The Hoodlum

I read on IMDb that a new restored version of this film was just released. However, my review is based only on the public domain version--which may or may not be roughly the same picture. How much restoration was done is unknown to me.

The film stars Lawrence Tierney and one of his real-life brothers. For some very, very fascinating reading, read up on Tierney's life--he was an incredibly dangerous sort of guy--and a lot like the sociopathic character he played in this film. Now that Tierney has passed away, I have no trouble saying this...otherwise I'd keep my mouth shut, as even as an elderly guy he was quite the unpredictable terror! But, I should point out, that because Tierney was such a screwball, he was able to play some of the most menacing and convincing criminals in noir films such as "Born to Kill" and "Reservoir Dogs".

Lawrence Tierney plays an angry man who was just paroled. Instead of learning from his mistakes, he has an incredibly bad attitude and blames everyone for his problems...everyone but himself. It's obvious that despite his family trying to help him go straight, this hoodlum is determined to return to a life of crime. After all, in his mind the world owes him something and working hard at a real job is for suckers! This unrelenting badness made the character terrific and dark even by film noir standards. He destroys his brother's girlfriend, kills with no compunction and attacks everyone around him--making him very memorable. As a result, the film takes a rather ordinary story idea with a small budget and makes it much more. It's gritty and far more realistic than a typical film of the era--and well worth seeing for fans of noir.

If you do see the film, some particularly noteworthy scenes are Tierney slapping a woman as well as the final scene between him and his horrified mother and brother. Great stuff! By the way, in an interesting bit of casting, Lawrence Tierney's real-life brother, Edward, plays his brother in the film as well!

... because TIerney was such a seemingly tortured soul and his own worst enemy that he really seemed to understand the most memorable characters that he played. His drunken brawling destroyed his movie career in less than ten years. Once he called the police and told them there was a fight in a bar and they needed to come break it up. There wasn't, Tierney just wanted some fist to cuffs with some cops. In the 1970s his girlfriend died from a fall from a high rise window. Tierney was there and told the police that as he had entered the apartment she had just jumped out of the window, seemingly for no reason. Charges were never filed. But I digress.

The point is that here Tierney plays the brooding violent seemingly tormented hoodlum Vincent Lubeck, into far more nefarious stuff than Tierney ever was, but Tierney has the titular character's mood and mentality down pat. VInce is somewhat enigmatic with few words. It is with posture and factial expressions that you come to know this character.

The first part of the film is almost in documentary style. It talks about Vincent's ride through the revolving door of the criminal justice system with his crimes elevating in gravity with his age. Finally at age 25 he is sentenced to 5-10 in the pen for armed robbery. At his parole hearing after 5 of those 10 years, the parole board can't think of why they should loose this guy on the public. But then his gray haired mama enters and after she slings enough chicken soup, cliches, and mixed metaphors at the board she apparently convinces (confuses???) the board into letting Vince go.

But you might as well meet the new VInce, same as the old Vince. He feels the world owes him something because of his impoverished upbringing, living next to the city dump as a kid. But his little brother (and this actually IS Tierney's little brother folks) doesn't seem to have any of Vince's hardness, is enterprising, and has opened a gas station and gives Vince a job, which he needs to stay out on parole.

But Vince is busy eyeing the things he can't have and that he wants. One is his kid brother's fiancee, Rosa. The other is the contents of the bank across from the gas station where he works. And this is where he plans a rather intricate bank hold-up. This is where low budget Eagle-Lion excelled, what they couldn't afford in really big name stars - TIerney is the only one in this film - they spent on rather clever plots.

Tierney gets to show a bit of range here. He even shows fear and regret, although in small doses. And the end of the film is quite ironic. I would recommend this little film.

Got a chance to watch this little noir/crime film recently and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It's a quick movie that clocks in at about 61 and a half minutes and there is no denying that it was a very low budget programmer but it was quickly paced and had some nice touches. Lawrence Tierney is at his nastiest as lifelong criminal Vincent Lubeck. The film opens with Tierney in a car being held at gunpoint by his brother(real life brother Edward Tierney) Johnny and then goes back in time to take us through what lead up to this point. We get a neat narrated, documentary style montage about Vincent's life of crime to start things off. Nice noir touches along the way as shadows abound and for the most part, the performances are very good. Several scenes in the film sort of reminded me of the vastly superior WHITE HEAT. Several things kind of startled me from a film made in 1951 like rape, suicide and the word "pregnant"! All in all, a pretty entertaining little film and a nice way to kill an hour of your time.

Never viewed this 1951 film starring Lawrence Tierney,(Vincent Lubeck) who is up for parole from prison, however, the warden does not want to release him because he almost knows he is evil through and through. Mrs. Lubeck,(Lisa Golm) walks into the parole board meeting and pleads for her sons release and it is finally granted. Vincent spent five years in prison and is worse than when he went into the prison. Johnny Lubeck, (Edward Tierney) greets his brother back and offers him a job at his gas station to work and get himself on the right side of the law. It is not long before Vincent steals his brothers girl friend and then decides to pull off a big job across the street from his brothers gas station. If you viewed the film "Dillinger" in 1945, Tierney plays almost the same role with plenty of hate for everybody and a mean look on his face all the time. In this film, Lawrence Tierneys brother, Edward Tierney gave a great supporting role. Lisa Golm, (Mrs. Lubeck) gave a great portrayal of Vincent Lubeck's mother and acted just like a loving mother would towards her wayward son. Enjoy

Although his warden considers him an unrepentant hoodlum, bank robber Lawrence Tierney (as Vincent "Vince" Lubeck) is granted parole. This is largely due to Mr. Tierney's pleading mother Lisa Golm (as Mama Lubeck). Lawrence moves home with the family and begins working for younger brother Edward Tierney (as Johnny Lubeck) at his auto service station. Lawrence proves to be a terrible worker and drives customers away from the gas station, which happens to be across the street from a bank. He meets bank secretary Marjorie Riordan (as Eileen) and gathers information for a planned robbery. Lawrence also assaults Edward's girlfriend Allene Roberts (as Rosa Czermak) with a kiss, which succeeds in getting her to copulate in that old "you know you want it" way...

Leading man Lawrence Tierney scowls through his part. His best scenes occur near the end, especially with mother Golm. Though theatrical, Golm performs most passionately for director Max Nosseck. Edward Tierney is Lawrence's real-life brother and is okay his first featured role. They are interesting in the bracketing car scene which opens the story with flashbacks. While Ms. Roberts is a pushover, a couple of other women assert themselves. All things considered, the best part of this unassuming crime drama is the story/screenplay, well-written by Sam Neuman and Nat Tanchuck. They make the characters more interesting than they are played – and "the city dump" is an artfully used metaphor. The main caper, involving the bank and a nearby mortuary, is nicely staged.

****** The Hoodlum (7/5/51) Max Nosseck ~ Lawrence Tierney, Edward Tierney, Lisa Golm, Allene Roberts