Pecado e Redenção

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.

"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.

This picture is an example of a perfect cast. The leading role is a possibility for Robert Taylor to prove that he is an allrounder as an actor. Hard, dirty and gritty - he even use "angelface" Janet Leigh for his interests. Miss Leigh as pretty and credible as always. The same to George Raft. He even could play his part asleep. Anne Francis, Steve Forrest and Vince Edwards are also convincing. Roy Rowland (he directs Taylor in the western-comedy-hit "Many rivers to cross") captures the atmosphere of policeman and gentleman-gangster. Writer Boehm also is the author of "The big heat" an movie which is similar in atmosphere and plot.

In the law and order 1950's, crooked cops were not exactly a box office item, especially from a studio that prided itself on wholesome entertainment. But head executive Louis B. Mayer had been forced out of MGM in favor of the more current Dore Schary who promised harder- hitting films on subjects more topical than Andy Hardy.

I guess it's easier to shift personnel than it is to change tradition, because this crime drama has neither the look nor the feel of the real thing. In short, the movie's an antiseptic treatment of a seamy subject, and all Robert Taylor's tedious tough talk or George Raft's gangster reputation can't muddy up the sheen.

Note Taylor's impeccable suits, the glamor girls in high-class outfits, the uncluttered studio sets, and especially the high-key lighting that robs the visuals of any hint of ambiguity. Unfortunately, director Roy Rowland brings next to nothing to the project, filming in the most pedestrian style possible. This is a film that cries out for at least something of a noir approach to bring out the menace and moral conflict implicit in the screenplay.

Note too, how many punches are pulled from the final ambulance scene to the redeemed bad girls to the fist-fight with muscular Vince Edwards-- as a matter of fact, the movie could have used more of Edwards' convincing style. Note in particular, how the killing of the two innocents is done off camera, depriving the drama of the kind of visual impact it so clearly needs. Simply nibbling around the edges of evil with an unsmiling ex-matinée idol is not enough.

Too bad a studio like RKO or Warner Bros. of the 40's didn't get hold of the property first. They could have done it up right. MGM may have been great for lavish productions like costume drama and musicals, but crime drama simply did not fit their style. And not even Dore Schary could change that.

Robert Taylor puts an even harder edge on his 'Johnny Eager' type of role with another hard-boiled, even tougher characterization as a man steeped in underworld crime until his brother (Steve Forrest) is killed by mosbsters. Crisply directed, nice all-around performances from an attractive cast--Janet Leigh, Steve Forrest, George Raft, Alan Hale, Jr.--with Taylor highly convincing in the tough central role.

Not the kind of gritty film noir one would suspect coming from the MGM studios--but well worth it with its Raymond Chandler type of dialogue and a climactic gun fight that is extremely well handled.

Crime buffs should enjoy this one--as will Robert Taylor's fans.