Shakedown

This film is about the best example of noir you will find about blackmail and shakedowns. It stars Howard Duff as an unscrupulous photographer, who will do anything and anyone to get the pictures that will advance his career. His heartless, ruthless portrayal is chilling at times. It kind of reminded me of myself when I was younger, but I mellowed with age.

Lawrence Tierney is always terrific in these films; and this one is no exception. He plays a violent hood being shaken down by Duff.

In this film, Duff uses women like most of us use a plastic bottle of water; use once and throw away. I am sure Ida Lupino (his real life love) was amused by this role. The only problem is that Duff has a genuine likable personality in real life, so he is being cast against type here. He would go on to many more good guy roles that audiences really wanted to see from him. A solid entry.

I do not know a great deal about Director Joseph Pevney, but his work includes THIEVES' HIGHWAY, so SHAKEDOWN was no beginner's luck. It is a well-directed film anchored in a cast of considerable quality, including Howard Duff in one of his better roles, the always duplicitous Brian Donlevy, Lawrence Tierney, French actress Anne Vernon, Bruce Bennett, and the incredibly beautiful Peggy Dow, who always reminds me of Audrey Hepburn.

Boasting a thought-provoking script with greedy, selfish and ruthless reporter Jack Early (as in the early bird that catches the worm) driving the action, this film may well have served as blueprint for NIGHTCRAWLER (2014). I find it surprising that the puritanical U. S. codes of the 1950s, the HUAC investigation, Senator McCarthy, etc, let this attack on the American Dream show in moviehouses... but I am grateful they did!

Fitting and effective cinematography by Glassberg and editing by Carrugh.

Definitely worth watching!

Howard Duff (Early) plays an unpleasantly ambitious photographer who continually turns up at the right time to make sure he gets the unique picture that everyone wants to buy. He treats everyone with disrespect and has no morals whatsoever. He is guided by his values of greed and self-interest. Well, he gets what he deserves.

It's a strange film in that it is entertaining and I'm going to keep onto it despite the lead man being thoroughly unpleasant. Newspaper editor Bruce Bennett (David) sums things up perfectly for everybody when he says "I don't like him". Yep, no-one does. He reminds me of a typical John Garfield type or Humphrey Bogart. They are solely out for themselves and not particularly relatable or pleasant. God knows why Peggy Dow (Ellen) takes an interest in him. It is just not believable. Duff is a horrible man and he fixates on gangster moll Ann Vernon (Mrs Palmer).

The rest of the cast are good and you root for the rival gangsters Brian Donlevy (Palmer) and Lawrence Tierney (Colton) to reset the power balance against this egomaniac photographer. The moral of the story is good - don't be like Duff!

Howard Duff is an ambitious photographer looking for a job at a newspaper. Once he does, his ambitions start to skyrocket. His brash attitude gets him a snapshot of mobster Brian Donlevy, who takes a shine to him. Donlevy informs him of a robbery his competitor Lawrence Tierney is about to do, and Duff soon has himself another sensational photograph. After he photographs Tierney planting a bomb in Donlevy's car, he tries to blackmail Tierney while also hitting on Donlevy's widow Anne Vernon. Duff thinks he's in control but he's already in way over his head.

Ouch, the print I saw was in bad, bad shape, it seems like a 4th generation VHS recording, washed out with a slightly warped image. But don't let this stop you, this is a really good noir! It is always nice to see a noir where the 'protagonist' is a bigger bastard than the mobsters, including Lawrence Tierney!

Duff does a good job of portraying a man who seems like he's just anxious to find a job but who you soon realize is selfish, ruthless and only out for himself. He even tries to play 2 women at the same time, a mobster's widow and an editor at the newspaper, Peggy Dow (who already has a fiancée!). Donlevy and Tierney do what they excel at, playing rough, no-nonsense men. The rest of the supporting cast, which also includes Bruce Bennett as the chief editor, are equally solid. The cast has a ton of noir credentials between them, including 'The Naked City', 'The Glass Key', 'Born To Kill', 'Mildred Pierce' and many more... For French actress Vernon this was her only Hollywood movie however, but she's great here, bringing a lot of charm to her role.

This was director Joseph Pevney's first movie ('Female On The Beach', 'The Midnight Story'), but he does really well here. DoP Irving Glassberg ('Outside The Wall', 'The Web') also does good work here, making good use of real locations like a parking garage.

Don't let the bad picture quality deter you, this is the real deal, complete with a noir ending. Good stuff! Recommended! 8/10

A rising star photographer starts using his journalistic influence for personal profit... and sets two gangsters against each other. Ruthless and cynical, with one of the most despicable protagonists this side of Mike Hammer. This guy is a real piece of work, a sleazy manipulator who doesn't care who suffers for his gain. Howard Duff (probably best known to noir aficionados for THE NAKED CITY) plays it completely unsympathetic, delivering his lines with barely concealed contempt and ambition. The supporting performances are all pretty good, too, with special mention for the always intimidating Lawrence Tierney. The story is lean and mean, like the production. It's a decidedly low-budget affair, a little more polish might have amped up the tension (though I should note I watched a very rough copy). The film doesn't pack much of an emotional punch, but it is a down and dirty good time.