L'Homme aux abois

Well, Hal Wallis sure could pick 'em. These are three of his finest stars.

Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster) has just been released from prison after 14 years as "I Walk Alone" from 1947 begins. The film also stars Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey, Mike Mazurki, and Kristine Miller.

Frankie is under the somewhat mistaken impression that he owns half the club that his old partner Noll (Douglas) now runs. When Frankie first shows up, Noll attempts to feel him out. He's friendly and sets Frankie up for a dinner with his girlfriend Kay (Lizabeth Scott).

Noll realizes that Frankie is prepared to use force to take what he thinks is his, so the situation becomes violent.

This is a tough noir with Noll playing dirty all the way. Douglas is great as a real slimeball. Kay tries to encourage Frankie to move forward, but Frankie soon finds himself with a murder rap over his head. He decides to fight Null with everything he's got.

Lancaster and Douglas are major hunks in this and both do a good job. Scott is beautiful and, after all, noir was her genre. She was perfect for it.

This movie was filmed on a studio city set and looks great. Really adds to the noir feel.

The end of the film is exciting.

After waiting for years to see this fine film-noir, I finally did today. Two young hoodlums (Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas) are running illegal booze into another county during prohibition and get chased by the cops. The two separate after one of the cops is killed, and Douglas escapes, but Lancaster is caught and goes to jail. 14 years later, Lancaster is out and finds that Douglas has gone legit and is the owner of a major nightclub and doing quite well. Lancaster feels Douglas owes him something, and wants to become a full partner. Douglas then makes plans to eliminate him. Part of Douglas's plans include using his own mistress (Lizabeth Scott) to lead Lancaster on. A good thriller all around,predictable at times but very stylish, gritty and involving all the time. A "can't miss" for noir-fans.

Burt Lancaster has been in prison since the days of Al Capone, and when released he sets out to claim his share of ill-gotten gains from his former partner, Kirk Douglas. Kirk is pleasant at first, lulling Burt with wine, gourmet food, and the company of his mistress Lizbeth Scott, but he has no intention of sharing anything. What starts out as a buddy relationship becomes a battle of wits and wills as the two fight for control of Kirk's nightclub, lots of money, and Lizbeth.

This is no "Double Indemnity", but the two main characters are written and acted well enough to hold our interest. Douglas steals the film as the cleverer thug, the one who was smart enough to get away and go legit. His performance is lively and has touches of humor, particularly in the scene where he proves that the pen is mightier than the sword, or at least that legalese is mightier than the gun. Lancaster has a more violent, less sympathetic character, but has fun playing a brute who's forced to actually think for the first time in his life.

Not a great film, but an enjoyable one. Interesting for the way it shows the changes in the criminal world over the course of a decade, from the brutality of the thirties to the emerging sophistication of the fifties.

Three of the stars from DESERT FURY (1947) – Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey – were reunited in another, marginally superior noir that is most notable today for marking the first of seven screen pairings between Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Although it was still very early in their careers, they had already become typecast as, respectively, the jilted, ex-con hero and the suave, slimy villain and this film has them reprising those characterizations – albeit less effectively than their prototype seen earlier in THE KILLERS (1946) and OUT OF THE PAST (1947); the same goes for Scott and Corey who both share a divided loyalty towards the two male leads. I WALK ALONE can also be said to have kick-started the directorial career of former technician Byron Haskin which lasted for twenty versatile years; unfortunately, that fact is borne out by the surprising lack of pace (which makes the film seem longer than its 98-minute running-time) and a rather weak climactic confrontation. Even so, the film is most interesting in the way it depicts the change in crime syndication (from streetwise toughness in the bootlegging Depression days to business acumen in the capitalist post-WWII era) that occurred during the fourteen years Lancaster spent behind bars: this is highlighted in a sharply amusing sequence when accountant Corey wrecks Lancaster's dream of owning half of Douglas' business empire (as they had verbally agreed on all those years before) by disclosing in "double-talk" the complex legal relationship that exists between the various companies owned by Douglas!

The screenplay and the directing may seem a bit hackneyed to some,but Lancaster's problems,trapped in the mystery of economics and club management are rather intriguing.

The essential lies elsewhere:watching the Lancaster/Douglas team is enough to satisfy the cine buff;they are so good than even when they work with inferior material,they are still better than most of the rest. Douglas is icily suave,treating his old pal to a meal of canard à l'orange with vintage Champagne.But if looks could kill,his certainly would.Lancaster is a mistreated,thrown into jail (14 years!),cheated good guy ,but who will play fair game till the end.Between these two men ,there's of course a woman:unlike today's female parts,this one is not sacrificed .Lizabeth Scott's performance is first-class and on a par with the two male parts.Too bad her career should have ended so prematurely.She easily equals Laureen Bacall,she's even more human.

It's strange how Douglas 's first parts were often villains (this movie,the loves of Martha Ivers) which culminated with Billy Wilder's highly superior "the big carnival".This movie proves that three good leads can give a banal plot substance.