Pour toi j'ai tué

1940's seedier side of Los Angeles makes a fitting noir background for this highly well made film noir starring BURT LANCASTER as the lovelorn hero foolish enough to go back to his ex-wife (extremely well played by YVONNE DE CARLO) who has taken up with a bunch of hoodlums headed by the sinister DAN DURYEA. True love never does run smooth, especially in this kind of fatalistic melodrama in which we have a hint from the very beginning of a dark conclusion.

The fact that Lancaster works for an armored car service is worked into the plot and makes for the movie's most suspenseful and action-filled moments. Some nice support from Stephen McNally as Lancaster's wise friend and Richard Long as his brother. Percy Felton does a standout job as an inquisitive bartender.

Robert Siodmak squeezes every bit of suspense as the story builds to a gripping climax. The hospital scene is extremely effective as Lancaster becomes aware of the dangerous situation he's in.

Lancaster displays some vulnerability and sensitivity despite his rugged good looks and has one of his best early roles here, even more impressive than he was in THE KILLERS. Miklos Rozsa's superb background score gives a jagged edge to the suspense.

Any lover of B&W film noir is guaranteed to find pleasure in this one.

Trivia: If you watch real closely, you'll spot the young Tony Curtis as de Carlo's dance partner in the crowded nightclub scene.

As usual in a movie directed by Robert Siodmark there are striking compositions and some really tense moments in this sombre tale of cross, double-cross and revenge in a botched armored car robbery.Some convincing location scenes give us an authentic look at 1940's Los Angeles.

Burt Lancaster more or less reprises his role in THE KILLERS as an honest guy led astray by a beautiful woman. Yvonne DeCarlo doesn't quite hack it as the femme fatale but Siodmark makes the most of her looks and there is a well edited sequence of her dancing in a night club. (An un-billed Tony Curtis is her partner).Minor characters, the hoods, bartenders etc are well cast and there are good performances by those two stalwarts of 1940's movies Stephen Mcnally and Dan Duryea.

The story line is rather ragged and there are a few plot loop holes but the action when it comes is well handled.

Doesn't rank with THE KILLERS but it's an interesting look at a heist movie before they became cliches. You can see harbingers of future similar movies like THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, THE KILLING, RIFIFI etc.

Good solid noir, with Burt Lancaster possibly running a little below best but Yvonne DeCarlo as the supreme femme fatale is in stomping form and more than makes up for any lapses from others. Gets going immediately and the aerial shot makes us well aware that this is going to be a beautifully shot movie, which it certainly is. Really great camera movement, especially during a stunning dance sequence, that includes an unaccredited Tony Curtis, and the heist itself with the surprising element designed to catch out Mr Lancaster. Good all the way through and if Lancaster sometimes appears a little lame it is probably because of the sheer ruthlessness of Dan Duryea as the chief baddie and the aforementioned DeCarlo who seems to be able to run rings round them all. Oh and what an ending!

This flick is a keeper. If you see one film noir from the Forties this should be it. Starring a very young Burt Lancaster, Dan Duryea and the great Yvonne DeCarlo, this dark and shadowy movie shakes the genre to its core. The movie is set in a post-W.W.II Los Angeles when the city was about to burst free and become a Metropolis. Virtually everything we see is gone: trolleys, single-family homes on hills and probably the worst armored car security put on film. (A driver is called away from a run by a suspicious phone call and no supervisor is notified!) The roster of character actors include Alan Napier, Alfred on "Batman," the ever present Percy Helton, and Stephen McNally. Another actor I've seen before has a habit of exclaiming "That's the ticket!" Could this be where Jon Lovitz got his lucrative catch phrase? But the true standout in the film is the exotic and sinfully talented Yvonne DeCarlo. Hollywood never utilized this this lady right. She was always dumped into B-Westerns or costume pics. However, whenever she was given something juicy such as an adult comedy or A-Drama, like this film, she excelled. And if you want to see her belt out a few tunes just check out the pilot episode of "Bonanza" or the ultra cool episode of the "Munsters," where she performs a bluesy number on the harp, you know, the one with the rock band The Standells.

.....typical entry for the genre. Dumb hero guy gets tangled up w/ the wrong gal for the wrong reasons, mobsters are hanging around, and there is a heist that winds up blowing everything apart in their lives.

I liked how Lancaster played against type and was a 'sap' pretty much. Clearly DeCarlo was the one calling the shots in that pairing. Duryea plays his usual nasty Willem Dafoe/Peter Strauss type villain, and for my money was the most effective actor in the movie. The finale w/ him showing up at their door, well.....it's quite something, very striking.

I also was surprised at the violence of the heist itself-gas going off, killings, etc left and right. Considering the laughable lack of security, personnel and etc that these keystone Brinks guys are showing, it's amazing how close the baddies came to not getting a cent for their efforts.

Pretty decent cast too-there's Percy Helton as the barkeep, there's Alan Napier, there's Tony Curtis in a cameo, there's you other typical baddies of the day. Nice turn by Steve MacNalley too.

Fine movie, bit lax on the plotting I think--but the tone, camera work, and of course DeCarlo-make this a worthy view.

*** outta ****