres, this is worth watching, er, tolerating, not necessarily for another of auteur director Hass' love smitten efforts - although admittedly with good unexpected development: SO; (recommend / try) APPROACH WITH NO SPOILERS to 'enjoy' - but because of some of the oddities that unfolded from the casting (and scripting) of this noirish-like little pot-boiler.

Platinum - (well, in black and white) - blonde (so thought of as contemporary to M. Monroe) Cleo Moore's final film, so also, with as having been for director, auteur Hugo Hass' muse / besotted starring roles run partnership with her too, after a short, but hectic, five year run, as with over eight prior films together.

And point to that here is that, not only was reason Cleo looking as though just going through her paces - she finished with filming completely straight after - but Hugo himself was clearly over- egging the euww factor, as once again cast himself as her to be hubby, despite clearly (embarrassingly) showing his age / their difference! (He was in his fifties, her still her twenties!) Moreover, either deliberately (coz riled up the male gaze audience as showed a chap like him could still clinch a beauty like Cleo ..) or ennui laziness, coz portraying his - own directed AND written - character as an almost permanent five-o-clock shadowed, sweaty, 'soiled' (check his visage throughout) lecher! (Check how Cleo sashays about in her 'home' attire serving coffee to him whilst he lounges about in his brekkies dressing gown!)

In its way, a pity, because despite the tired twist to this sordid little noirish pot-boiler, if you can come to it WITHOUT any foreknowledge = SPOILERS, still it is unexpected and truly keeps you guessing right up until the denouement - literal - reveal. (Well, it did me; but then I just let these fifties 'male gaze' just eye candy wash over me on their way to their run out.)

So, to take you on the way through Cleo's tired looking* and Hugo's leering lechery performances, of cinematic lore interest to note, catch sight of, are such oddities as: diminutive bit part player Pat Grodin** as 'Undertaker', introduced into the plot for seemingly not much reason than only deliver a killer frisson line to do with a female lion tamer; of whom, herself of note, in equally also being shoehorned for otherwise no real apparent reason into the plot***; and him (Pat the 'undertaker' ?!) thus also along with his inferred long 'don't touch' passionless marriage husk, harridan, wife, Julie Mitcham - as who just happened to be famed actor, Robert's sister.

* There is one brief, full face, bright lit shot of her - in the stage of looking knowingly, fearfully, 'caught in the headlights' like - that is surely Hugo's adoring parting appreciation shot, gift to her; it's like an early forties studio portrait rendition and must have looked utterly stunning even for its brief time, on the big screen back in its original cinema run days.

** Better known, if not actually 'seen', as the completely unrecognisably cast titular 'The Man from Planet X' (apparently; who could know under that top costuming and make up there?!)

*** Of whom, from director (writer, auteur etc.) Hass' world, introduces a quite 'hmm' factor, not only from her character's profession and demeanour, but also most notably of cinematic to real life aspects to go 'ah hah' (= as in art imitating life or vice versa?) For was here the debut - and eventually, rare**** - brief appearance of statuesque Dolores Reed (so, yup, the lion tamer = or is that actually, tame(tre)ss?), as whom (although, surely only coincidentally?) had already been romantically involved / linked with Hass; with whom, but there's more: as although she latterly married a 'mechanic': and on by which, now check how Frank (Vince Edwards), as cast by Hass in this as a 'car mechanic', and her in this denouement - well - check out.

**** and for as to why, then check further her odd and tragic short life choices and developments!

Wow!