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"Rogue Cop" is a 1954 film starring Robert Taylor, George Raft, Janet Leigh, Anne Francis, and Steve Forrest.

People seem surprised Taylor pulls off the tough guy act - I've seen him do it before, and he was good at it.

This is a no-nonsense film about a cop on the take (Taylor) whose honest cop brother (Forrest) can identify someone involved in a murder. The guy who pays off Taylor (Raft) wants him to convince his brother to suddenly not identify him. His brother won't go along with it, making for problems.

I had actually just seen a 1933 Taylor film and what struck me is how many octaves his voice had gone down! Smoking and age will do that.

There isn't anything special about this film. Janet Leigh is beautiful as Forrest's girlfriend with a past, and Anne Francis is Raft's decades-younger alcoholic girlfriend. Both women are fresh- faced and lovely.

No pulling of punches in this movie by Taylor. My mother worshiped the ground he walked on, so I well remember his series, The Detectives. He could be rough and tough with the best of them.

Rogue Cop is directed by Roy Rowland and adapted to screenplay by Sydney Boehm from the novel written by William P. McGivern. It stars Robert Taylor, Janet Leigh, George Raft, Steve Forrest and Anne Francis. Music is by Jeff Alexander and cinematography by John F. Seitz.

Christopher Kelvaney (Taylor) is a cop on the take from the mob that's fronted by Dan Beaumont (Raft). When his brother and fellow cop, Eddie (Forrest), is requested to withdraw testimony about a crook covered by Beaumont, Chris is compromised and danger lurks for all involved.

A face wrinkled like Venetian blinds.

Out of MGM, Rogue Cop is a better than average venture into film noir territories. Characters are standard fare for such plottings, but the moral quagmire at Kelvaney's core lifts things considerably. Helps also that Kelvaney is a cop with a quip, the script affording the character some hard boiled edges. With Seitz on photography duties, Rowland is able to fill out the pic with usual noir trappings, where shadows and dim lights exude a doom ambiance.

Stoolies Incorporated.

Scenes are staged in noir funky locations such as a penny arcade (scene of the vicious crime that kicks everything off), a race track and of course shimmering streets, the latter of which plays host to the gun laden finale. Colourful characters such as Francis' (excellent) lush moll and Olive Carey's wise old news stand operator (info for sale) add some side-bar female essence to the moody tale. The ending could have been bolder as per outcome, but it sits OK, and since the story has its share of emotional wallops for some of the players, it ultimately ends up as a comfortable recommendation to noir fans. 7/10

Robert Taylor plays Chris Kelvaney, a dirty cop on the take with the mob in this exciting police drama. Taylor goes on a campaign of revenge against those very mobsters, who decide to kill Kelvaney's brother, also a cop, for witnessing something that could incriminate the mob leaders.

The biggest surprise here is Robert Taylor's performance as the dirty cop. We have seen him play many rather stiff heroic types such as in "Ivanhoe", but here, he is tough and gritty as the dirty cop, and very believable. The dialogue in this movie is sharp and well written and similar to a Raymond Chandler detective novel. There is also a good fist-fight between Alan Hale, Jr. ( yes! the skipper on Gilligans Island) and Robert Taylor. A top notch supporting cast rounds out what is an overall good movie , especially for those who like the old hard-boiled detective stories.

I caught this on TCM Middle East the other night. First thought was in regard to the opening, my the titles are very sparse and with no soundtrack music it really added to a gritty feel. Then we get to see one hell of a gritty city with a women who looked 50 but was probably in her 30's buying a narcotic from a dealer in the penny arcade (boy I'm lucky enough to have seen one of must be the arcades with penny films in it at Grand Central Station NYC in the 1970's, pretty cool gone by times). So I'm wondering what this womens role is in the film when she slips away after getting her fix, than the dealer gets knifed by a rival dealer. WOW! This is one seedy town! Then the killer drives away but not before the good cop brother stops him because he's overparked by 15 minutes (oh brother!). Cut to the next scene and a detective is walking into the police station and I could have sworn he was the same guy as the killer (of course I'm watching this on a 20" TV so it's probably an easy mistake). Well I wont go on anymore about personal observations other than to say this is a great 1/2 of a movie and Taylor is looking really rogueish and bad, even saying if you cross me again "I'll break both your legs", thats pretty tough talk! But in the second half we get the polished MGM treatment and there is some pretty lame action and a lot of dialog, and Taylor turning a new leaf to be a good cop after all. Two things I noticed that had to be spoofed in the TV show "Police Squad" with Leslie Neilson, the stooly at the newspaper store and the final gunfight where they are shooting in between trash cans and no one is getting hit! Remember "Police Squad"? I was kinda grinning watch this movie thinking about it. Two TV personalities I noticed The Skipper Alan Hale Jr, as a heavy and The guy who was the Sheriff in Bonanza (musta chose him based on his flatfoot character here). Anyway 6/10 because its a crime thriller (which are my favorites next to good war flicks) and Taylor talks the good talk, he just doesn't walk the walk. Damn you'se lousy rogue cop you'se!

With some of the roles he played as he got older, it's hard to believe that at one time MGM was worried about a powder puff image that Robert Taylor had in his youth.

Seeing Taylor as Chris Kelvaney in Rogue Cop is like seeing a whole different player than Armand in Camille. But it's the same guy and a film like Rogue Cop brings out the maturity and depth Taylor had as an artist as well as a person.

Taylor is a long time big city cop on the take to gangland boss George Raft. He's risen pretty high in the department and could go farther. He's a pretty cynical dude, in his chosen field he's seen a lot of the worst that people can be.

But he's got a kid brother played by Steve Forrest who's a straight arrow. He doesn't know about his brother and he gets himself killed because he crosses Raft in the performance of his duty.

Forrest's death gives Taylor a mission, he'll take Raft down no matter what it costs.

There are two prominent female roles, Janet Leigh as Forrest's girl friend who later develops an interest in Taylor and Anne Francis as Raft's moll who turns against him. Both women hold their own in what is a male dominated film. Francis borrows quite a bit from Gloria Grahame and her performance in The Big Heat. Also both Rogue Cop and The Big Heat have blackmail of a syndicate boss as the underpinning of the story.

Raft of course is in his element as a gangland boss. In the rest of the cast there's a very nice performance by Robert Ellenstein as Taylor's honest partner. The final shootout with Raft and company with the two of them is one of the best and most realistic ever staged in a film.

For Robert Taylor fans, Rogue Cop is an absolute must and people who don't think much of Taylor as player will be jolted at how well he does in this film.