My Son Is Guilty

I have had fun reviewing a number of films here at IMDb and I try to stay consistent in what I look for or take note of in evaluating a picture. I find that reviewing a film adds a deeper appreciation for the film. I enjoy all motion pictures, from the finer tried and true greats and classics to lesser ones, including B-pictures like "My Son Is Guilty." I rarely bother to offer thoughts on the great films, or even most of the class-A features, as usually many --if not dozens-- of reviews have already been offered on them.

My overall enjoyment from viewing a film is what I am looking for when evaluating, or reviewing, a film. It really comes down to assigning a value as to how much I "enjoyed" the viewing. Yes, I may expect just a little more (or maybe considerably more) polish and sophistication from a big studio, high-budget picture with valued star players than I do from a smaller B-picture, but as far as enjoyment is concerned, I can get just about as much enjoyment from a B-picture as I can from an A-picture.

"My Son Is Guilty" is a good case in point. Sure, it is obvious from the production values and editing that it was made on a lower budget, but I absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated this little film. I loved the sets and the players and the economical pacing. The story was indeed fanciful, what with Harry Carey being so singularly naive, but it is easy to get wrapped up in the program and all the disruption and reactions that the return to town of the bad son engendered. Bruce Cabot played the unredeemable son smoothly and convincingly. Seemingly many raters of this film have given it five stars, and some even fewer, but I happily give it seven because I got a lot of enjoyment from watching it.

We know pretty much know from the beginning of this film where it will wind up, since the Hayes code demanded that anyone who kills an innocent victim has to pay the ultimate price. However, there are a few turns and detours along the way that make the movie watchable.

Harry Carey is perfect as a beat cop, who sometimes performs the duty of a full detective (one of the drawback of the film). Bruce Cabot of King Kong fame goes against type as the cop's son who cannot escape his desire to be a big shot. The most interesting part of the film is watching the development of Glenn Ford in a supporting role as an old friend of the son and a rival for the usual love interest in all of these types of films.

There really is not much new here, but this is only one of two films I have ever seen where a father and son come to a very bad end; the other was Taras Bulba.

Tim Kerry (Harry Carey), a beat cop in Hell's Kitchen, welcomes home his son Ritzy (Bruce Cabot) after he finishes his two year prison sentence. Ritzy tells his dad he'll go straight, and he may even mean it to some degree. But then his old gang gets in touch with him, now headed by the widow of the old gangleader, Claire Morelli (Wynne Gibson), and Ritzy decides to go for the easy money. Ritzy gets his dad to get him a job as a technician working on the police radio system so that he can get the radio to malfunction when the gang does a payroll robbery and thus give them time to get away before patrol cars can arrive or even know about the robbery. Ritzy does this in return for half of whatever the gang's take is. In a secondary plot, Ritzy is trying to take up where things left off with Julia, a girl from the neighborhood, but her budding relationship with a novelist, Barney (Glenn Ford) may get in the way.

This is not a boring film, because there are some good actors in it and because the plot is so simple that the plot holes and bad direction don't make it incomprehensible. Plus some of the plot holes are just howlingly funny. For example, the police are staking out a place prior to raiding it, and rather than have plain clothes officers acting nonchalantly or being out of sight there are half a dozen of them in uniform stuffed behind a staircase, and they are all visible. Who do they think they are fooling? After a robbery, cops are on stakeout again, this time in plain clothes, waiting for Ritzy to appear. When he does show up the police make their move. Why wait until now? Since in the previous scene they don't even seem to know who the robbers are, how did they find their hide-out to stake it out? Why did they not just arrest the rest of the robbers prior to this? Is Frank Drebbin of Police Squad the police commissioner?

Robbery scenes are alluded to and not shown taking place, because that would require time and resources. And Harry Carey, Wynne Gibson and Bruce Cabot must have fallen on very hard times for them to agree to star in this turkey. Do note the presence of a teenage looking Glenn Ford (he is actually 23) as the novelist in just his second credited film appearance and also Bruce Bennett as a member of the gang before going to Warner Brothers and becoming a serviceable supporting actor there.

I personally wouldn't bother with this one unless you want some laughs. In case you do, there are plenty of plot holes I did not mention in this review.

From the magic year in films, 1939, except the fairy dust didn't land on this movie.

My Son is Guilty is a B film starring Harry Carey as Tim Kerry, a 61-year-old cop still walking a beat in Hell's Kitchen. It didn't look like Hells Kitchen, and people seemed to walk aimlessly up and down the street.

Kerry's son Ritzy (Bruce Cabot) is released from prison after a two-year stint. He promises his dad he's going straight, but he's lying. One problem might stem from naming him Ritzy.

Ritzy joins a gang planning a heist. Since he's a radio expert, they suggest he talk to his dad about working the police calls at the department so he can delay the all cars notification when the robbery occurs. Most police departments definitely want an ex-con handling this so they hire him.

Twenty-three year old Glenn Ford plays a neighborhood kid in competition with Ritzy for the affections of Julie Bishop.

Despite a fine cast, not a good movie.

Look for Edgar Buchanan in a small role as a bartender.

Harry Carey is the cop on the beat in Hell's Kitchen. It's a tough neighborhood, but it's home. His son, Bruce Cabot is coming home.... from prison. Carey thinks he can help him go straight, and so does young Julie Bishop. But he's a smart guy, tempered by two years in prison, and he gets involved in a scheme to rob a payroll. He might have gotten away with it, but a cop died in the stickup, and the police have him followed.

It's an interesting thesis for a cheap Columbia second feature, with some nice fillips. Glenn Ford plays a plainclothes detective in his third movie, and there are plenty of well-remembered supporting actors, like Wynne Gibson, Don Beddoe, Bruce Bennett and Edgar Buchanan. The Nicholas Brothers have a specialty number. It's not one of their eye-popping performances, but as always, it's good to see them.

If the movie lacks something, it's a focus. Are we following Carey, Cabot, Miss Bishop, or Ford? At various times, each of them looks to be taking front and center, and then it's over to someone else. Sll, it's good to se them working, particularly Carey.