SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS (1955)

Inadequate, even risible assignments under contract to Universal didn’t stop Tony Curtiz from breaking out in the 1950s.  But things suddenly improved, likely in the nick of time, on loan-out for his next film after this, co-starring with Burt Lancaster in TRAPEZE/’56.   (https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/12/trapeze-1956.html)   After that, even Universal had to step up with better scripts.  Before then, this fact-inspired pic probably best of a bad lot.  Curtis is a juvenile delinquent in Boston (or rather debuting Sal Mineo as his younger self is) who likes the easy cash too much to ever straighten up.  Hit by a bullet as he runs from arresting beat-cop George Nader, the two develop a wary relationship with Curtis stooling for Nader, and Nader’s cop always giving the kid one more chance to make good.  Eventually, this pattern will backfire on Nader’s rep, when, after two decades and a World War, Curtis becomes suspect #1 in the infamous 2.5 mill armored truck robbery THE BRINK’S JOB.  (https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-brinks-job-1978.html)  With Joseph Pevney’s solid if unimaginative direction much helped by lenser William Daniels’ deglamorized æsthetic.  (Real Boston exteriors and interiors; note the varying acoustics.)  And while there’s not a lot of surprises in how things turn out or how punishment is dealt, some blunt disdain toward Fed authority blundering into a local crime isn’t something you expect to see in a 1955 film.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: The following year, M-G-M’s SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME/’56 took on similar tough 'truthy' tenement tones: Brooklyn in for Boston; boxing in for robbery; Paul Newman* (born 1925 - half Jewish) in for Tony Curtis (born 1925 - all Jewish); catchy title track sung by Perry Como in for less catchy title track sung by Sammy Davis Jr,; Upbeat vs Downbeat ending; studio recreations in for real locations; master craftsman Robert Wise directing instead of journeyman Pevney.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2023/07/somebody-up-there-likes-me-1956.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *Newman himself a last-minute replacement for the late James Dean.