robertguttman John Payne was better known for playing nice guys rather than Film- Noir characters, but he certainly comes through in this one. He plays a washed-up boxer turned cab driver whose wife no longer cares for him and has taken up with a gangster. When the gangster commits a robbery her presence complicates matters, so he kills her and frames her husband for her murder. Aided by a actress-acquaintance he struggles to catch up with the real murderer before the police catch up with him, simultaneously competing against a fence whom the gangster robbed, and who now wants the gangster dead. This is classic Film-Noir, abetted by such familiar Film-Noir standbys as Evelyn Keyes, Brad Dexter, Jay Adler, Frank Faylen and Jack Lambert. Each of these characters seems perfectly at home in a night-world in which virtually everybody is up to no good. Movies like this were never taken very seriously at the time. They were known simply as "Crime Melodramas" and most of them, including this one, were produced as low-budget B-Pictures. It was only later that French film critics hung the label "Film-Noir" on the genre and made them respectable. See "99 River Street" and find out for yourself if the French knew what they were talking about.

evanston_dad A superb noir from 1953 that stars an appealing John Payne as an ex-boxer who's maybe a little bit nuts and who gets framed for the murder of his wife. The bulk of the movie consists of him trying to expose the real killer before the police nab him, and he's ably abetted by Evelyn Keyes, who brings a sense of zaniness to the film as an actress friend of Payne who walks into this most outrageous and ghoulish scenario and acts like similarly outrageous and ghoulish things happen to her every day.Director Phil Karlson, who was most known to me for directing a more famous and much grittier noir called "The Phenix City Story," guides this story along with a firm hand. The screenplay is pretty preposterous and requires its audience to suspend a great deal of disbelief. But that's part of its fun and charm, and the fact that the film has a really good sense of humor about itself helps tremendously.This is one noir I had never heard of but am no immensely glad I've seen.Grade: A

Keith Kjornes John Payne plays a bitter cab driver saddled with a cheating wife who wants the moon and the stars and everything that goes with it. Something she realizes will never come married to this broken down hack. Such is the singular event that starts in motion a series of events, some coincidental, some planned and all of them unexpected. And unlike some lesser entries into the film noir black and white movies of the day, this has some totally logical and totally unexpected twists along the way. Peggie Castle was never sexier than this film, Evelyn Keyes was never more reserved-- until you get about the three quarters mark, and then she does one of the most erotic things I've ever seen in any film from 1953 or anywhere in the '50's. The fight scenes are gritty and realistic and the dialog is understated and not hysterical. And the pacing is big screen professional. I highly recommend this film to anyone looking for some serious fun.

Robert J. Maxwell John Payne, smart guy, not much of an actor, made a series of inexpensive studio-bound semi-noirs in the early 50s in which he was often the victim of a frame. In this one, he's an amiable ex boxer -- nice, masculine occupation -- who now drives a cab because of an eye injury. When he discovers that his gorgeous, sexy wife (Castle) is schtupping some thief, he becomes bitter and easily angered. It's even worse because her boyfriend is Brad Dexter, the sleazy private eye who had shot Sterling Hayden in "The Asphalt Jungle." Peggy Castle simply has no taste, you know? Dexter is mixed up with a gang of armed robbers, fences, money launderers, and shoe fetishists or something. It's not clear exactly what such established heavies as the pop-eyed Jay Adler and the Neanderthal Jack Lambert actually do, besides double cross each other.Adler has agreed to buy some stolen diamonds from Dexter but when Dexter show up with Payne's runaway wife in tow, Adler demurs. He don't do business with no dames because they can't be trusted. The solution to Dexter's conundrum is simple. He takes the luscious Peggy Castle up to his apartment, strangles her, and dumps the body in the back of Payne's cab.Dexter finagles the fifty large from Adler but Adler wants the money back and pursues Dexter as he tries to make a getaway from a pier behind the River Cafe or whatever it is, in Jersey City. Payne is in pursuit of Dexter because, by this time, he's discovered that Dexter is the killer of his wife. Well -- not exactly. Actually that conclusion requires a leap of faith on Payne's part.But let's not get into holes in the plot or, more generally, its weaknesses because then we'd have to figure out why so much emphasis is place on Payne's determination to return to boxing, a narrative thread abruptly dropped, like a corpse in the back seat of a taxi. We'd have to start wondering why Jay Adler has such a problem doing business with women around, even as mere witnesses. What did Adler's mother ever do to him? Speaking as a psychologist, I'd begin with deficient potty training. And then, too, we'd need to ponder Dexter's motives in dragging Peggy Castle along and insisting she witness the exchange of money and diamonds. We psychologists call this "separation anxiety." It's why children cry when they have to leave home for their first day of school. I have other questions too. To whom do I send this bill? The director was Phil Karlson, who had a curious career. His work might be called clumsy by some but I think "primitive" is a more apt description. He does a headlong job, kind of like Samuel Fuller but without any irony or social comment. He rams the fast-paced plot down your throat whether you're ready or not. He made some clunkers but also some more disturbing things like "The Phoenix City Story" and "Five Against the House" and "Walking Tall."