Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (1952)

Exemplary noir. A typically taut, modest, effective crime meller from Phil Karlson with John Payne looking for payback after he’s unjustly implicated in Preston Foster’s ‘Perfect Crime’ bank robbery. A trifecta of thugs (Neville Brand, Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam; fresh, startling faces in ‘52) are the real culprits, hired by Foster and forced to wear masks to hide their identities even from each other before going separate ways after the job and a yet-to-be-announced meet-up in Mexico for the split. Framed by circumstance as an accomplice, Payne is quickly cleared, but not before he’s brutally hammered by confession-hungry cops and fired from his job. With only a clue to go on, Payne tracks down one of the gang and follows up on this lead to a modest Mexican resort. He’s on the verge of a breakthru when a wild card in the form of Foster’s grown daughter (Coleen Gray) makes a surprise visit that threatens the final double-twist payoff. Karlson was doing his best work in the ‘50s, with a gift for clarifying tricky plot turns and envelope-pushing taste in violence. Add on special rapport for the undervalued Payne, a mid-list/mid-weight ex-20th/Fox star who turned tough after his contract days; much like Dick Powell & Robert Montgomery, though less stylized. An Everyman type, sweating his way in and out of jams.

DOUBLE-BILL: Payne & Karlson reteamed for 99 RIVER STREET/’53 and HELL’S ISLAND/’55.

No comments: