Criminale di turno

Pushover (1954)

An early widescreen black and white film noir gem. It comes late in the noir cycle but it crackles with precision and sharp acting. Though the details of the plot differ, it is an obvious echo of "Double Indemnity" with the leading man, played again by Fred MacMurray, sucked into a risky plot for big money and alluring love. And of course things don't go as planned.

MacMurray is an interesting choice in both films, because he really is more of an everyman than a noir type. Noir types are variable, I know, but you can range from Mitchum to Bogart to Dana Andrews to a whole bunch of minor actors who all have a kind of coolness or hardness to them, and you never see a regular fellow like MacMurray (the closest might be Mickey Rooney, of all people, in a neglected oddball noir, the 1950 "Quicksand"). MacMurray would later find his true calling as the dad in "My Three Sons" but when you see him in these early film roles there is something wrong and some perfect about his presence.

I don't mean to neglect the femme fatale here, a young Kim Novak, in her first full role. She's terrific, really, a bit cool (which was her style) but more convincing, to me, than her more famous appearance across from Sinatra in "Man with the Golden Arm." Maybe it's partly how well matched she is as an actress to MacMurray, though if there is a flaw to the film , it might be the unlikeness of these two falling in love, even with $210,000 to persuade them. But love is love and who's to say? The two of them, often playing in separate scenes (talking on the phone, or MacMurray watching her through binoculars), make this a full blooded drama as well as a crime noir.

The pace and editing of this movie, and the script and story, are perfect. It's easily the kind of film you could study for its structure, and for the writing, which isn't filled with noir doozies but with believable fast lines between two people looking to get through a growing debacle. It's a conventional structure, but its precision is comparable (for its precision) to "The Killing," that famous Stanley Kubrick film from 1956. And if it isn't as inventive, and if it lacks that amazing ending, "Pushover" is resilient because it is so reasonable. It could very well happen, and these relatively ordinary types (Novak being admired for her looks, but there are lots of lookers like her out there, especially gangster's girls) make it all the more compelling.

The filming is great, Lester White not known in particular in the cinematography world but shot a whole slew of decent and unamazing westerns (as well as the Ida Lupino "Women's Prison" which has it moments). Little known director Richard Quine made lots of lightweight and comic fare (he worked a bit with both Blake Edwards and Mickey Rooney, then later with Jack Lemmon) and this might be his most serious 1950s film, in tone. It's certainly the kind that you can't look away for a second because it clips along without a lull for an hour and a half.

I didn't expect this movie to be this good knowing nothing about it. Kim Novak is not the bitch that Barbara Stanwyck is, but the most beautiful actress on the movie screen and shy way about her that was truly sensuous. No matter who the leading man in her movies was, you just felt the helplessness of them being totally enthralled with this soft, sensuous, unbelievable sex goddess, for lack of another original description.

This is only the second movie I seen Fred MacMurray in (no my three sons here) besides Double Indemnity and his performance is very good here also,... just as Double Indemnity... I found myself hoping he would get away with it!

Don't read the reviews comparing it to other films before watching it on it's own merits, which are many. A damn fine Noir which isn't beholding to any other.

IMDb requires ten lines of text, but instead of impressing you with my opinions, I'll do this:

Kim Novak is stunning physically and memorable performance wise.

Fred Mc Murray is excellent on the northern-edge of his leading man days.

The first 3 minutes are perfect.

Really, the first 3 minutes make it worth watching.

LA at night, the land that built noir.

See it. Trust me.

PUSHOVER is an underrated, little known crime melodrama from the mid-'50s that introduced the blonde beauty of KIM NOVAK to audiences and gave FRED MacMURRAY another chance to play an authority figure seduced by the charms of a femme fatale. When the story begins, it turns out his accidental meeting with Novak was really a set-up, he being a cop assigned to keep track of her whereabouts after a bank hold-up results in the death of a police officer.

He suspects that her mobster boyfriend pulled the job and at first resists when she tries to convince him they can use the bank money for themselves. But eventually, he weakens and before you know it he's informing her that her phone is wire tapped and the two of them are just one step ahead of the police for the rest of the film.

PHIL CAREY, as a fellow officer and E.G. MARSHALL as the lead detective are excellent in supporting roles, as is DOROTHY MALONE in a pivotal role as a girl occupying the apartment next to Novak in a U-shaped building that enables MacMurray and Carey to keep an eye on both gals through binoculars (shades of REAR WINDOW).

Conveniently, no one ever draws the blinds in these sort of thrillers and spying is made so easy for the sake of plotting, as the 24-hour surveillance occupies much of the story. The noir elements are present throughout, the dark rainy streets, the shadowy photography during car chases, the clipped delivery of lines, the murder scheme gone awry, the femme fatale angelic on the outside, bad within.

But somehow it never becomes a major film noir, relegated to its place in obscurity over the years and not really a title that pops up when one speaks of film noir--but it does qualify as noir, on a minor scale, and it's given some taut direction and tight suspense by director Richard Quine.

Kim is as easy as ever on the eyes although a bit robotic in her acting technique and never quite convincing as a mobster's moll. MacMurray has a less interesting, more one-dimensional role as a cop corrupted by beauty.

All in all, definitely worth watching.

It's Fred MacMurray again, as a virtuous agent for the causes of good. Instead of playing an insurance salesman with an eye for the fast buck, here he's playing a cop assigned to shadow Novak, the mobster's moll. Kim Novak is as beautiful as she's ever appeared on the screen. The lighting in her early scenes is as dramatic and sensual as it can be. Who wouldn't fall in love with her? Comparisons with Double Indemnity just can't be ignored. She is the vamp that Barbara Stanwyck could never be. She's softer and more feminine in that 50's style, and less hard-edged than Stanwyck, which makes her much more dangerous. Novak's generally wooden acting style & "flat affect" gives way to a softer sex-kitten demeanor. MacMurray's character is a more active participant in the events that unfold than in "DD", where he seemed to get his courage and strength from Stanwyck's cold & calculating personna. Billy Wilder could have made this a masterpiece, but even without the guidance of the master's hand, this one is definitely well-worth watching.