A Major Disappointment

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

most definitely will buy any blu-ray copy I can get my hands on,if only to copy word for word,the rapid fire dialogue,enormously entertaining tough-guy talk,not cop talk,not gangster talk,just sharp,cut-to-the-chase observations about life on the streets by washed up drunken gangster Montgomery,a bitter,ex-GI returned to America & now arriving in a seedy,dust-choked border town(San Pablo,New Mexico), looking to exact revenge on big time mobster Frank Hugo, for killing his former boss,Sparky. Filmed on a Hollywood back lot,it sure looked like an authentic,'Tijuana'-like backdrop on the eve of a big,Mexican fiesta town celebration,which adds to the authenticity. Montgomery's('Lucky Gagin') target is Hugo,a slimy mobster surrounded by loyal henchmen & a glamorous femme fatale mob moll(andrea King), a B-list actress whose seductive ways w/ men,make today's women on Facebook,twitter look like girl scouts hawking cookies at a shopping mall. Also killer performances by Wanda Hendrix as a mysterious,Mexican waif who keeps popping up in the movie at the strangest times. Also art smith as a wily FBI agent, also on the hunt for Hugo....

Fans of Robert Montgomery's performances in such lighter fare as HERE COMES MR. JORDAN or MR & MRS SMITH will likely be stunned by his work in this hard-nosed, decidedly kinky film noir set in a seedy New Mexico border town. Montgomery comes to town looking to blackmail the underworld boss who had his friend killed. The fact that the underworld boss is played by Fred Clark(!) gives a good indication that this thriller is going to be anything but typical Hollywood fare. Montgomery directed with a deft touch and he's populated the film with a stellar supporting cast including a very young Wanda Hendrix, Andrea King as a bitchy gun moll and Art Smith as a very Truman- like government man (it's 1947!). Stealing the film is Thomas Gomez as Pancho, Montgomery's sleazy sidekick and owner of the carousel featuring the eponymous horse. Clark is exceptional in his unlikely role, a wolf in sheep's clothing with a hearing aid and a hidden temper. Ben Hecht worked on the script and the excellent art direction is by Robert Boyle & Bernard Herzbrun. Montgomery would later adapt the same story on his television anthology show in which both he & Gomez would reprise their roles.

It's not often that a movie seen once more than 60 years ago lingers, hauntingly, in your memory. Robert Montgomery was a superb actor. His character is really a burnt out case who has seen too much of the hard life and has no compassion left, he thinks. Then he meets up with little Wanda Hendrix, and her plight melts his hard heart and leads to his coming to her aid. The last section of the movie is particularly gripping and atmospheric. It's finally evident where the title comes from. Robert Montgomery was one of our greatest character actors, and here he really lights up the screen in a wonderful performance. Wanda Hendrix is also very effective in her part. A great film noir film which deserves a better ranking. I'd love to see it again.

Robert Montgomery has come to town for some blackmail. He's got a canceled check that mobster Fred Clark has sent to someone as a payoff and he intends to get rich from it. For himself and for a friend that Clark had rubbed out.In the sleepy U.S./Mexican border town Montgomery falls in with the locals and makes some friends of Wanda Hendrix and Thomas Gomez who got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. And he's got a pretty shrewd FBI agent in Art Smith trailing him. Smith is in the tradition of Regis Toomey, a pretty smart cop himself in The Big Sleep.It's a good film, not a great one by any means. Montgomery was far better in such pre World War II items like The Earl of Chicago insofar as gangster roles are concerned. Fred Clark as the mobster is minus his slow burn routine which he does so well in comedies. Clark had the best slow burn in films next to Edgar Kennedy.But the best performance in the film hands down has got to be Andrea King. She's Clark's mistress/moll and she sets the rather gullible Montgomery up, but good. You don't want this woman working against you by any means.