Inside Straight

It's 1870s San Francisco and we have a bank about to crash leaving all customers with zero money. Only one man can prevent this from happening as he has the cash to prop up the institution. That man is David Brian (Rip MacCool). We go into flashback to reveal tales of his past and determine whether he is a good or bad man. The bank's fate will be determined by a poker hand which we return to for the film's conclusion.

This film has some oddly named characters - Phil MacCool and Flutey Johnson - ha ha! Someone must have had some fun making up comedy names.

The story is ok and the film is alright to watch. It gets a bit boring, though, and the characters don't really blow you away.

One thing I've never understood about banks and today's society is how they have so much influence on everything. Banks essentially don't have any money! So, how come countries owe each other trillions of dollars or whatever? That money simply doesn't exist. If everyone wanted their money withdrawn from the banks at the same time, the banks would all collapse (that is the threat in this film). This is because banks don't have enough money! Why do we base our whole society on such a false premise and promulgate this deception? There is not enough money, folks. All banks are broke!

We need to scrap money and progress to a different sort of society. One that could include a game of cards to settle disputes. You could start with 'snap' for youngsters and progress to more grown up games as you get older. This film leaves you to make your mind up about that winning hand.

At the opening, the town bank is in trouble, and Ada Strich, the owner (Mercedes McCambridge) is playing poker. MacCool, the man across the table, (David Brian) makes her an offer she can't refuse to try to save the bank. She thinks she knows her opponent well enough to tell if he is bluffing or not. Then we start taking a trip down memory lane in flashbacks, so see how we got to where we are today. Apparently they had quite a past, and Ada has never forgotten a minute of it. MacCool himself had been way up high, and flat out broke, so he was the player of the day. As the various people in the room speak, we learn they all had a past with MacCool. Then about halfway through, we are treated to a snooze of a song What Can a Poor Maiden Do, performed by Arlene Dahl. While done well, yet in a very stiff manor, it sure brought the film to a screeching halt. Should have left it out. Same goes for Up in a Balloon, sung by Monica Lewis... As the story continues, we find that they had more dealings together over the years. McCambridge had JUST won her Oscar for All the Kings Men; She and Brian would both have long careers in Hollywood, but Brian ended up doing mostly television series work during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Some fun faces appear in the story - Lon Chaney Jr and Barbara Billingsly as a drunk who talks too much. Even Percy Helton, who you will recognize by his voice! he appeared in millions of films, but about half the parts were uncredited. (in "Straight", he records a deed when someone sells property.) Fun film, for a period piece. Better than I expected. Directed by Gerald Mayer, nephew of Louis B.

It's 1870's San Francisco. Ada Stritch (Mercedes McCambridge) is in financial trouble. She owns a bank in danger of a run. The city is in the balance. Greedy Rip MacCool (David Brian) has the money to save it and he's ready to pounce. He offers to bet it all on a poker hand and he needs a four to finish an inside straight. Johnny Sanderson (Barry Sullivan) consults careful consideration and Ada recounts his arrival 15 years ago. While Rip's fortune rises, he falls for singer Lily Douvane (Arlene Dahl).

This was a box office bomb. Part of the problem may be the story's lead character. It's a story of capitalism and cold-hearted melodrama. Rip is not a hunky romantic lead. He's the quintessential money-grubbing hustler working the system. It's all about the money and not even what you could buy with it. It does turn into a complicated soapy melodrama and that loses me in the second half. It's listed here as a western although it's a western like Dallas (TV) is a western.

1951's "Inside Straight" is hardly a Western though set in 1870s San Francisco, where a run on the local bank has shareholders in a near violent panic. The bank owner is widow Ada Stritch (Mercedes McCambridge), forced to call upon longtime millionaire nemesis Rip McCool (David Brian) for the needed funds, coyly dealing his cards to determine the victor. Gathered around McCool are all his main associates, though only Shocker (Lon Chaney) has remained a trusted friend since their first meeting when Rip was a penniless teen earning enough wages as a miner to bury his beloved parents, dead from cholera during their westward journey. After relocating to Frisco, he proceeded to bilk Ada out of her hotel with worthless mine stocks, earning and losing a fortune in stealing them back. One loveless marriage to chanteuse Lily Douvane (Arlene Dahl) produced a son, McCool's second marriage to governess Zoe (Paula Raymond) ending with both mother and child dying in childbirth. The only truly likable character on display is Lon Chaney as the Serbian Shocker, given name Schockovitz Ninkovitch, using the same accent for his 1956 portrayal of "The Golden Junkman" on TV's TELEPHONE TIME. Gerald Mayer, nephew of MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, had only 8 other feature credits as director (soon relegated to television), this film a regrettable box office flop that failed to ignite stardom for stone faced David Brian, quickly descending to supporting ranks as in 1952's "Springfield Rifle," again opposite Lon Chaney. Such suave masters as Cesar Romero or George Sanders might have made something of this cad, but Brian is just a bore; his television work included a memorable cameo as John Gill in the 1968 STAR TREK episode "Patterns of Force." Look fast for future TV stars Hayden Rorke (I DREAM OF JEANNIE) and Barbara Billingsley (LEAVE IT TO BEAVER).

"Inside Straight" is a film after the same tradition as the Clark Gable film "Honkey Tonk" and Edward G. Robinson's "Barbary Coast". They are all stories about men who went out west and were determined to strike it rich. But, along the way, they lost track of what's important...their humanity and connection with others.

When the film begins, Rip McCool (David Bryan) is playing a high stakes game of poker with his old rival, Ada (Merceded McCambridge). It's a winner take all affair. But before the outcome of the game is shown, there are a long series of flashbacks in which everyone there give their recollections of their dealings with Rip...and they are mostly terrible. Rip is determined to make a fortune...regardless of what he has to do and who he needs to walk on to get it. You see Rip's ups and downs and his many, many mistakes.

This film is an enjoyable saga but not one that screams MUST SEE. Instead, it's well done and worth seeing but also rather familiar. I enjoyed it...and much of it is because I've always thought that Bryan was a very good actor despite being far from a household name.