Hunt the Man Down

The main shortcoming of Hunt The Man Down is that it's too short. It tells the attempt to exonerate a man of a crime committed a dozen years earlier, half a dozen eye-witnesses to which have long since scattered. That's a lot a backstory to cram into a scant 68 minutes – programmer length – when the plot to unfurl is almost as complicated as The Killing or Out of the Past. Despite some nicely observed detail, ranging from Los Angeles' Skid Row to Beverly Hills estates where maids stand by swimming pools with towels on their arm, the many characters don't get their due – Hunt The Man Down becomes less complex than confusing.

James Anderson, working as a dishwasher in a bar that's held up after hours, shoots and kills the intruder; in the resultant publicity, he's spotted as the man who went on the lam before being sentenced for murder some years before. It falls to the public defender (Gig Young) to prove his innocence. With the help of his father, a one-armed retired cop (Harry Shannon), he tries to locate the guests at the impromptu drinking party in 1938 which (as such shindigs so often do) ended in the violent death of one of the merry-makers. He finds the original witnesses elusive, dissembling, deranged or dead. He also finds that, once a habit for homicide takes hold, it's hard to break....

Though Young looks, well, young, he was 37 at the time, with close to two dozen movies behind him. He's still far and away the best-known member of the cast, with the exception of Iris Adrian (as a streel) and Cleo Moore (who shows up for the concluding courtroom scene in a knock-‘em-dead black number, topped off by the sort of hat worn only by floozies in witness boxes). The movie could have used more of her, and of Adrian. For that matter, it could have used more of just about everything.

It amazes me when people dismiss a movie because of its short length. I much more appreciate a compact, well written and directed movie than some drivel that drags on and on and makes me wonder what happened to the editor. I watched this movie with low expectations since i had never heard of the director and most of the actors. Despite the number of central characters, the director did an excellent job of quickly defining them and getting to the point of the movie. Any additional footage would have been superfluous and only bogged down the steady pace of the movie. James Anderson was excellent at avoiding the stereotypical unjustly accused victim, he neither ranted about his predicament nor did he come across as the overly likable guy who just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, which is what is normally expected of that type of roll. Though it's hard to imagine a public defender putting as much work into the case as this one did, i thought it was a great bit of writing to make his pivotal discovery an accident despite the pd's dogged pursuit of those involved 12 years earlier. I highly recommend this movie to those who appreciate tightly written and economically directed movies.

When the story begins, an armed robber breaks into a cafe and the guy tries to shoot a guy who is working there as he steals the money. However, the worker manages to overpower the robber and shoots him in the process. Now you'd think he'd become a big hero. Instead, the police see the newspaper clipping showing a photo of the hero...and he's recognized as a man who vanished 12 years ago after he was convicted of murder but before he could be sentenced.

The public defender (Gig Young) believes the reluctant hero and decides to investigate the case himself*. Soon, he's able to track down a few of the witnesses but then something weird happens....folks try to kill the public defender and his father! And, they also try to kill one of the witnesses. Obviously somebody doesn't want anyone looking into this old case!

While "Hunt the Man Down" is clearly a B-movie due to its short run-time and cast of mostly 2nd and 3rd tier actors, it's a terrific film. Well acted, tense and a nice script more than make up for the cheap production. Well worth seeing.

*I have no idea IF defense attorneys EVER do this. They do it in films and on TV but I also know that they are generally overworked and overwhelmed and assume they literally don't have enough time to investigate anything.

Really more of a murder mystery than a noir, with a Perry Mason-like final courtroom scene. One of those films where the detective keeps getting information a bit too easily.

It's about a public defender representing a murder suspect apprehended after fleeing a courtroom while on trial 12 years earlier. What gives it more interest than usual is its showing the changes in the suspects' live from 1938 to 1950 caused by the war, their involvement with the murder, and life in general.

Chief virtues: the fast pace without needless explanation, crisp dialog, and minor characters with their own personality, even if only onscreen briefly.

Not a classic but hold yours interest and provides some food for thought. Perhaps a "B" picture but with quality production values you'd expect from RKO.

Watching Hunt The Man Down put me in mind of a Law And Order episode where Mandy Patinkin had to be retried again after jumping bail some 20 years after the crime and Sam Waterston's problem was the same as Gig Young's, missing witnesses. Only Young is the public defender.

James Anderson after years of hiding foils a robbery at a restaurant/bar where he was a dishwasher. That act of heroism cost him his freedom.

Young is appointed to handle his new trial and he prevails on his retired cop father Harry Shannon to locate all the people who were witnesses. On the night in question Anderson fell in with a crowd of young 20 something yuppies as we would call them today. One of them is shot while he's sleeping and Anderson is the one who looks good for it.

This group has gone up, down, and sideways on the social scale in the intervening years. One murder, and two attempts on other witnesses convince Young he's got an innocent client. In the end it's an act of kindly deception perpetrated on one of them that's the key to solving the case.

Standing out in this film is Willard Parker as the blind veteran, once a rising star in business now a bookbinder. Lynne Roberts who believes in Anderson's innocence and Cleo Moore a brassy blond from the Veda Ann Borg school. Veda must have been busy because Cleo's playing her kind of part and she does well with it.

Hunt The Man Down is a well made B film from RKO and it looks like a television pilot. I think that Young and Shannon in a series based on this film would have worked.