Fingerman

Times have changed and one of the stranger examples is the poorly named film "Finger Man". While today such a movie would clearly incite giggles (especially since it starred Frank Lovejoy), back in the day it was a taut crime drama...and perhaps one worth your time.

When the story begins, ex-con Casey Martin (Lovejoy) is identified as participating in a robbery. However, instead of locking him up, the authorities offer to give him a walk...if he'll help them catch the mobster, Dutch Becker (Forrest Tucker). Martin is no squealer...but when he learns that his sister is addicted to smack...heroin provided to her by Becker, Casey decides to help bring him to justice. As he puts it, it's a choice between 'life in prison or probably a bullet in the head! However, he goes very slow...very easy in order not to scare Dutch off and so that he'll win his trust.

While the film lacks the dark look and film angles used in classic film noir, it is tough enough to be noir...and the story is well worth seeing. Not among the very best crime films of the era, but still quite good. Lovejoy was a terrific actor--too bad he died so young.

Frank Lovejoy is a three-time loser whose fingerprints have just turned up at the site of a truck heist. The Feds give him a choice: a lifetime in prison or help them get the dirt on mob head Forrest Tucker. Lovejoy has never talked, but when he sees what happened to his sister, Evelyn Eaton, he agrees. He gets Peggy Castle, with whom he has begun an affair, to introduce him to the big man.

Harold Schuster directs this as a straight, tough, ugly crime drama, where everyone is twitchy, except for Tucker, who talks emotionally of loyalty and honesty and has people killed. Lovejoy plays the role as a man about to explode at any moment, and knocks a few people down with his fists.

It's a very handsomely directed B, but it's too cheap and it came too late for anyone to break out. Schuster had directed some terrific westerns, and would soon get his shot in the Tarzan franchise.... and then settle down to TV work. Likewise Tucker. As for Lovejoy, he had the look and voice for the RKO B noirs, but that was five or ten years in the past; he already was performing on TV, and he would die in 1962, just 50 years old.

The question is asked by Lucille in her last scene, as she lies in the hospital to be detoxicated, and she is in hell. She is one of many female victims of Dutch Becker (Forest Tucker) who "owns" fallen girls "body and soul" all over the country, according to the police only in nine states. Frank Lovejoy as a frequent jailbird gets a chance for a clean slate if he helps the police to frame Dutch Becker to make it stick. That is the plot.

It's a grim film of spartan conciseness, and there are many interesting minor details that are important but risk getting bypassed by the action. All the scenes with Gladys Baker (Peggy Castle) are captivating, especially the last one, the longest shot in the film. In fact, it's all the expressive scenes with the women (and they are not many) that makes the film magic and of lasting interest beyond the limits of its time and age.

Frank Lovejoy reminds in this film very much of Eddie Constantine, the forerunner of James Bond but with a school of hard knocks behind him and a scarred face, that ultimately ruined his career. Frank Lovejoy has no scars, but he does have knuckles and uses them frequently. You simply have to love him, and the more for each trouble he starts.

The music is also outstanding, excellently composed and suited perfectly to every scene. This is a great film on a small level that will outshine most film of the period that were made to be more spectacular. This is a noir down to basics and extremely efficient as such.

Hold-up offender Casey Martin (Frank Lovejoy) is nabbed by police and offered 'redemption' if he goes undercover with the local mob and leads them to the kingpin Dutch Baker (Forrest Tucker).

It's an oft-told tale in Film Noir and it's pretty well handled here by an able cast that includes Peggie Castle and Timothy Carey. In typical 50s style, the movie has a brighter look, with few of the darker, urban settings, until the end, and the direction is pretty anonymous. Although IMDb says Frank Lovejoy was 5'11 he is towered over by Tucker and Carey. In more than one scene, Lovejoy pummels much bigger men and it looks, at best, improbable. His character is a hothead, so we can accept it for the sake of the plot. Lovejoy was a solid actor, who also excelled playing a similar role in I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE FBI (one of the better films in its sub-genre). Tucker was one of the unsung great actors of his period, and he's great here as the self-important crime boss. As for Carey, he's doing his trademark psychotic type, used for dirty work by Tucker. Beautiful Peggie Castle is impressive as a mob-girl with a past she'd like to forget.

Veteran small-time criminal Frank Lovejoy gets busted for hijacking a truck he stole. Because of his prison track record, both in doing time and in refusing to be a stool pigeon, he's given the choice: life in prison or help the feds take down big-time crime boss Forrest Tucker. They also tell him to look up his sister Evelyn Eaton, who's now a drug addict, and Tucker's the supplier. Lovejoy has no choice but to accept. Through his old flame Peggy Castle, who was once employed by Tucker as a call-girl, he gets a position in Tucker's organization where he can try and find something concrete on Tucker.

There are tons of these noir(-ish) crime movies where someone infiltrates a crime ring in order to bust it from the inside out. This one's above-average. Within the confines of the Production Code it does all it can to make Tucker's business as seedy and lowlife as possible, by showing the sister's addiction as well as Tucker disposing of a prostitute he cannot use anymore. There's nothing redeeming about this crime boss, but he's also not some crazed lunatic.

The acting is solid across the board. Both Lovejoy ('The Hitch- hiker') and Castle ('99 River Street') are good, playing hardened- by-life characters but with human emotion under the exterior (in Lovejoy's case pure rage, Castle wants to settle down but knows her past will always come back to haunt her). Tucker (in his sole noir?) plays it straight and understated, giving his character a mean edge, even when he doesn't talk. Tucker's sidekick is none other than Timothy Carey ('The Killing'), who has some very nervous fingers in this movie. But as much as I like seeing Carey being Carey, his hyperactive acting felt kinda misplaced here, it's too big a contrast.

The movie looks pretty good, especially the nighttime scenes are well-done. Lovejoy does some nice voice-over narration with lines that could've been pulled straight from a 40s pulp novel. There are no surprises tho, altho there rarely are in these 'expose'-type noirs. Director Harold Schuster did a similar noir a few years late, 'Portland Expose', but this one's better. DoP William Sickner ('Cry Vengeance') does a solid job, and together they occasionally craft a beautifully-looking scene (the one where Castle walks into the night is tender and doomed at the same time).

Overall, it's not a classic, but it's a good example of this type of crime-busting movies. It's competently made and acted, looks good and does more than enough to keep one's attention. It's not a movie with a lot of re-watch value tho, what you see is what you get. Still recommended. 7/10