Underworld U.S.A.

A juvenile delinquent witnesses the murder of his father by mobsters and seeks revenge as an adult. This is a brutal crime drama, with lively direction by Fuller, although he goes a bit overboard with shadows, closeups, and zooms. Robertson is not bad, but seems miscast as the tough guy who, driven by vengeance, singlehandedly takes on the syndicate. The best performances are turned in by the two leading actresses: Dorn (recalling Stella Stevens) as a gangster's moll and Kay (recalling Thelma Ritter) as a mother-figure for Robertson. Also notable are Rust as a ruthless mob henchman and Gates as a federal prosecutor.

Who else but the creative Fuller would follow a little girl's murder with two grisly skinned turkeys for cooking. What a striking way to symbolize the horror of the murder. As expected, the movie's visuals, especially close-ups, keep eyes riveted. The story's about revenge as Tolly (Robertson) schemes his way into the criminal combine that murdered his father. The script underlines how the combine's criminal claws reach into most every aspect of government. Once inside he plays a double game with lawman Driscoll (Gates) that he uses to exact revenge on his four targets. Meanwhile he discovers that ex-hooker Cuddles (Dorn) is more than a sexy distraction.

The first part amounts to a textbook of noir. Filming seldom leaves the dirtiest alleys of Columbia's shadowy backlot. After that, drama switches to more conventional lighting and sets, as the threads of Tolly's revenge spread. It's a great supporting cast from fatso Emhardt to tough gal Kay, to handsome, gimlet-eyed Richard Rust as a cold-blooded killer. If Rust had a psycho giggle, he'd be up there with Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death {1947}. To me, however, Robertson underplays to a fault. I never get the occasional sizzle that should intensify a revenge narrative. Over-playing is the usual pitfall for a movie like this, but here the outcome is the unfortunate opposite. Also, the screenplay, though boldly conceived, scatters during the last part, making developmental threads hard to follow. A tighter focus would help.

Nonetheless, there's plenty of compensation thanks mainly to Fuller's camera, plus touches like Tolly's permanent facial scar, symbolic of his wounded psyche. There's also that unexpected ending with its poetically apt trash can. Anyway, the flick may not be top-flight, but good or not so good, it's clearly the work of a movie auteur.

So here we have a characterization comparable to Richard Widmark's in Kiss of Death... and yet, obviously, Richard Rust did not receive the promotion one needs to be noticed! But I noticed. And when someone said to me, "Check out Cliff Robertson's white suit", I said, "I didn't even notice him, I was looking at Richard Rust..." Not that everyone else in this film wasn't good, but from the putting on of shades to the turning a zippo in his hand, from his coldness in killing a child to his creepiness in saying he likes lifeguarding for children, from his great profile to his screen presence...here's an ACTOR! As Sadakichi Hartmann said about himself, Richard Rust must have been too great to be noticed. But I saw him. Thank goodness!!

Underworld U.S.A. (1961)

Sam Fuller's movies have an edgy, reckless quality to them, as if lacking propriety. Which is good. What Underworld U.S.A. lacks in subtlety it makes up for in surprise and a kind of sultry sizzle, something very different than more usual "romance" that other crime and noir movies have. There is some second rate acting throughout, but if you accept some of this as "style" and go with the flow, it's click along nicely. In fact, the lack of star power makes the film a hair more everyday, and therefor a hair more realistic in a good way. And the lead male going solo through much of it is first rate, Cliff Robertson.

Not that this is actually believable--it feels contrived all the way--but it has a modern interpersonal selfishness and sometimes cruelty that is fun to watch. The plot? Great enough. But the searing looks, the slaps, the brooding closeups. This is movie-making! Certainly an influence on Tarantino.

As a black and white crime film with a slightly low budget feel, this naturally comes labelled as a film noir. And there are some similarities. But it's also a crime drama, more directly, and it explores (and exploits) the violence of cops and robbers circa 1960. There a lot of unsavory types involved, and some crisp filming. If you like other Sam Fuller films, you'll like this one.

Cliff Robertson plays Tolly Devlin, an embittered ex-convict who has spent a lifetime tracking down the men who murdered his father. Desirous of handling matters on his own, Devlin pretends to be loyal to both the Mob and the Government, playing one against the other in hopes of flushing out the killers. He learns that the three surviving assassins are employed by a supposedly charitable "cover" operation known as National Projects. To get what he wants, Devlin ingratiates himself with mob boss (and outwardly solid citizen) Conners (Robert Emhardt). What Robertson didn't count on was falling in love with "Cuddles" (Dolores Dorn), which leads to his own downfall - but not before justice is served. Producer/director/writer Fuller based "Underworld U.S.A." on a series of "exposé" articles in The Saturday Evening Post. A prime example of Fuller's tabloid sensibility, the film careens through its plot at a lightning pace showcasing his penchant for fevered, sensationalistic imagery and shocking violence. Though not as good as his earlier crime thriller "Pickup On South Street", or his later masterpieces "Shock Corridor" and "The Naked Kiss", this is prime Fuller for afficianados.