Traqué

Dane Clark (Roback) escapes from a police escort van in France and needs to get across the Belgian border to secure his freedom. He enlists the help of ex-girlfriend Simone Signoret (Denise). Can he make it?

Ok. So, what was this film all about! The main springboard for the whole film is the relationship between our escaped prisoner Dane Clark (Roback) and his ex-girlfriend Simone Signoret (Denise). But this makes no sense at all. They are no longer an item. Signoret has even started to date a new boyfriend Robert Duke (Frank) who she is happy with. I'm not sure why as he looks like Andrew Marr, an annoying political journalist who currently haunts Sunday morning TV in the UK. This relationship also makes no sense but we can swallow it if we have to - she could really do much better. He is wealthy, though. What is difficult to believe is why she would want to go so out of her way to help Clark, an ex-lover that she has finished with. And why was she ever with him as he is a horrible person and he is never kind to her. In fact, quite the opposite despite the help that she offers. So, the whole film is just unbelievable. Nothing rings true. We certainly can't sympathize with Clark as the main character as he is an asshole. I found no-one to relate to. It is one of those rare films where I want the bad guy caught and found myself rooting for the police.

Simone Signoret single-handedly pulls this film into the "ok" category. Nothing more, I'm afraid.

Long Lost Foreign Film-Noir that wasn't available for Viewing in the US until 2001, it finally arrived and was well Received by Critics and Favorably Reviewed by Film-Noir Enthusiasts.

It could be called a Cinematographers Movie because it is Literally Drenched in Fog, Shadows, Rain, and Darkness. Almost all of the Movie takes place at Night except the Beginning and the End.

Cigarettes dangle from Luscious Lips, smoke and fog swirl as the Title Character is on the Lam after Escaping the Clutches of the Law that is only a Step Behind. Things weave in and out of Dingy Establishments, such as a Bi-Sexual Smut Peddler's claustrophobic Apartment loaded with Girly Photos on the Wall and a Fluffy White Cat who turns out to be a real Friend to this Pathetic Person.

The two Leads, Dane Clark and Simone Signoret are Fantastic and the Supporting Players are all just Fine, but it is the Ambiance and the Gritty Tone that makes this a Joy to Watch.

Ironically it was the French Film Critics that noticed and Coined the term Film-Noir, and here there Brainchild came Home to Roost. It was Welcomed with this Allied Collaboration and Delivered one of its own, True to Form for the Genre and added a Fine Entry for the Pantheon.

Unless the initial impact of a movie, which opens with a full-on action packed sequence is maintained, it soon begins to sag like an old, discarded mattress left out in the rain. This is especially pertinent when, as on this occasion, the plot is fairly simplistic.

Following an ultra close range shoot out, U. S. Army deserter, robber and supreme opportunist, Dane Clark escapes from a police van and puts his gotta-get-to-Belgium.... PRONTO!, plan into action, staying one step ahead of the cops, with the help of ex-lover, Simone Signoret and man of many faces, Michel Andre.

For much of the next hour, the movie is hamstrung by some stiff, stilted acting and workmanlike dialogue, punctuated by the not for the squeamish, removal of a bullet from Clark's shoulder, who insists on a record from the jukebox to drown his agonized whelps 'n' yelps. This was 1950. Decades later, Blood Sweat and Tears or Bullet Lavolta would have provided a fitting backdrop to his painful ordeal.

Set in Paris, it looks French and radiates the vibe of European cinema. With director, Frank (This Gun for Hire) Tuttle on board as 'Gunman' gathers momentum and spews out some sharper lines, it increasingly takes on the complexion of American noir. Simone Signoret is a dazzling temptress, leaving the rather anonymous Clark choking on her exhaust fumes, in the on-screen charisma stakes. The film's dual personality is further underlined by the existence of 'Le Traque', an alternative language version, directed by Borys Lewin, released the same year.

It's certainly an intriguing and unusual find. A lost gem? Not quite. 'Gunman' never really comes together into a cohesive, fully realized work, remaining a curious objet d'art, an oddity, a strangely off kilter artefact from the vintage noir era.

Director Frank Tuttle, to me better known for spilling the beans on Jules Dassin and other fellow Americans to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), masterminded by Senator McCarthy, directs rather inconsistently this 1950 movie set in France, and with an obviously French atmosphere.

Inevitably, as happened to most baddies in French flicks of the time, Dane Clark pays the ultimate price for breaking from jail and committing all manner of crime - but, before then, he meets up with former lover Denise, superbly played by Simone Signoret, one of the truly greatest actresses ever to grace any screen and at the peak of her unique beauty in 1950, and he is selfish enough to want her to accompany him in his flight to another country.

The chiaroscuro photography renders the film obsessively dark, giving it a pessimistic mood, and the fact that the main leads believe in the stars and their tragic omens, does not portend well.

Neither does film's 90 minutes, which seem far longer.

Signoret and Clark save GUNMAN to some extent, but I doubt I will ever sit through it again.

The best thing about this film is the music by Joe Hajos, a name I've never seen before in any film, but his music adds the perfect touch to this very French story of a desperate fugitive, an American deserter in Paris turned into a gangster and murderer, and although the music isn't French, it strikes the right tone and adds French genuineness to the whole film by providing the right atmosphere. The problem here is the inextricability of Simone Signoret's attachment to the desperado, she actually does everything wrong and constantly acts against all common sense, while you would think a woman should think more of herself and at least of taking care of herself, while she persistently does the opposite. Is Dane Clark then such a charming and irresistible gangster that it would be worth sacrificing herself for him? It does not make sense. Simone Signoret was expert at such dubious roles and made them her specialty. Dane Clark is nothing but a brutal reckless hoodlum of a bad soldier turned the worst kind of gangster, who will kill anyone who does not serve him without flinching. Robert Duke as the other American, a neutral journalist on the watch for a good story, on the other hand is his opposite, quite frank and honest, and he loves her with all the sincerity she deserves, and yet she prefers the brutal villain.

This is the question mark of the film, while the music saves it and at least adds to its definite character as a supreme and very French noir.