arthur_tafero Two heavyweights in this film; Dick Powell (Zane Grey Theater) and Lee J Cobb (On the Waterfront- Johnny Friendly). They carry the film easily and Powell is ably assisted by two women characters played by B actresses. The plot is fairly common; gambling house manager gets involved in murders and has to try to even the score. Even though the plot is not terribly original, Rossen, the director, gets the absolute most out of every scene, and Powell gives the lead character a ton of panache to last for the whole film. The cinematography is first-rate, and all the characters in the story are given some depth, not like the usual cardboard characters of most of the noir films of the genre. Highly recommended

utgard14 Interesting but ultimately disappointing noir starring Dick Powell as the title character, a casino operator who is up to his neck in trouble when bodies start popping up around him and his boss finds out Johnny is sleeping with his wife. Robert Rossen's directorial debut is a talky picture that looks nice and has some snappy dialogue but, after a strong start, drags and drags. It's basically a B movie plot on an A movie runtime. Powell is great. Fine turns from Lee J. Cobb and Thomas Gomez. Evelyn Keyes is flawless as ever. All the pieces are there for this to be a first-rate movie. It just runs out of steam too early. It's almost like Rossen, who also wrote the screenplay for this, was as cynical and tired as his protagonist so he just gave up midway through writing. Still worth a look because there's a lot of good here. It's just sad that it never rises to its potential.

Michael Coy Johnny's the smart guy who never gambles – always with the clothes, always with the girls. With a bullet in his gut and fire in his brain, Johnny makes the REAL smart play, and chooses Nancy – and life.Debutant Director Rossen and Director of Photography Guffey have done something curious with this one. Some scenes are shot with a hand-held camera (revolutionary for the period) and there are some quirky, shaky bits of visual work, especially when the point-of-view shifts. Extreme close-ups of Powell and leading lady Evelyn Keyes have a strange "rocking- boat" movement in the background. Is this a Brechtian alienation technique, constantly reminding us that we're watching a movie, and forcing us to check out of the emotion, or merely the result of a very low budget?Remember Scorsese's wonderful bird's-eye-view shot of De Niro (Casino, 1995), as "Ace" Rothstein, walking through his gaming tables, like a shark gliding through home waters? Well, here is something remarkably similar, half a century earlier. The wounded Johnny retreats to a back room where rows of roulette wheels are mounted on the walls, symbols of the deception (and hazard) by which he lives, and in which he thrives. And they look like the net which threatens to entrap him.In a role of which his performance in The Exorcist now seems a parody, Lee J. Cobb is terrific as Johnny's foil and nemesis – the unkempt but mentally astute detective, jousting with the elegant, immaculate crook.Dick Powell is a grossly underrated film phenomenon. Golden tenor in the 1930s musicals, he segued easily into hardboiled noir hero in the 1940s. It was Powell, slated for the title role in Johnny O'Clock, who campaigned for Robert Rossen to direct his own script – and thereby bequeathed us a noir gem. Snappy suits and a glossy criminal milieu, dripping with an atmosphere of barely-suppressed violence – this is the zeitgeist of the late 40s at its purest. But it's also something more. Rossen was somehow in touch with European philosophical trends. The German Expressionist sets, giving shape to unruly, destructive emotions, are standard fare, but what is special here is the exploitation of Absurdist concepts through the medium of the American crime genre. In 1942 Albert Camus had published a work of philosophy which depicted human existence as essentially bleak. In this pitiless universe, the intelligent man-hero knows he cannot rely on the comfort of the God-myth. We are alone, and there is no purpose to anything, no meaning. Gide and Sartre quickly followed, and the Atom Bomb seemed to underscore what they were saying. In a world where our artistic, political and philosophical achievements can be snuffed out in one instant by a super-weapon, to look for worth in anything is an act of absurdity. So, when "Greaseball" Guido Marchettis has his gat pointing at Johnny, our hero angrily admonishes Nancy – if death comes, fairly or unfairly, Johnny will not have anyone beg to save him. To look this squalid world in the eye and to take what comes, without whining: that's the way Sisyphus has to play it.

MartinHafer During the 1930s, Dick Powell played in one musical after another--with few chances to do anything else but play a sweet guy who loves to sing. The plots were paper-thin and Powell himself wanted a chance to do something--ANYTHING different. Fortunately, as the 1940s progressed, he got that chance and starred in some amazing film noir pictures. Why did the studios do this? Well, Powell was approaching middle age and wasn't the pretty guy he used to be--and you would never put a pretty guy in a gangster film! Of the tough-guy films he made, my two favorites are "Murder, My Sweet" and "Johnny O'Clock"--mostly because his character was so incredibly jaded and unsentimental--the antithesis of his old persona.Soon after "Johnny O'Clock" begins, you know SOMEONE is going to die--and soon. A crooked cop is gunning for Johnny (Powell), a married dame is cozying up to him and his partner (the dame's husband) is one dangerous guy (Thomas Gomez). Into this mix is a cop--a good cop, but a tough one played by Lee J. Cobb. I could say a lot more about the plot--suffice to say, I don't want to ruin it for you and I encourage you to find the film yourself. It is available for free download at archive.org and Powell's world-weary characterization makes this film hum. One of the best noir films I can recall having seen even with its minor faults (it lacks the lighting and camera-work you expect in noir and the lady who falls for him does so far too quickly and far too hard to be realistic). Well worth seeing.By the way, look for Turk in the film--it's a very young Jeff Chandler before he was a star.