Touches You

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

The best thing Ann Sheridan ever did; and she made a lot of films. Nice dialogue by Ross Hunter and wonderful finale. Reminded me of Ride the Pink Horse and The Third Man. Rest of the cast, particularly the police chief, are very good. Very tight screenplay, and a great twist. It is safe to say they seldom make them as good as this anymore. Don't miss it..

An interesting story with a convulsive finale: Frank Johnson, who walking his dog unvoluntarily becomes the witness of a murder, doesn't want anything to do with the police, so he is the real one on the run. As he absconds, the police set on his wife instead, who cannot help them, as she actually knows nothing about her husband: a curious marriage, one might say. He is even reluctant to admitting she is his wife, and when asked if he is married, he answers only vaguely, like "sort of". Thus Ann Sheridan becomes the lead and completely domintes the film, as she also is hounded by the police for being married to an escaped eyewitness, but she shakes them all off, except one reporter, who never lets her alone. His shadowing her ends up in a situation that must be described as the worst possiblke you could ever find yourself in alive and with no way out. The film is worth seeing only for this very dramatic finale, which you will never forget. It's actually a B-film, but the finale lifts it up many categories.

A guy is out walking his dog one evening when he witnesses a homicide in "Journey into Fear" director Norman Foster's atmospheric, above-average, crime thriller "Woman on the Run," starring Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, and Robert Keith. Ostensibly, Foster and "A Star Is Born" scenarist Alan Campbell have adapted Shirley Tate's 1948 short story published in a contemporary magazine. Instead of sticking with Tate's title "Man on the Run," the filmmakers changed it to "Woman on the Run." Predictably, Sheridan spends most of the film's 77 minutes on the run herself as Eleanor Johnson who is pursuing her husband around San Francisco with an inquisitive newspaper reporter (Dennis O'Keefe of "Raw Deal") in tow. Journalist Dan Legget assures Eleanor that he is only looking for a scoop. Meantime, we don't see much of Eleanor's husband Frank (Ross Elliot of "Kelly's Heroes") who does a good job of making himself elusive. Meantime, Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith of "The Line-Up") and his colleagues maintain surveillance on Eleanor who is reluctant to share information with them about her husband. Suffice to say that everything turns out for the good by fade-out, but "Woman on the Run" boasts a supreme sized surprise that discriminating spectators will figure out before the characters in the story notice it. Indeed, I am reluctant to expose this surprise because it makes the movie worth-watching. Nevertheless, Foster and "Captain Blood" lenser Hal Mohr take us on a tour of the City by the Bay that only San Francisco residents may truly appreciate. "One Touch of Venus" editor Otto Ludwig deserves kudos--as does Mohr--for careening depiction of a roller-coaster ride that Eleanor embarks on at an amusement park in the climactic scene that brings all the principals together and ties things up rather neatly. Sheridan is perfectly cast as the faithful wife. Dennis O'Keefe shows a different side of himself as he accompanies Sheridan on their quest to find her spouse. "Woman on the Run" qualifies as a concise, well-made, crime thriller.

Ann Sheridan plays a bitter housewife who has a way with a curt one liner in this nifty little noir from 1950.Her husband is on the run after inadvertently witnessing a murder. The detectives are hounding his wife for clues about where he might be (she honestly doesn't know). Also hounding her is a reporter (Dennis O'Keefe) who wants to be first to the scoop. Or is he really a reporter? The film makes the bold move of letting you know early on that the reporter is actually the murderer, and he's slyly manipulating Sheridan into leading him to her husband so that he can bump off the only witness. O'Keefe plays against type, proving that his sardonic charm works just as well when cast as a bad guy as it does when cast as the leading man.O'Keefe is good, but Sheridan provides the biggest incentive for watching this one. Her, and a cleverly filmed nail biter of a finale that takes place on and underneath a carnival roller coaster.I don't know why the film is called "Woman on the Run," since the husband is the one who runs away and the woman doesn't even know she's in danger until the very end. Maybe I'm just missing the point or maybe the title really doesn't make sense because film noir titles almost never do.