The Big Steal (1949)

Mitchum & Greer Are Back!

- After starring together in the classic 1947 film noir thriller Out Of The Past, Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer team up again for 1949's The Big Steal. Directed by Don Siegel (Dirty Harry (1971); a virtually unknown talent at the time) The Big Steal has a great combination of romantic comedy, action-adventure, and film noir aspects that make it a very well-made and enjoyable film. Clocking in at only 71 minutes, The Big Steal is a short burst of incredible comedy noir entertainment with the delightful screen duo of Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer at the center of it all.

The story is very simple - one big steal leads a chain of people after each other in a cat-and-mouse game throughout Mexico - but is an effective enough MacGuffin to allow the viewer to be highly entertained by the characters and adventure, rather than a deep plot, without blinking an eye.

When it comes to The Big Steal, plot matters not as the showings of Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer are what puts cheeks in the seats. Mitchum exercises his signature toughness and coolness in his performance as the wronged and rambunctious Duke Halliday and Greer is as bittersweet as can be as the feisty and quick-witted Joan Graham (a.k.a. "Chiquita"). Watching two actors work perfectly together is a lot of fun and Mitchum and Greer make this film worth while by themselves.

Because many in Hollywood wanted to distance themselves from Mitchum's drug use, jail time, and tabloid drama as a result of his recent and very public marijuana bust, the filmmakers found it difficult to cast the Joan Graham part. However, it was Mitchum's friend and former co-star Jane Greer who happily stepped into the role.... well sort of happily; Greer was all-to-eager to work with Mitchum again but she was newly pregnant and had to work with ex-boyfriend producer Howard Hughes. The pairing would prove to be the best choice after all as Mitchum and Greer have excellent chemistry together, dishing out light-hearted sarcastic comments to each other like an old married couple with each one giving as good as they get.

A debate rages on as to whether or not The Big Steal is even a film noir because it is heavy on the romantic and screwball comedy elements. Had it not been for the featured handful of hardboiled sequences and shadowy final act, I might not call the film "noir" either. However, I am a bit more liberal than most in my noir categorizing and, for me, while not one of the most archetypal films noir, the featured hardboiled scenes, shadowing, cynical Robert Mitchum lead and cat-and-mouse crime angle is enough to make The Big Steal a hybrid noir in my eyes.... and a very entertaining one at that.

CBC Rating: 9/10

Pulp (1972)

Michael Caine Makes It Work

- Michael Caine and director Mike Hodges, having both worked on the great and gritty Brit gangster film Get Carter (1971) the year prior, reunite for another Brit gangster film in 1972's Pulp. The difference between both films is that Pulp does not take itself as seriously and is simply not as good as Get Carter. Still, Pulp works well and is plenty entertaining, thanks mostly to Michael Caine.

Caine stars as Mickey King, a ghostwriting author of cheap and sleazy pulp fiction novels ("famous for such books as 'My Gun is Long'"). To his credit, King knows that his writing is not exactly top-of-the-line art, but he writes because writing has been a lucrative line of work for him. He is one of those guys who does not have much to live for: his wife up and skedaddled with the children and he does not seem to care all that much. So he travels, writes, and writes as he travels. While in Malta, King is surprised by a proposition to write the life story of eccentric retired actor Preston Gilbert (Mickey Rooney), surprised because he is simply not the type of author you ask to write your biography. In normal film noir fashion, King becomes wrapped up in the dangerous scandal that has been following Gilbert around and leaving a blood trail.

Placing Pulp into one all-summarizing film genre is hard to do and that fact is one of the film's biggest strengths. A mixture of originality and nostalgia, Pulp is a little bit gangster and a little bit film noir, with a tuft of comedy thrown in: Italian gangsters run the show; many scenes are blanketed with voice-over narration, and Caine sneaks in a handful of laugh-out-loud quips. Not having the same flare as The Godfather (1972) or the fast-pace nature of a Martin Scorsese gangster flick, Pulp is very similar to Hodges and Caine's collaborated Get Carter in its flow and cinematography (even including a scene on a beach that makes you think you are re-watching Get Carter). Even though the plot is heavily congested and the entire film occasionally moves too slowly, Pulp is a fairly enjoyable neo noir gangster film.

Supporting actors Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander, Al Lettieri, and Lizabeth Scott perform their roles well enough to get by, but Michael Caine is the entire film - he hardly leaves sight of the camera. The plot might get hazy here and there but Caine remains the film's rock, making the Mickey King character interesting enough on his own so that the viewer does not really need to follow the plot to be entertained. Caine does not step too far outside of his acting box with his performance in Pulp, but his cynicism with a smirk and dry wit combined with his impossible-to-duplicate screen presence makes the performance a real treat to view.

Pulp is definitely a recommendable film. It appeals to fans of film noir and the gangster genre, those who enjoy an offbeat cinematic experience can find themselves enjoying this movie, and Michael Caine makes it all worthwhile. If following the plot was not as hard as walking a mile through five feet of tar, Pulp could very well have been a great film.

CBC Rating: 7/10

Lady In The Lake (1947)

A Monotonous Marlowe Murder Mystery

- I am a big fan of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe character but I was let down by Marlowe's third on-screen film noir mystery Lady In The Lake (1947). Robert Montgomery stars in and directs this monotonous film.

Filmed in a first-person point-of-view (a technique that worked out much better in a film noir from the same year called Dark Passage), Montgomery tries to have fun and be unique with Lady In The Lake but the technique is not consistently effective and the pacing is all off. If Montgomery had made the camera - which is basically Marlowe's eyes in the film - move a little bit faster, the film would work that much better. Marlowe looks around and walks so slowly in every scene of the film that it looks like he just got back from giving blood without having any rest or a cookie. Give me a break - nobody walks that slowly, let alone a no-nonsense private eye!

Of course, it does not help the film out any that the acting is also subpar. Montgomery is a dull Philip Marlowe, he is hardly terrible in the role but he somehow manages to make the character boring (which I should maybe be giving him credit for, on second thought, because that is a really hard thing to do) and is, ultimately, the only actor that has failed to impress me as Philip Marlowe. Co-star Audrey Totter can be seen overacting her part at hilarious levels in every frame, you wonder during all the countless times she gives a shriek glance at the camera if her eyeballs are going to pop right out of her head and dangle all about. Really every other cast member is just bad, unfortunately.

But despite all of that Lady In The Lake is not a completely bad film - the lighting is fantastic, the dialogue has its witty moments, and story is intriguing enough to keep you planted in your Lay-Z-Boy for the hour and forty-five minute duration. Still, it is a pretty ho-hum noir overall.


CBC Rating: 5/10