Cela 2455 - Corredor da Morte

This film is a about a guy named Whit Whittier, (William Campbell) who is really playing the role of Caryl Chessman who wrote this book and is a person who has a long wrap sheet full of crime and eventually winds up on Death Row in San Quentin Prison, California. Whit grew up in a nice family in California and had a good home and a great mom and dad who loved him very much. However, Whit had his own ideas and decided to steal and got caught in almost everything he did and spent a great deal of time behind bars. As soon as Whit was released from prison he would join up with another bunch of crooks and face another jail sentence. He had a blonde sweetheart named Doll, (Marion Carr) who loved him and was faithful to him whenever he needed her help and love. There was a crime being committed by a man who was called the Lovers Lane Vandit who would creep up and attack young women who were with their boyfriends on a date and rape them. After awhile people began to suspect Whit Whittier as the man committing these crimes and he was then arrested and sent to prison. This is a true to life story about a man called Caryl Chessman who was killed on death row in 1960.

Although a B film with B actors and production values, this film is fairly interesting. Guys on death row seem to fall into two distinct categories; those who deserve capital punishment, and those who don't. This one may have deserved life, but not the death penalty.

William Campbell does a very nice job of playing a young lifetime criminal who thinks he has all the answers. He doesn't.

He is guilty of a myriad of crimes, but most of them are armed robbery. He was an accessory to the murder of a policeman, however, and for this crime, he deserved life. The film goes into detail of how he went from reform school to an out-of-control full-time hood. What I don't get is how he was still alive after heisting money from the syndicate; nobody ever gets away with that without swimming with the fishes. Other than that obvious mistake, the film is pretty insightful. Worth viewing.

I saw this for the first time recently n was pleasantly surprised. This movie is fast paced, with good amount of car chases, lottuva robberies, suspense n an amazing sub plot of that of a kidnapper/rapist.

Lurid account of Caryl Chessman's criminal career at a time when his book was big on newstands. One thing for sure—there's no attempt in the film to glamorize or soft-peddle what appears to be a thoroughly nasty personality. Rarely, in fact, has any movie of the period made its leading man so dislikable. Campbell is quite good as the cocky young punk who goes from thievery to penny-ante stick-ups to ripping off organized crime to lover's lane rapist.

The movie itself is so uncompromisingly grim as to be off-putting. There's no effort at relieving the cheap criminality with character development or snatches of humor. The screenplay does have more fast car chases and shenanigans than a NASCAR rally, while some are darn near hair-raising. Look early on for a young Kathryn Grant and before she started up the Hollywood ladder. All in all, the movie's little more than a cheap exploitation flick with few redeeming features outside of being fast-paced.

(In passing-- Chessman's appeals luck finally ran out in May, 1960, but not before attracting support from a number of celebrities ,e.g. Steve Allen, impressed by Chessman's literary talents. Then too as incorrigible as he was, he hadn't killed anyone. Nonetheless, I don't recall much public concern when he finally got a whiff of San Quentin's lethal fumes.)

Brutal, fast moving crime thriller from deeply underrated director Fred F. Sears, who cranked out numerous westerns, crime thrillers, science fiction, comedy, horror, and musical features for producer Sam Katzman in the 1950s. This film isn't available on DVD or VHS, and more's the pity; it's easily better than most of the Don Siegel, Andre de Toth, or Budd Boetticher crime films of that era. Why Sears has never gotten the respect he deserves is easy to understand; he also directed junk, like THE GIANT CLAW. But his best known films, including ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK and EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS with superb effects by Ray Harryhausen are remarkable accomplishments, and Sears is long overdue for a career retro.