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Wednesday, April 8, 2020

THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND (1960)

Tough & bluntly effective, director Budd Boetticher successfully pivoted from his series of unnervingly good Randolph Scott Westerns to tackle this 1920s mob story. Ray Danton is riveting, quite the sexy beast, as Jack Diamond, young thug in a hurry, giving up small-time grab-and-run jewel robberies to climb the mob ladder three rungs at a time. Learning the biz as he goes, Diamond hasn’t a sentimental bone in his body, tossing bosses, partners, lovers, even invalid brother Warren Oates under the bus on his rise to the top. Boetticher, with ace cinematographer Lucien Ballard, gives this an interesting, contrasty look, with some scenes looking as if they were still using orthochromatic b&w silent film stock. The script runs largely on incident, with a double-cross or two in the mix, losing any overarching thru-line. But sheer speed can carry its own intoxication even if rarely getting below the surface. With a strong cast (Karen Steele, Jesse White, Simon Oakland, Elaine Stewart in addition to Oates & Danton), the film may look better now than it did on release. (Even if some sets look almost comically underdressed.) It makes Boetticher’s fast decline after this even more of head-scratcher.

DOUBLE-BILL: Check out MURDER, INC. from the same year. A similar B-pic idea not nearly as well made. (Direction and cinematography making all the difference.) But with a standout perf that established Peter Falk.

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