Balas na Noite

Does the perfect crime exist? Casey Martin (Frank Lovejoy) appears to be intent on discovering the hard way that it doesn't. Having just spent nine years behind bars, he executes an efficient highway heist, only to snooker himself via a discarded cigarette pack, falling foul of both the police and the Treasury Department as a repercussion.

Lovejoy is offered the choice of a lifetime in the slammer, or a liaison with the good guys to bring down big time operator Dutch Becker (Forrest Tucker). Just one small problem....he's likely to catch a bullet, or six doing it. At the risk of winding up with more holes than a colander, he takes his chance to nail the ruthless, string pulling kingpin.

The former jailbird launches himself gamely into the double dealing, fast talking, hard drinking, heavy smoking, moll mangling, fist flailing, sharp shooting, underhand, underworld sewer dominated by heavy weight Tucker, replete with his entourage of hoods, hookers, hostesses and hangers-on. Tucker is the manipulative button pusher behind illegal hooch and gambling rackets across nine states, who, in a calm, reassuring manner asks only for honesty and loyalty from those on his payroll. Unsurprisingly, any disloyalty results in rather more than a fatherly arm around the shoulder and a quiet corrective word of advice.

Access to the big shot's tawdry activities involves developing an intimacy with beautiful Peggie Castle, who finds herself walking on increasingly thin ice as a consequence. Lovejoy also experiences a seething reacquaintance with Tucker's sidekick, long faced, lugubrious and latterly lachrymose Timothy Carey.

Not outstanding or exceptional, but consistently engaging and entertaining. Finger lickin' good!

Frank Lovejoy is a three-time loser whose fingerprints have just turned up at the site of a truck heist. The Feds give him a choice: a lifetime in prison or help them get the dirt on mob head Forrest Tucker. Lovejoy has never talked, but when he sees what happened to his sister, Evelyn Eaton, he agrees. He gets Peggy Castle, with whom he has begun an affair, to introduce him to the big man.

Harold Schuster directs this as a straight, tough, ugly crime drama, where everyone is twitchy, except for Tucker, who talks emotionally of loyalty and honesty and has people killed. Lovejoy plays the role as a man about to explode at any moment, and knocks a few people down with his fists.

It's a very handsomely directed B, but it's too cheap and it came too late for anyone to break out. Schuster had directed some terrific westerns, and would soon get his shot in the Tarzan franchise.... and then settle down to TV work. Likewise Tucker. As for Lovejoy, he had the look and voice for the RKO B noirs, but that was five or ten years in the past; he already was performing on TV, and he would die in 1962, just 50 years old.

Veteran small-time criminal Frank Lovejoy gets busted for hijacking a truck he stole. Because of his prison track record, both in doing time and in refusing to be a stool pigeon, he's given the choice: life in prison or help the feds take down big-time crime boss Forrest Tucker. They also tell him to look up his sister Evelyn Eaton, who's now a drug addict, and Tucker's the supplier. Lovejoy has no choice but to accept. Through his old flame Peggy Castle, who was once employed by Tucker as a call-girl, he gets a position in Tucker's organization where he can try and find something concrete on Tucker.

There are tons of these noir(-ish) crime movies where someone infiltrates a crime ring in order to bust it from the inside out. This one's above-average. Within the confines of the Production Code it does all it can to make Tucker's business as seedy and lowlife as possible, by showing the sister's addiction as well as Tucker disposing of a prostitute he cannot use anymore. There's nothing redeeming about this crime boss, but he's also not some crazed lunatic.

The acting is solid across the board. Both Lovejoy ('The Hitch- hiker') and Castle ('99 River Street') are good, playing hardened- by-life characters but with human emotion under the exterior (in Lovejoy's case pure rage, Castle wants to settle down but knows her past will always come back to haunt her). Tucker (in his sole noir?) plays it straight and understated, giving his character a mean edge, even when he doesn't talk. Tucker's sidekick is none other than Timothy Carey ('The Killing'), who has some very nervous fingers in this movie. But as much as I like seeing Carey being Carey, his hyperactive acting felt kinda misplaced here, it's too big a contrast.

The movie looks pretty good, especially the nighttime scenes are well-done. Lovejoy does some nice voice-over narration with lines that could've been pulled straight from a 40s pulp novel. There are no surprises tho, altho there rarely are in these 'expose'-type noirs. Director Harold Schuster did a similar noir a few years late, 'Portland Expose', but this one's better. DoP William Sickner ('Cry Vengeance') does a solid job, and together they occasionally craft a beautifully-looking scene (the one where Castle walks into the night is tender and doomed at the same time).

Overall, it's not a classic, but it's a good example of this type of crime-busting movies. It's competently made and acted, looks good and does more than enough to keep one's attention. It's not a movie with a lot of re-watch value tho, what you see is what you get. Still recommended. 7/10

A minor classic of sorts with 'hidden-gem' vibes, this fast-paced undercover informant cops-vs-mob movie, features memorable characters and locales, some excellent noirish shots here and there, plus an almost sociological view on this gang of hoodlums and its vices. Unusually, the musical score caught my attention with some expressive work that is superior to what one might typically expected from this kind of B-movie. Poignantly, a quote at the end from our protagonist (in voice-over, which appears sporadically throughout the movie) brings a frisson when you know that the actor died not very many years afterwards. Recommended.

The question is asked by Lucille in her last scene, as she lies in the hospital to be detoxicated, and she is in hell. She is one of many female victims of Dutch Becker (Forest Tucker) who "owns" fallen girls "body and soul" all over the country, according to the police only in nine states. Frank Lovejoy as a frequent jailbird gets a chance for a clean slate if he helps the police to frame Dutch Becker to make it stick. That is the plot.

It's a grim film of spartan conciseness, and there are many interesting minor details that are important but risk getting bypassed by the action. All the scenes with Gladys Baker (Peggy Castle) are captivating, especially the last one, the longest shot in the film. In fact, it's all the expressive scenes with the women (and they are not many) that makes the film magic and of lasting interest beyond the limits of its time and age.

Frank Lovejoy reminds in this film very much of Eddie Constantine, the forerunner of James Bond but with a school of hard knocks behind him and a scarred face, that ultimately ruined his career. Frank Lovejoy has no scars, but he does have knuckles and uses them frequently. You simply have to love him, and the more for each trouble he starts.

The music is also outstanding, excellently composed and suited perfectly to every scene. This is a great film on a small level that will outshine most film of the period that were made to be more spectacular. This is a noir down to basics and extremely efficient as such.