The Hoodlum

Got a chance to watch this little noir/crime film recently and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It's a quick movie that clocks in at about 61 and a half minutes and there is no denying that it was a very low budget programmer but it was quickly paced and had some nice touches. Lawrence Tierney is at his nastiest as lifelong criminal Vincent Lubeck. The film opens with Tierney in a car being held at gunpoint by his brother(real life brother Edward Tierney) Johnny and then goes back in time to take us through what lead up to this point. We get a neat narrated, documentary style montage about Vincent's life of crime to start things off. Nice noir touches along the way as shadows abound and for the most part, the performances are very good. Several scenes in the film sort of reminded me of the vastly superior WHITE HEAT. Several things kind of startled me from a film made in 1951 like rape, suicide and the word "pregnant"! All in all, a pretty entertaining little film and a nice way to kill an hour of your time.

This is a very underrated B film noir, with Lawrence Tierney at his toughest. If you liked Tierney in Born to Kill, you'll like him here as well. The plot is a common one, but rarely will you see such a vicious character in a 1951 film. There's even a real "dirty word" used in this film (by 1950s standards): "pregnant"! Tierney's performance is not to be missed. He plays a character here with no redeeming qualities (unless you call using his mother a "redeeming" quality), & no remorse. The details of his character's development are fairly well explained; enough of his background is given to understand why he turned out the way he did. For film noir fans, you'll like the darkness of the film, shadows abound, & there's a short narration at the beginning. Lisa Golm (who plays Tierney's mother) also gives an outstanding performance (a little too dramatic at times, but I know quite a few people who act like that in real life); the fact that she strongly reminds me of my grandmother (& was coincidentally born only 9 days after my grandmother) helped me to enjoy this film even more. The most thought provoking aspect of the film is the question of how two brothers who were raised together could grow up to be so different. Tierney's real life brother plays his brother in this film (but he's probably the weakest actor here). I rate it 9/10, but subtract a point if Lisa Golm doesn't remind you of your grandmother!

I read on IMDb that a new restored version of this film was just released. However, my review is based only on the public domain version--which may or may not be roughly the same picture. How much restoration was done is unknown to me.

The film stars Lawrence Tierney and one of his real-life brothers. For some very, very fascinating reading, read up on Tierney's life--he was an incredibly dangerous sort of guy--and a lot like the sociopathic character he played in this film. Now that Tierney has passed away, I have no trouble saying this...otherwise I'd keep my mouth shut, as even as an elderly guy he was quite the unpredictable terror! But, I should point out, that because Tierney was such a screwball, he was able to play some of the most menacing and convincing criminals in noir films such as "Born to Kill" and "Reservoir Dogs".

Lawrence Tierney plays an angry man who was just paroled. Instead of learning from his mistakes, he has an incredibly bad attitude and blames everyone for his problems...everyone but himself. It's obvious that despite his family trying to help him go straight, this hoodlum is determined to return to a life of crime. After all, in his mind the world owes him something and working hard at a real job is for suckers! This unrelenting badness made the character terrific and dark even by film noir standards. He destroys his brother's girlfriend, kills with no compunction and attacks everyone around him--making him very memorable. As a result, the film takes a rather ordinary story idea with a small budget and makes it much more. It's gritty and far more realistic than a typical film of the era--and well worth seeing for fans of noir.

If you do see the film, some particularly noteworthy scenes are Tierney slapping a woman as well as the final scene between him and his horrified mother and brother. Great stuff! By the way, in an interesting bit of casting, Lawrence Tierney's real-life brother, Edward, plays his brother in the film as well!

Never viewed this 1951 film starring Lawrence Tierney,(Vincent Lubeck) who is up for parole from prison, however, the warden does not want to release him because he almost knows he is evil through and through. Mrs. Lubeck,(Lisa Golm) walks into the parole board meeting and pleads for her sons release and it is finally granted. Vincent spent five years in prison and is worse than when he went into the prison. Johnny Lubeck, (Edward Tierney) greets his brother back and offers him a job at his gas station to work and get himself on the right side of the law. It is not long before Vincent steals his brothers girl friend and then decides to pull off a big job across the street from his brothers gas station. If you viewed the film "Dillinger" in 1945, Tierney plays almost the same role with plenty of hate for everybody and a mean look on his face all the time. In this film, Lawrence Tierneys brother, Edward Tierney gave a great supporting role. Lisa Golm, (Mrs. Lubeck) gave a great portrayal of Vincent Lubeck's mother and acted just like a loving mother would towards her wayward son. Enjoy

This is typical but quite entertaining B movie fare. Well, not completely typical because the main character of such fare is generally more sympathetic than Lawrence Tierney is here. He's a guy you love to hate as he gets paroled thanks to his sweet and loving mother and then proceeds to be a total heel, raping and impregnating his sister-in-law, robbing a bank and just an overall not-nice guy. He doesn't even evoke sympathy at his dying mother's bedside and that's one of the perverse charms of the film. The ending in a dump is quite satisfying and prompts a feeling of good riddance to bad rubbish. This is a typically short little B film, cheaply made, ludicrous at times, but fun to watch and one which will be appreciated by fans of 40's and 50's 2nd features.