The Hardest Noirs: 99 River Street
Director Phil Karlson, Part One
I've always been a big fan of John Payne. He's best known as the boyfriend in the original Miracle on 34th Street. He's the guy who tries to get Maureen O'Hara's daughter to lighten up and make believe and he's also the lawyer who defends Kris Kringle in court. After that, he left the studio system and made a series of highly entertaining B movies for independent producers in the late 40s and 1950s. He was a solid actor with a likable every man quality.
Noirs made up some of his tastiest movies during this period. I think the best of them is 99 River Street.
Payne plays Ernie Driscoll, a boxer washed out of the game due to an eye injury. He injured the eye during his big title shot, just as he was on the verge of winning. We find him a few years later; he’s working as cab driver and living with a wife who blames him for ruining her life. She's having an affair with a thief, played with cold blooded, smarmy charm by Brad Dexter. He steals half a million dollars in diamonds, with the assistance of Payne's wife, but when he goes to fence the jewels, he's turned away due to the fence's concerns about her involvement. Dexter promptly murders her in response.
From this point, Payne's life spirals down into hell. He's framed for his wife's murder. He meets an ambitious actress who sets him up for a humiliating prank by a stage crew, who compound their cruelty by calling the police when he socks one of them, all as a ploy for publicity. He pursues Dexter, not out of revenge for the death of his wife, but to either get him to clear his name or kill him. He runs afoul of the fence's henchmen, who beat and torture him, all while avoiding the police dragnet set to arrest him for murder.
As he seeks to unravel the net of doom that is closing around him, Payne is a clenched fist, literally. He seems to always be on the verge of exploding in violence, seething against the world that seems to have turned its back on him. As a former boxer, his fists are still deadly weapons, which he uses to advantage several times, including in a brutal climax.
99 River Street is my favorite type of film noir: a tough guy falling down into doom, with the whole world seemingly arrayed against him. It's a dark, tough-minded movie with classic film noir photography from Franz Planer. Payne's performance may be his best and Dexter plays one of my favorite bad guys.
99 River Street was directed by Phil Karlson, an experienced journeyman who made a series of solid noirs in the 1950s. Karlson grew up on the streets of Chicago during the height of the gangster days, working as a street corner lookout when he just a kid. This may have formed his later affinity for tough guy stories. Starting out directing for poverty row studio Monogram, he made all kinds of films, including Bowery Boy comedies and Charlie Chan mysteries. Eventually, he graduated to work at Columbia, a mid-level studio that churned out a series of quality noirs in the 40s and 50s. He had an on again, off again relationship with loathsome studio boss Harry Cohn, bouncing between Columbia and the independents. During this period, he really found his niche in crime films and noir.
Karlson also directed Payne in the excellent Kansas City Confidential. Payne plays Joe Wolfe, an ex-con working as a floral delivery driver. One of his regular stops is next to a bank, which unfortunately for him, gets robbed while he's making a delivery. Because his van resembles the one used by the robbers, the police not only bring him in for questioning but to slap him around. He's eventually cleared but not before losing his job and having his name splashed all over the papers.
The robbery was masterminded by "Mr. Big," who hires three vulnerable goons to carry it out. The trio are played by three all-time great bad guy character actors: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam, and Neville Brand. Mr. Big heads to Mexico with the loot, arranging to meet up with his gang to split up the money. Payne follows him down, trying to clear his name. Double crosses, hidden identities, shoot outs, and lots and lots of punching and slapping follows.
As he does in 99 River Street, Payne conveys the perfect underdog, the basically decent guy with a shady past who just can't get a break. And like that movie, his solution to all the crap falling down on him in Kansas City Confidential is to punch his way straight through the bad guys.
Both movies feature Karlson's trademark frequent close ups, which lend an air of intensity and even claustrophobia to the narrative. Although he sometimes worked with noted cinematographers, he didn't always lean on the classic shadow-laden noir style. He employed it sparingly in some films, like Kansas City Confidential, but still managed to create environments perfect for dark crime stories.
Next week I will be presenting more of Phil Karlson's crime classics.
Meanwhile, check out this wild trailer: