Casta de venganza

I had never heard of Charles Davis, but he directed GET OUTTA TOWN with a sense of purpose, dynamic sequences and crisp dialogue in a strong script by Bob Welling.

I had also never heard of Douglas Wilson, the male lead, but his broken boxer-like nose lends him authenticity.

The female characters are quite interesting: Wilson, playing good for nothing criminal Kelly Olesen - a Nordic surname - has a mother who looks and talks like an Italian, and she has no time for her prodigal son. I came away with the impression that she was the most fatale of all the femmes in the movie.

Cute Jeanne Baird used to be Olesen's girl but in his protracted absence in the docks of San Francisco she took up with his younger brother, who got iced by some bad company that Olesen used to keep. Like his mother - who even lives in the same building - Baird does not want to give him the time of day.

Perhaps the most eye-catching female is dishy Marilyn O'Connor playing the cheating wife of Ricco, the thug who Olesen used to hang around with to perpetrate robberies and other felonies. O'Connor just can't keep her hands off Olesen, to add to all the problems piling up on his lap.

Olesen is trying to tell mother, former girlfriend, the law, and even his former partners in crime that he is a changed man - but not even the cops who cannot pin any crime on him want him in town.

Boasting competent cinematography and a cast of unknowns, this unpretentious short 63' C grade flick moves along at breakneck speed - alas, the downside robbing it of 3 stars is the pointless, open ending that left me feeling like a mouse running in a perpetually turning wheel. Too much ado for nothing.

Best thing you can say about this film is that the action moves at a fast pace. Hard knobbed cops talking fast. Gangsters talking fast. Fast hot girls.

If that's your speed, you'll like it.

It's one of those transitional Noir films from the 50's to the 60's. The music is all horns and piano. Jazz. Not like the Noir of earlier years. The direction is more TV than theatre.

Location shots in LA are interesting to watch.

The director did a lot of bit player acting in TV and only directed three films -- with long lapses of time in between. He's OK as a director, considering the actors are larely unknown.

No Citizen Kane, but watchable fare.

The cops ran Doug Wilson out of Los Angeles years ago. Now, with his brother dead, he's back in town for the funeral, and no more welcome than before -- even his mother doesn't want to see him. He still has some connections, and the story he hears doesn't make sense. He starts investigating.

It's a cheap feature, with every credit by folks who worked in the lower fringes of Hollywood. Sometimes they might have had twenty credits, sometimes none. The writer, Bruce Wehling, is best remembered for EEGAH! The director never helmed another movie, the cinematographer had bottom-of-the-barrel credits. I was astonished at how well it worked.

Part of it is that it's a good story, like something that Donald Westlake wrote as Richard Stark, or GET CARTER with a moral heart to it. To me it's indicative of how much talent there was in Hollywood that never really got a chance. The script is good, the pace is fast, the acting is good and the camerawork is supple. What more do you want from a one-hour movie?

"Get Outta Town" is an amazing film. After all, it features a leading man who only made six films (this was his last) and isn't exactly the Hollywood type. It also features a lot of other rather unknown actors. It also has a budget that appears to be negligible. Yet, inexplicably, it's a very good film! I love seeing films like this--little hidden gems just waiting to be discovered.

The plot of "Get Outta Town" is very, very similar to that of the Michael Caine film "Get Carter". However, its character is a bit different and the resolution very different.

It all begins when Kelly learns that his younger brother died. Kelly was a hood and the last time he was in his hometown, folks were afraid of him. Not surprisingly, his mother and ex-girlfriend want nothing to do with him--he's bad news. Yet, he insists that he's changed and wants to turn his life around once and for all. However, his resolution to change is challenged when he learned that his brother MIGHT have been murdered--and he's out for revenge.

Except for a few problems with the ending (it came a bit too quickly and Kelly behaved a bit oddly when confronted by the police), it was a very good film. I liked the dialog and Wilson's acting was surprisingly strong. If you like film noir, this is up your alley. While it isn't quite as dark as many films in the genre, it is a nice tough little picture.

This quickie is about a former hood (Doug Wilson) who returns to his old stomping grounds to find out who killed his brother. The cops aren't too happy to see him; one of them tells Kelly to get outta town because he stinks. He refers to Wilson as "rough as a stucco bathtub." Wilson's mother isn't too happy to see him and tells him to get outta town. Wilson's former girlfriend (Jeanne Baird) tells him to ... well, you get the idea.

Wilson decides to look up his old pals (with classic names like Rico and Tony), but first he runs into Rico's wife (Marilyn O'Connor). The two quickly go to her apartment for some tonsil hockey, and, for a change, she doesn't tell him to get outta town. As the plot develops, we meet a hood named Rocky and a jerk named Squirrel. Meanwhile, Wilson and O'Connor exchange more saliva. Then Wilson collects some bruises and contusions because somebody wants him outta town. Eventually, we find out what happened to his brother, and Wilson gets outta town.

Wilson is decent in the lead, although the way his hair protrudes over his head was a bit much. All of the babes in the cast (including extras) are great looking ... except for the crone playing Wilson's mother. The jazz score is snappy, and the script is lively and fast moving.

Nationwide, this flick was on a double bill with The Amazing Transparent Man. That film was promoted with a million dollar contest in which moviegoers were asked what they would do with the invisible ray featured in that film. Get outta town!!!