Three Crooked Men

THREE CROOKED MEN is another low budget crime drama scripted by Brian Clemens back when he was making a name for himself as a writer. It's chiefly of note today for starring Gordon Jackson as the protagonist, a corner shop owner with a set of personal grievances which make him tough and unlikeable for the most part. His relationship with THE DEVIL RIDES OUT's Sarah Lawson occupies the screen time until the arrival of some typical bank robbers of the kind you always see during this era. Warren Mitchell plays in support too. It's not a great film, and it has a criminal non-ending to boot, but Jackson is always a pleasure to watch on screen.

Gordon Jackson, normally pretty much a reliable actor, acts like a total knuckle head and a complete jerk in this no frills crime saga. Angry young man, rubbish!!! Endless moaning about nothing, chip on the shoulder, full of self pity, world owes me a living, etc. Mean to everyone, including his lovely, gorgeous wife, who obviously cares about him. At one point he even hits her!!! Can't believe she would put up with such a loser. It gradually becomes so tiresome to watch that you'll find yourself rooting for the bad guys instead!!! Having said that, it's nice to see Warren Mitchell as a timid bank clerk who gets caught up in the mess.

Gordon Jackson is an ex-boxer with a prosthetic leg, and sore about it. His wife, Sarah Lawson, still loves him, but his anger and drinking is making things hard on them. His only friend is Warren Mitchell, the little teller at the bank across the way. Little do any of them suspect that the bank is about to be robbed on the next evening it has all the local payrolls, they will come through Miss Lawson's store, and that Jackson and Mitchell will be the police's chief suspects.

It's a decent little programmer from the Danziger Brothers under the direction of Ernest Morris. It's no classic, and the demands of plot and B budgeting will ride this production harder than it should have, with more sentiment and fewer thrills than it should have. The resut is a watchable, although undistinguished little time waster. With Eric Pohlmann and Phillip Saville.