The Payoff

James Dunn has a built-in audience. I guess he did when this movie came out. I mean, though, an audience of people who loved him in his most famous role, which came a decade later.

His portrayal of the father in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" is unforgettable. Off the top of my head, when I think of well deserved supporting Oscars I think of him, of Martin Landau for "Ed Wood," and of the magnificent Mary Astor for "The Great Lie." As an aside, I wonder what has happened to "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn." It used to turn up on local TV and in revival theaters and then on cable. But I haven't seen in it years. Nor do I know of a DVD release, though maybe I've missed it.

Here he is a young man given the chance to become sports writer for a major newspaper. (The movie seems to take place in New York City.) He is married to Claire Dodd, a fine actress here playing a truly awful person. His colleague Patricia Ellis is interested, too, but he has eyes only for his acquisitive and cruel wife.

Gangsters are involved. No more of the plot. It's well directed by Robert Florey and acted to perfection. And we're right there, rooting for James Dunn,through thick and thin.

James Dunn gets his big break when his paper's sports writer retires and Dunn gets the position. But wife Claire Dodd spends more money than he earns, and her gambling debts to corrupt sportsman Alan Dinehart puts Dunn in his pocket.

The story is pretty tired, and director Robert Florey doesn't do much to bring life to it, but the dialogue crackles along at the wonted pace for Warner Bs; there's never enough time to get bored, or even think about what's going on. With Patricia Ellis, Joseph Crehan, and Frankie Darro.

Though the story is hackneyed, even for 1935, the cast led by the always underrated James Dunn makes the film shine. Being a short B picture, director Robert Florey is able to move the film along at a quick pace.

Joe McCoy takes over as sports editor when the former editor retires because of heart trouble. Joe builds an image as a straight shooter who ferrets out unethical characters involved in professional sports. One of these, Marty Bleuler (Alan Dinehart), becomes a target for Joe's crusading zeal.

Unfortunately for Joe, his wife, Maxine (Claire Dodd), becomes too expensive for his bankbook, even after his promotion at the paper. She begins to cast her eyes toward Joe's target, Marty. When Joe finds out what is going on, he turns more and more to drink, though a fellow reporter, Connie Travers (Patricia Ellis), has the hots for him and tries to keep him on the straight and narrow. The final showdown between Joe and Marty comes when Marty tries to bribe a jockey to throw a race. This leads to a rather abrupt, contrived ending to an otherwise effective B flick.

Joe McCoy (James Dunn) is a reporter and he thinks he has a happy marriage. However, when Joe gets a promotion to his own sports column, his wife's real colors eventually show through. While he's out covering various sporting events, she's gambling away everything Joe earns and then some. To make it worse, she racks up a stack of i.o.u.s with the same notorious gambler and racketeer who Joe's been exposing in his columns! She's also been sleeping with the guy! Joe doesn't know the latter part and when he learns about her owing the gambler over $5000 (a HUGE sum back in 1935), he has no choice but to lay off the gambler in his column. As a result, the column is dull and Joe is fired. Now that he's no longer earning money and a bum, his wife promptly leaves him! All in all, Maxine (Claire Dodd) is a despicable and easy to hate woman....and you keep wondering how long it will be until Joe wakes up and realizes he's been used.

Despite being a relatively cheaply made B-movie, this one manages to be better than you'd expect due to a decent script and some nice acting by Dunn and Dodd. It's really worth seeing and is entertaining throughout.

Payoff, The (1935)

** (out of 4)

Bland programmer about Joe McCoy (James Dunn), a reporter who is pretty much broke thanks to his wife (Claire Dodd) and her bad spending habits. McCoy gets a major break and raise when he's promoted to the top sports reporter but his wife keeps on spending and soon ends up in the arms of a racketeer (Alan Dinehart) who her husband has been trying to bring down for ages. Once she owes the racketeer money he tries to blackmail the reporter. This Warner film has a couple nice touches but the thing just doesn't work thanks in large part to a pretty weak screenplay that seems to just make things up as the movie goes along. Take, for just one example, the character Frankie Darro plays. At the start of the film he's just some kid selling newspapers on the street who dreams of becoming a horse jockey and sure enough, a few months later when the movie needs him to be a jockey, he's now good enough to be riding a major horse at a major Derby. The ending is extremely weak and I won't ruin anything but what we hear happens over the radio is just downright silly and is a rather cheap pay-off. The performances are all a mixed bag but none of the actors have too much to work with. I thought Dunn did a decent job in terms of his performance but I still didn't believe him in the role. The biggest problem, role wise, is that Dunn brings a lot of laid back humor to the part and it just seems to go against what this reporter would really be like. Not once did I buy the type of character Dunn created but at the same time he gave a decent performance. Dodd is really letdown by the screenplay as she pretty much just stands around running up a larger debt. Patricia Ellis comes off quite good as the girl who loves Dunn and Darro is pretty good as well. Dinehart doesn't make for the best racketeer from Warner but he's not too bad. Florey's direction keeps the film moving and it's a complete story but it's just not a very good one. I'm not sure if anyone could have done better with this screenplay so it's certainly for those who must catch every "B" film that pops up on Turner Classic Movies.