The Toughest Man Alive

Saw this film on first Run in '55 at the age of twelve and for some odd reason its been with me ever since. Something to do I suspect, with setting a mark to shoot for. Simple film really and not all that different except for action and intensity, from other crime-thrillers of its time, and the only reason I'm commenting at all (my only such BTW) is that I can't bear its entry remaining completely unremarked.

Memory wanes, but surely B/W, 1:33 to 1, and no names beyond Clark & Caruso. Clark's the undercover agent sent to bust up BadGuy Yankee gun-runners in Latin America. Clark joins the mob & bulls it out till his number's up, something about a girl, big climax at the docks (HUGE FIGHT). Plenty of fistfights, gunplay, and I swear... at twelve I thought Dane Clark really WAS the toughest man alive... short, like me, but takin' nuthin' from nobody.

Caruso delivers his best Mob-Boss persona, Clark was never tougher-yet-sympathetic, even frequently sporting a pet spider-monkey which gambols lovingly about his shoulder.

Never to my knowledge on TV, Cable, Disc, or Tape, and most likely a "Lost Film". Odds are overwhelming it will never resurface. Saw a few 16mm reels of it for sale on Ebay some time back, but didn't seem worth the effort. Evidently I'm not the only one with a significant interest in this crime thriller, judging from the number of requests for it lodged with firms who specialize in locating & providing otherwise unavailable titles for the home-video market. In their professional opinion, as of this writing, no copies are known to exist.

Pity is, it ranks (in memory of course) as among the best of the 'tough-undercover-guy battles wicked-criminals' genre produced during the decade. I think maybe its impact even got me through a few tough scrapes of my own.

But, unfortunately, I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

While a film student at Cal State Northridge, where its director Sidney Salkow taught courses, I saw this film. It was a 16mm print. The professor, Dr. John Schultheiss (now Chairman of the department) ran the fight scene that takes place in the diner and works its way into the rail yard. I remember Sidney talking about the film and another that he had directed (a "noirish" film that I can't remember the name of). It was definitely memorable. Sidney Salkow worked on Broadway before he started in film but, definitely knew how to move the action along.

Dr. Schultheiss might know whether the film is still available.

Especially from this western and adventure film maker, Sidney Salkow, for whom this kind of film was no the speciality. I totally forgot this movie, rather hard to find. I like it mainly for Anthony Caruso. This is a forgettable stuff though, but not that bad either. It is rare and short in length. There were many of this kind in the fifties, during the red scare period. Only a handful of them were really good, this one is not in the Samuel Fuller kind. Dane Clark was a bit lame as an actor, and here, it confirms for my taste. The plot, scheme, brings nothing more to many other stories of this kind and, I repeat, Anthony Caruso steals the film, at least for me.

... saved by dynamic Dane Clark. But that's not enough, the direction by Sidney salkow is absolutely flat, so is the cinematography, there's nothing inventive. All we really see is Dane Clark, explosive and tense. It seems that the director didn't prepare the movie which seems to have been shot very fast, without research. The casting is almost invisible, except Anthony Caruso and his animal Victor who have a very special scene which is the only original surprise of this quickie. You want to see a good Dane Clark? Jump on "Deep Valley", this is great work.

Dane Clark is always interesting to watch. His perpetual hangdog expression and droll line readings clash with his fairly diminutive size, making for strange anti-heroes in the films he's in (Borzage's MOONRISE being one of the very best).

And he does his best in this straightforward, occasionally pedestrian thriller about the Feds on the trail of munitions thieves, who are selling their purloined goods to resistance fighters in an unnamed South American country. Along the way, it manages to be both pro and anti-populist revolution, and almost pro-gangster, making for interesting viewing. As a thriller, it works some of the time; the best scenes involve hoods trying to outwit other hoods, with an undercover Federal man (Clark) impersonating a gun runner who plays both sides against each other if there's a dollar in it. But the cinematography and staging tends toward the pedestrian, there's not enough crackle in the screenplay, and the casting of the pneumatic Lita Milan as a torch singer/gun-buying revolutionary is ludicrous (though she provides the finest scenery in the picture). The film is buoyed by a decent amount of location photography in San Pedro, CA where the film is set, and there's a few nice character touches (the gun runner's best friend is a marmot-like creature named Victor who accompanies him everywhere).

But THE TOUGHEST MAN ALIVE leaves you hungering for something a little meatier. HOUSE OF BAMBOO it isn't, but as a low-budget time filler, it works. And I did see a print projected, so it's not an entirely lost item, though I can't imagine there are good 35mm materials left on the title.