Sometimes rush jobs really work out, like Phenix City Story. Consider that the movie was scripted, shot, and processed in less than a year after the triggering event of Patterson's murder. Credit the producers or someone for coming up with a first-rate cast, a marvelous director, and a big enough budget for location filming in the actual Phenix City. The result is the best of the "city expose" movies so popular at the time.
There's a rawness to the violence here that's more convincing than usual, in part because of director Karlson's "feel" for the material and also because it appears to grow organically out of the seedy surroundings of honky-tonks and carousing soldiers on leave from Fort Benning. Credit too the fine, underrated Edward Andrews for blending oily charm with ruthless violence, just the qualities needed to run an operation of that sort. Kiley too delivers in spades, his rage unusually intense and realistic. The only questionable note is Katherine Grant's Ellie, seemingly too sweet and naïve for a dealer in a crooked set-up.
Getting Karlson was a real coup. He was just hitting his stride as a top crime drama director during this period. His staging of the little girl's murder is a real grabber, along with the parking lot beating. In fact, the movie has an unusually pervasive atmosphere of unrestrained evil. Credit should also go to screenwriter Dan Mainwaring for a good tight script and some timely notes on the downside of vigilantism. Apparently, the lengthy prologue was added to ease censorship concerns, and, aside from historical value, can easily be skipped.
Anyway, the film's a must-see for B-movie fans, a happy coming together of a number of underrated Hollywood talents.
