Il terrore corre sull'autostrada

In California, the mechanic Eddie Shannon (Mickey Rooney) is also an excellent racing-car driver that expects someday to save money to race in Europe in Le Mans, Grand Prix and other car races driving a European car. Eddie is a short and shy man that has difficulties to date a woman. When the crooks Steve Norris (Kevin McCarthy) and Harold Baker (Jack Kelly) see the performance of Eddie in a local race, they use Steve´s girlfriend Barbara Mathews (Dianne Foster) to seduce Eddie to convince him to drive the getaway car in a bank heist. What will be Eddie´s attitude?

"Drive a Crooked Road" is a film-noir written by Blake Edwards and directed by Richard Quine. Mickey Rooney performs a dark and sad role that seems to be tailored for him. The femme fatale Dianne Foster is the key element of the story, first seducing Eddie and then triggering his anger leaving him full of hatred. The gloomy conclusion surprises, but fits perfectly to the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Valentões" ("The Bullies")

A shy Los Angeles mechanic and weekend racer (Mickey Rooney) is duped into being the getaway driver for bank robbers played by Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly. It seems as if they have a rather elaborate plot to hook him into their scheme by using McCarthy's girlfriend played by attractive Dianne Foster as lure for the shy and withdrawn Rooney who only has his job and his racing trophies to keep him going. It all works fairly well and shows how an innocent person is lured into doing something he would never ordinarily do with the bait being implied sex. Rooney is really good but so are both Kevin McCarthy and his partner played by Jack Kelly. The robbery itself occurs in Palm Springs and does not disappoint in execution with Kelly especially good as the gunman cracking jokes as he accompanies the head teller to the bank followed by the getaway car (which was souped up by Rooney). The film's title comes into play as Rooney drives like mad over a twisting mountain road back to the highway in under twenty minutes. All the elements of the story are mixed pretty well with a tough ending.

If you've seen Quicksand and Killer McCoy, you know that Mr. Rooney was, at the core, a serious actor and entertainer. He tries hard to make his character believable in this film, but the script ultimately lets him down. He manages to deliver a great performance anyway!

A shoutout to the director for not using music during certain important sequences. An even bigger shoutout to composer George Duning, ultimately a five-time Oscar nominee, for an engaging score nonetheless.

Worth one watch.

"Drive a Crooked Road" is an excellent picture--written by Blake Edwards and starring Mickey Rooney. Most would probably consider it an example of film noir, though its camera-work and dialog aren't exactly typical for noir.

When the story begins, you learn that Eddie (Rooney) is a small-time race car driver and mechanic. He also is rather quiet and is treated rather poorly at times due to his being so small. Because of that, he's vulnerable when a pretty lady (Dianne Foster) begins showing him a lot of attention. But she is not such a nice lady and halt ulterior motives. It seems her boyfriend (Kevn McCarthy) is a mobster and they are actually setting him up to become part of their robbery scheme! What's next? See the film.

Most Mickey Rooney films, particularly those earlier in his career, are similar because Mickey plays nice guys or guys who become nice guys. Here, however, he agrees to become entangled with gangsters...gangsters who really are scum. Overall, well acted and interesting throughout...and well worth seeing. If you are interested, it's currently posted on YouTube.

As other reviewers point out, America's favorite little guy was at a career crossroads at this point (1953). All in all, this downbeat low-budget caper film was a gutsy choice for MGM's former golden boy. Not only is Rooney's Eddie Shannon a rather pathetically repressed and vulnerable nobody, but the script stays entirely within that character, allowing Rooney none of his usual assertive (and often annoying) antics. The result is perhaps the biggest departure of his career, and also perhaps the most moving.

The film itself is a good one, benefiting from unfamiliar Southern Cal locations, excellent acting from a number of up-&-comers, Jack Kelly , Kevin McCarthy, et al., and a plausible script. As a caper film, it's inferior to the best ones of that decade (The Asphalt Jungle, The Killing, etc.), but as an account of one man's sad and lonely plight (never a Hollywood biggie), it holds its own with the best of them, thanks to Rooney.