Waste of time

Strong and Moving!

Pretty Good

Blistering performances.

After watching this film, and then reading some of the reviews, I feel as though I must have missed something."The Phenix City Story" is not even a good grade B film, in my opinion. I didn't find it interesting in the least. The writing, especially the dialog, was corny and even laughable. The acting by a long list of "B" actors was the same.Yes, there were some noir-type scenes, but I would not call this a film noir movie. Nor is is a particularly interesting gangster film. And I just found the ending of the film extremely unsatisfying.Although this is based on a true story, and several of the people involved in the story actually appear in a 12 minute prologue, I didn't feel that it was nearly as good as some of the other reviewers felt. This one can be avoided.

I did enjoy the movie, and found it especially interesting because it was based on a true story. My rating would be based mostly on the fact that it was not a fictional story. Many of the actors were old familiar faces that I've seen so many times over the years on television and the movies. The acting by the more established actors was reasonably good, while the performances by some of the lesser or unknown actors left something to be desired.After watching it, I thought I would see if I could find out some more facts about the whole incident. I did some research on John Malcom Patterson (son of the murdered father) and found out that he eventually became the governor of Alabama. The article on Wikipedia about him, especially about his time as governor just prior to George Wallace, sheds a different light on the man who was the hero of the story. It was a bit disappointing to read these negative things about him.

Sometimes rush jobs really work out, like Phenix City Story. Consider that the movie was scripted, shot, and processed in less than a year after the triggering event of Patterson's murder. Credit the producers or someone for coming up with a first-rate cast, a marvelous director, and a big enough budget for location filming in the actual Phenix City. The result is the best of the "city expose" movies so popular at the time.There's a rawness to the violence here that's more convincing than usual, in part because of director Karlson's "feel" for the material and also because it appears to grow organically out of the seedy surroundings of honky-tonks and carousing soldiers on leave from Fort Benning. Credit too the fine, underrated Edward Andrews for blending oily charm with ruthless violence, just the qualities needed to run an operation of that sort. Kiley too delivers in spades, his rage unusually intense and realistic. The only questionable note is Katherine Grant's Ellie, seemingly too sweet and naïve for a dealer in a crooked set-up.Getting Karlson was a real coup. He was just hitting his stride as a top crime drama director during this period. His staging of the little girl's murder is a real grabber, along with the parking lot beating. In fact, the movie has an unusually pervasive atmosphere of unrestrained evil. Credit should also go to screenwriter Dan Mainwaring for a good tight script and some timely notes on the downside of vigilantism. Apparently, the lengthy prologue was added to ease censorship concerns, and, aside from historical value, can easily be skipped.Anyway, the film's a must-see for B-movie fans, a happy coming together of a number of underrated Hollywood talents.

Yikes! This terrific tabloid thriller from Allied Artists in 1955 filmed while corruption and prostitution trials were still happening is an extraordinary tough film. Possibly it is the most violent 50s film I have ever seen. Other comments on this site will tell you the story and it is well worth reading all you can about this startling and very frank docu drama about the crime and mob rule by unscrupulous men in this Alabama town. Directed by no nonsense Phil Karlson, a regular from Monogram-Allied Artists and packed with sleazy vice and fist pumping brutality, THE PHENIX CITY STORY is a revelation in 50s crime noir drama. The prologue for me added genuine creepiness to the reality with actual witnesses interviewed and their vocal twang and unrehearsed authenticity had me paying close attention. For a town riddled with vice and prostitution and all the realities of what bad men want, did anyone notice that the vice king's name was Tanner? Also, on actor's first name was Biff... put'em together and you get BIFF TANNER as in the bad guy from the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy who leads the town into vice and corruption in that Spielberg Series. THE PHENIX CITY STORY would have been a research issue for the 'town gone bad' storyline of BACK TO THE FUTURE PART 2 (as was IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE) and I can see how a composite name for the bad guy was easily joined to make BIFF TANNER. It is then altered slightly to make BIFF TANNEN in BTF. Various crime scenes and bloody fights in PHENIX CITY STORY are absolutely shocking and over all the film has an atmosphere of complete southern authenticity because of Karlson's able direction filming in actual location with the real people of the town. A film Student must-see and a crime drama of astonishing bluntness. Richard Kiley is excellent as the ordinary man forced to become tougher than he ever expected. There are terrific roles for a dignified Negro family whose daughter is central to one of the most horrifying scenes in any film ever. For an immersing experience into the vice riddled deep south of the 1950s THE PHENIX CITY STORY will do it.