Crime Against Joe

Entertaining minor programmer. The first part meanders some, so we're not sure where it's headed. The latter part, however, gels into a pretty good whodunit. Joe Manning (Bromfield), an army vet turned ne'er-do-well painter, is subsidized by his mother, and is going nowhere in life. No wonder he drinks a lot; at the same time, the early scenes show Joe in what seems permanent inebriation. Good thing, he's helped along by car-hop Slacks (London) and taxi driver Red (Calvin) or he'd be in the drunk tank. Seems however that two girls have been assaulted and one murdered, mysteriously. Because of his erratic behavior, the cops have him figured as the culprit. Thus, he better sober up and figure things out or he'll be sobering up courtesy the state lockup.

Bromfield delivers a lively performance that holds interest. And a good thing since he's in about every scene. Also, this is London before she hit the big time as a sultry torch singer and star of A-features. Here she's really dressed down showing little of those later eye-catching attributes. Too bad. Too bad, too, that glamorous Patricia Blair is wasted in a role she could sleep walk through, which ironically she does! Anyhow, the film comes across as competently done, even though filmed in only five days (IMDB). The 70-minutes may not be anything special, but remains an entertaining slice of industry professionalism.

Crime Against Joe is a modest noir thriller with much to be modest about. Red herrings as murder suspects are fine, but in this case too many were created in the story leaving a lot of loose ends in what should have been a more coherent script.

The title character is John Bromfield a returned Korean War veteran with a severe drinking problem. That's how we first meet him, living with mom Frances Morris and trying to become a painter. Another Toulouse L'Autrec, taller, less talented and as big a boozer.

But one night when Bromfield has had a snootful and gets a ride home from buddy Henry Calvin a cab driver, there's a murder of a woman and he's the number one suspect. Back in high school he was a big man on campus, but he's a flop now.

Here's where it goes completely haywire. From the town drunk he sobers up real fast and with the help of Julie London a rollerskating server and singer at a fast food place he puts the pieces together.

I knew Henry Calvin was in the cast. But the man with the girth best known as the rabblerouser from Ship Of Fools, the Wazir in Kismet and most of all Sergeant Garcia in Zorro is absolutely unrecognizable. That deep bass voice is not employed at all.

Granted this was a program filler, but little care was taken with the preparation of Crime Against Joe.

... back in the middle of the last century. Maybe this one is not a timeless flick never to be forgotten. But hey, it is fun to watch it late night. It is charming to watch a noir movie. This comes from a time when there was no tv series... Or at least not like today... And I can see here what would become a teenage horror/slasher movie late, in the 80's. It is a fast paced thriller with two or three funny moments, not very complex, no remarkable characters... However, a good movie. What should I stop to watch tomorrow? Law and Order? I mean, I will, but eventually I will come back to the noir, crime cinema. Nice to get to know the history, the culture.

This is a strange offbeat little movie. At times it is dumb and clichéd 1950's police drama and at times it is philosophical and quite interesting.

In the second scene of the movie, we have Joyce Jameson running at full speed screaming that she's been attacked. It is quite jilting. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie never matches the energy of this scene.

The standout in the cast is Julie London. She is best known as a successful 1960's singer of sultry ballads, but she did do a number of acting gigs. Here she plays a car hop named "Slacks." She is in love with the lead character "Joe." However Joe shows only a passing interest in her, as she has dated his good friend "Red." Julie manages to make the character extremely sweet, nice and strong. She is the opposite of a Femme Fatale, a real Penelope standing by her man.

Rebecca Blair (from the television series "Daniel Boone")is the only other person in the cast I knew. She literally "sleepwalks" though her part, although she does have one good scene at the end as a troubled teenager confronting her overprotective "Dad." While the sum does not add up to much, some individual scenes are clever enough to make this "Wrong Man" genre piece worth watching. It was apparently filmed in five days, so don't go in expecting great production values. For those who like early Roger Corman movies, you'll probably enjoy the similar style.

Despite a very low production budget, and a no-name cast (except for the talented Julie London), Crime Against Joe pulls off a bit of an upset as an entertaining film. Although I figured out the killer after about fifteen minutes (and disregarded the enormous red herrings that followed), I was still entertained by the film and its dynamics of a small town, where everyone seems to know everyone else. A libertine mother of a supposed "artist" finds Joe living off of his mother. This is not a crime against humanity, but it does put Joe in a bad light. Slacks, played by London, works at a drive-in burger joint and goes out with Joe's best friend. A couple of late-night murders are committed and Joe is a prime suspect. See if you can figure out the killer quickly. It will surprise some folks.