The Boss

A political fixer rises to the top of a corrupt city and beyond.

This is a movie that cries out for a bigger budget than the cheapjack values the production gets. After all, Brady (Payne) is supposed to be swimming in money and influence as head of a political machine. So we need to see some of that gilded life in order to appreciate his final tumble from the heights. Instead, we get endless seedy conflabs with his cronies or his long-suffering wife. In that sense, the production more resembles a TV drama, say The Untouchables, than a feature length movie.

Also undercutting the effect is actor Payne's heavy-handed turn as the boss. Reviewer Plankton's correct, Payne's incessant growling is almost comical at times. It's an unfortunate one-note performance that over-does the toughness of a political fixer without the necessary slickness. Then too, writer Trumbo's script only hints at the social effects of Brady's corrupt regime without the dirty details—a rather strange outcome for a leftist writer, but then this is the Cold War 1950's.

On the plus side is obscure actress McGehee's sensitive turn as Brady's unloved wife. Her plain-faced predicament is handled with considerable feeling that, to me, is the film's only memorable part. Also actor Bishop does well as Brady's lawyer and confidant. Too bad his career was cut short by an untimely passing.

Perhaps I was expecting too much, but the movie came as an unfortunate disappointment. I'm just sorry a studio with resources like Warner's, along with a Sam Fuller, didn't get the material first.

Lazy writing and directing. John Payne overacts to try to compensate. Payne was losing his fight with Hollywood and the bottle by the time this part came around.

There is no insight into what drives the main character, so you really don't have any hate or sympathy for him. You just can't wait for the inevitable end.

This was much better than the late-night potboiler I had expected. Payne was playing such a vile character that his performance seemed a bit forced at times, but I can see why he did this picture since the portrayal is a bit different from most of his roles He's up to the stretch, and should have done more dramatic work and fewer formulaic westerns & cop/investigator parts. More plots and subplots than we're used to in this period, and it all works. Dalton Trumbo's heavyhanded anticapitalism, thoroughly-corrupt-government motif is a bit much, but that was the popular theme amongst the leftie writers of the period, much as it is even today.

The Boss, filmed from a script by the blacklisted and hence uncredited Dalton Trumbo, starts in 1919 and ends somewhere in the Great Depression. It's about the corruption of a municipal machine that focuses on demobbed doughboy John Payne who, when his older brother dies, inherits his political clout.

On the night of his return he godrunk and married a stranger he comes to scorn (Gloria McGhee, whomakes you yearn for more of her). His only unwavering loyalty lies withan old wartime buddy (William Bishop), who has married the girl Payne loved. So all his passion goes into strengthening his hold over the city, including forging an unholy alliance with the (unnamed) Mafia.

Despite a precisely staged shootout in the train depot (did Brian De Palma borrow from this as well as from The Battleship Potemkin, for The Untouchables?), The Boss is really a somewhat Kane-ish look at the rise and fall of a lone wolf; Payne's tough yet touching performance lends an almost tragic tinge. The result is an involving period piece that dwells on the late fringes of film noir.

(One topical note: the men's costumes were by Dick Cheney.)

In trying to jumpstart itself, this movie is somewhat heavy handed at the beginning, taking one notably big and questionable dramatic risk, but gains power slowly and turns into something of a monumental mini-epic with John Payne's changes of hair coloring registering his slow and merciless journey toward a godless end...what a performance, but it's not as good as Gloria McGehee's as the unwanted wife Lorry - which is about as good as you'll ever see from an actress on screen, period. Also great is Robin Morse as Johnny the Organization Man, a wonderful low key performance...where has this movie been all our lives? It's powerful, at times difficult to watch, brutal, and worth the ride.