Sentencia de muerte

Whoa - Richard Conte plays a REAL louse with no redeeming qualities whatsoever in "Under the Gun" from 1951, also starring Audrey Totter and featuring John McIntire, Sam Jaffe, and Shepperd Strudwick.

Conte plays mobster Bert Galvin, who, while in Miami, hears the lovely Ruth Williams sing. He wants her to sing in one of his clubs in New York. At first she refuses but finally relents.

One night, they are eating dinner, and a man enters the kitchen through the back door. Galvin is warned - this man is obviously an enemy. When the man walks out, Galvin shoots him, while Ruth watches in horror. Galvin goes to prison and his attorney (Strudwick) puts the screws to Ruth to lie and say it was self defense.

However, once on the witness stand, Ruth doesn't lie. Galvin is then sent to a prison farm. He soon learns that each work team has a custodian with a gun. If the custodian kills someone trying to escape, he gets a pardon. We see Galvin's game plan immediately.

Since the current custodian is giving him such a hard time, Galvin feeds a story about hidden money to a prisoner. When he takes off, he's shot, and the custodian gets a pardon. Galvin volunteers to be the next custodian. Now for that pardon. He has some unfinished business with a singer.

Conte is great as a ruthless, amoral man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Sam Jaffe is wonderful as a fellow prisoner, Samuel Gower, who is full of plans for when he gets out. John McIntire plays the sherriff, who knows what trouble Galvin is.

Very absorbing, and you just can't believe what a rat Conte plays.

Richard Conte is a big city gangster who ends up in a southern prison work farm. He tries to scheme and manipulate his way out, driven by thoughts of revenge. It's a solid piece of work, flows nicely, has some clever ideas and good photography. Conte is in fine form, supported by an array of wonderful character actors, including Sam Jaffe, John McIntyre, Richard Taber and one of the first appearances by the great Royal Dano. Audrey Totter gets second billing, but for most of the running time she's out of the picture. Can't think of much else to say at the moment... just a really engaging flick.

Under the Gun - 8/10

UNDER THE GUN is worth watching only for AUDREY TOTTER in my opinion. She slayed me when she tells Conte's character "You just weren't worth the lies"!! That line made the movie for me. And what does Conte's character do...what all of his characters do, seek revenge. Since most of the movie is about said revenge, it didn't have my undivided attention. But the performances of the other cast members are solid, therefore worth an hour and 20 minutes of your time.

Those persistent rumors about Ida Lupino's being bald as a bean may have been fueled in part by Under The Gun, in which Audrey Totter appears to be wearing Lupino's old hair. Totter's a diva in a `Miama' nightclub in whom mobster Richard Conte takes both a professional and personal interest. En route by car back to New York, Conte takes care of some unfinished business by murdering a man but is arrested and stands trial. Despite herself, Totter finds she cannot commit perjury (`You just weren't worth the lies,' she later tells Conte). So he pulls a 20-year sentence at a prison farm in the deep South, where the concept of parole is unknown.

And the most interesting and accomplished part of Under The Gun - most of the movie, in fact - takes place at the prison farm. Conte thinks he can escape by bribing a hated `trusty' (Royal Dano), an inmate who earns special privileges by standing watch with a shotgun when the men go on work details. But Conte's buddy in the next bunk (Sam Jaffe) explains the finer points of the penal code in Dixie: If a trusty kills a prisoner trying to escape, he earns early release.

Conte, however, is as Machiavellian as he is ruthless. He coaxes a simple-minded inmate to make a break for it; Dano kills the gullible fool and secures release. Trigger-happy Conte becomes the next trusty, itching for his bid for freedom. Impatient, he makes Jaffe a grisly offer: If he tries to escape under Conte's gun, Conte will make a payoff to Jaffe's wife and children....

Ted Tetzlaff, the director, handles the ironies and ambiguities in the plot adroitly. A former cinematographer, he worked in and around the noir cycle, sometimes routinely (as in A Dangerous Profession and Gambling House), but in a couple of tries quite amazingly: Riffraff and The Window. Under The Gun lies somewhere in the middle, hobbled by a lame ending. But at least Totter, as the target for Conte's revenge, shows up again for the close. Even as a brunette, she's always worth watching.

Nasty Richard Conte (Galvin) ends up in a Southern State prison that has a dodgy system in place. A prisoner can become a trustee which allows him to carry a rifle. His role is to keep the other prisoners in check and if he kills a prisoner whilst they are trying to escape, then he is given a pardon. WTF! I sense a system that is open to abuse. And so does Conte.

Interesting set-up for a film. That is one crazy prison system.

I wasn't convinced by Conte's obsession with singer Audrey Totter (Ruth) - she's not that great looking. She does have a great voice, though, and sings a song at the film's beginning. The film builds tension at the prison and you can't help but feel for prisoner Sam Jaffe (Gower) and will him on in his escape bid. Royal Dano (Nugent) has a standout part as the prison's original trustee. We get some good locations which includes some swampy waters in the end sequence. However, the film does end a bit too conveniently.

Blondie wrote a song called "Under the Gun". It's a good one. I wonder if there is a link to this film, ie, someone in the band had just watched it.