A Lei dos Corruptos

After having met and married after working together in HELL DRIVERS where they were basically glorified cameos, three years later David McCallum and Jill Ireland - as an aimless still at home loser hanging around a strip joint to catch that joint's top stripper -- actually starred in another B&W British flick that's far superior: a heist thriller that takes an entire film to reach that heist with creative twisty avenues, and our two stars aren't alone...

The third lead in the triangle is freshly-sprung convict Kenneth Cope, a handsome and experienced lad with a romantic background with Ireland (one scene as he charmingly converses with McCallum's kitchen sink mother is a standout); he also wants payback from former partner McCallum, who didn't get caught from what landed him in prison...

Meanwhile, Ireland's Sue is the obsessed apple of McCallum's wormy eye, and he has such comfortable means around the place -- constantly fixing the car of the club's pushy and obese owner, also smitten with the otherwise old fashion/idealistic Ireland -- and it's through McCallum's primary perspective the audience experiences this seedy locale, from the theater stage to random dressing rooms and offices, like really being there...

Where the JUNGLE STREET GIRLS acts are not just in the background but right up front, interweaving throughout the dialogue, almost like a documentary or expose, including CIRCUS OF HORROR blonde bombshell Vanda Hudson while the prettiest, Marian Collins, is the announcer/MC...

So when the 11th hour safe-cracking occurs it's well after McCallum had been slowly cornered by surrounding cops, investigating the film's opening robbery of an old man that unintentionally turned to murder, and perhaps the best, most memorable character is indeed a character, straight from a classic Cagney/Bogart flick...

Enter Brian Weske's Joe Lucas as smarmy yet likeable hypochondriac Joe Lucas, also the most crookedly professional, having figured out who did the initial killing that everyone, including him, is being questioned for...

So as he darts in and out from random scene to scene, there's a palpable sense of Noirish criminal ambiguity that fits both the location and multilayered plotline -- one that needs more than one viewing to catch and thoroughly appreciate everything.

I first thought it was produced by the Danzigers or Butchers companies, the two major British B companies concerning B thrillers or crimes, and also the best. Because during the early sixties, Uk film industry gave us hundreds of such little crime dramas. This one is certainly not spectacular but worth seeing, as many other ones too; for instance John Lemont's SHAKEDOWN or FRIGHTENED CITY. UK crime film industry was not only LEAGUE OF THE GENTLEMEN or PAYROLL. It is even more social than crime, because showing young punks who still live with their folks. With some kitchen sink elements. No tough gangsters here. I have tenderness for this movie and it is also the opportunity to see David McCallum and his actual life wife Jill Ireland, several years before she meets Charles Bronson...But that's another story. David Mc Callum is terrific in this petty pink role, not the good and brave lead character. The contrary of the typical hero. Violent and coward. I love this because it changes.

Not a patch on the gritty film noir of the time, Taste of Honey, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, et al. Gave up after 15 minutes. Seedy and just plain poor.

This is a taut if predictable little film starring a pre-stardom David McCallum and Jill Ireland and a young Kenneth Cope ten years before he would gain fame in 'Randall & Hopkirk (deceased)'.

The story, of a low life criminal (McCallum) getting his comeuppance through his own fault and some solid police work has been done before, notably in the vastly superior 'The Blue Lamp' a decade previously. However, despite the low budget and sometimes hackneyed dialogue, it is still a watchable little film. It's certainly fun to see McCallum portray a baddie for once, although I must admit he does feel slightly miscast. Jill Ireland doesn't have a massive amount to do other than look pretty and scream a lot at the end but she still does it well.

This film now feels hugely dated but it's still quite watchable and certainly enjoyable despite it's flaws.

We all know that Ducky looks like a young Illya Kuryakin. But see this picture just to see an even younger Illya who speaks with a Cockny accent.

There are other reviews which summarize the picture better than I could. I will say this though. The Adam and Eve club is supposed to be a low class, low money, dive. It can't afford good acts. That's why the girls acts are bad.