Hit and Run, Cleo Moore Seeks Wealth and Passion

Sultry blonde femme fatales!  We love them and cheer for them, even though they are up to no good. Still, they are sultry and therefore, we pull for them. As far as hot blonde femme fatales go, we think of many sirens, but of late, I have been diving into Cleo Moore films. She does not disappoint in this one, even being introduced with a shiny, revealing, tight showgirl outfit in the first minute of today's Hugo Haas film 1957's "Hit and Run."

Yep, showgirl, and hoping for a rich guy, Julie (Moore) finishes her show at a night club. So taken by her beauty, and moves on the stage, the almost middle-aged Gus (Haas) insists she have a drink with him. Julie was holding out for more of a hunk, but when she finds out he's loaded, she accepts. All decked out in a shiny evening gown, Gus drools at her presence. Not drooling is Gus' buddy, the hunk Frank (Vince Edwards). Frank warns Gus that Julie is just a hussy and Julie sneers at Frank. Gus proposes, and since he has a lot of dough, Julie accepts. Gus? He owns a filling station/garage, and lives on that property. Hey, guess what! Julie makes a good housewife until Frank comes by, insults her, and soon the two are locking lips and grinding themselves against one another. Gus? He's oblivious. Frank so loves Julie he begs her to run off with him. Julie feels ashamed and insists she stay and be wife to the older Gus.

Murder? Right! More of Frank's idea than Julie's, but Frank forces Julie not to go to the cops or he will implicate her. Twists? Ha! You said it.  Murder is never clean and now a cacophony of plot twists terrorize our guilty lovers. The murder was perfect...or was it?  All of a sudden, Frank and Julie are forced to answer uncomfortable questions...by the sheriff...and by...well, you'll see. Now Frank and Julie seems destined to be caught for the so-called perfect murder they pulled off. But wait!  Their home, which is now owned by Julie, is invaded by...well, you'll see, and Julie and Frank seem to be at the mercy of this new mysterious character.

Will Frank and Julie get away with Gus' murder?  Who is this mysterious character that will invade the home of Julie?  Is this film a poor man's "The Postman Always Rings Twice," and is Cleo Moore a poor man's Lana Turner? Cleo Moore is no poor man's anything, but her performance on screen in this film will have you men drooling and you women wanting to scratch her eyes out and pull her hair off. See "Hit and Run" and be seduced by the blonde bombshell femme fatale, Cleo Moore.

Angel Face, Dangerous Dames and Sucker Men

Oh yes...she's beautiful.  She's 19.  She has an agenda. Now a schmuck comes into her life. He's toast. I don't care if the schmuck is the manly Robert Mitchum, he's toast. Two years earlier, Mr. Mitchum made an incredibly similar movie, in which he played...a patsy. However stupid his decisions, Robert Mitchum was a hunk and we like him.  Sure we like Jean Simmons as the evil teenager, too...but there is no doubt Mitchum's character is not evil...he's just stupid.  This was the case the the 1950 film "Where Danger Lives," and it is true with today's film, 1952's "Angel Face," directed by Otto Preminger and made by Howard Hughes.

Wealthy socialite, Catherine (Barbara O'Neil) almost dies as someone fills her bedroom up with gas while she sleeps.  Her husband, Charles (Herbert Marshall) smelled the gas and turned it off. Saving her life, a question bubbles to the surface, "who wants Catherine dead?" Right!  Her sultry stepdaughter, Diane (Simmons). Ambulance driver Frank (Mitchum) responds, but Catherine is now all right. The 19 year-old beauty makes Frank out as a schmuck and seduces him. Diane is conniving and finds out Frank is also engaged to the beautiful Mary (Mona Freeman).  Diana pays a visit to Mary and now Frank is no longer on a path to marriage with her. With Mary out of the way, Diane uses Frank to...to...well, to take care of some unfinished business.

As much as Diane tries to get Frank to murder her stepmother...Frank is not a killer.  Of more interest, Diane is really falling in love with Frank.  Frank is smart enough to know Diane is trouble, but her beauty keeps him around.  Diane has a plan B...and it is a brutal and horrific one.  Her Plan B will not be good for anyone...but Diane is transitioning from a potential homicidal maniac to a young teenager in love.  Frank?  he's a guy and Diane is quite a dish.  He should have run when he had the chance.  He didn't, thus what happens next is kind of deserved.  

Will Frank have deserved his fate as it is revealed just before the end credits?  Is Diane too beautiful to throw in jail for the rest of her life for murder?  Does Diane also have a Plan C, and is it more psychotic than A and B? This is an arousing film that will offer great beefcake with Mr. Mitchum, and great cheesecake with Ms. Simmons  Watch "Angel Face" and see what happens when the brain shuts off and the heart speaks.  

Escape in the Fog, A Babe with Shell-Shock

Shell-shock? Nerves?  ADD?  Fibromyalgia? PMS? Call it what you want, today we have a pretty dame suffering from a disorder that requires rest and easy living. Given this is a World War 2 thriller, set in foggy San Francisco, I guess we can say she is suffering from shell-shock...or just frayed nerves. No support animals for her, just a good old fashioned hunk who is all to willing to fall in love with her. Let us look at 1945's "Escape in the Fog," directed by Budd Boetticher.

Pretty Eileen (Nina Foch) has been through the ringer. A nurse on a World War 2 hospital ship, the Germans, or the Japanese, torpedoed it. Rescued, the pretty dame is quite shaken and her nerves are shot. Off to a sanitorium for some mental convalescing. Nightmares abound. In one, she is on the Golden Gate Bridge when a car pulls up and thugs get out, pound a handsome man, and get ready to knife him, when Eileen screams, scaring the thugs away. A dream? Vision? Another convalescing patient rushes into her room after she screams to see if she is alright. That handsome patient? Right! The beset hunk in her dreams. Fast forward, the duo get out of the facility and head to San Francisco to begin romancing one another. Uh oh...the hunk? Barry Malcolm (William Wright)...secret agent.

Eileen and Barry fall in love in San Fran, but Barry is called in for a secret mission. He needs to go to Hong Kong and foil the Japanese efforts in China. Uh oh...A German spy, Schiller (Konstanton Shayne) is onto him and intercepts Barry. Now Barry is in the hands of the Germans. Eileen is sad, Barry has been abducted.  The only clue she has to go on is that weird nightmare she had back at the asylum. Off to the Golden Gate Bridge she goes on a very foggy night, and wouldn't you know it...

Is a half crazy babe at all equipped to save an American secret agent beset by German spies? Will the Germans realize that Eileen is an impediment to their efforts in America, just as much as secret agents are? If she is half crazy with shell-shock, what does this say about her future if her and Barry settle down together? You divorced guys know what I mean. For a foggy Film Noir film set in San Francisco, with much war-time intrigue and espionage, see "Escape in the Fog."

The Yellow Canary, Pat Boone as a Teen Idol?

Yep! Pat Boone, the teen idol from yesteryear played a teen idol! Barbara Eden is in this...so is Jack Klugman. A ribald sex comedy from the late 50s? I should tell you this was written by Rod Serling. Yes, Pat Boone plays a teen idol, fawned and drooled over by teen girl lovelies. Get this...Pat Boone plays an evil cad. None of the lovelies are safe around him.  His wife, played by Eden, wants a divorce.  He uses and exploits all his friends with deadly results. Dark and gritty. Sure, Pat Boone will croon, and sometimes it will be fun...but by design, of this film, sometimes his singing will be weird and tortured. Let us look at this Film Noir film from 1963, "The Yellow Canary," directed by Buzz Kulik. 

Andy Paxton (Boone) is the aforementioned teen idol. He has dozens of gold records and a sultry wife Lisa (Eden). They have a cute one-year old. Off stage, Andy is a complete heel. He fools around on his wife, barely knows his own child, and exploits his staff. Hub (Steve Forrest) plays Andy's director of security and is about to get real busy.  See, someone murders the babysitter and kidnaps the child. Lisa is panicked and horrified...Andy is inconvenienced. Enter detective Lt. Bonner (Klugman). He won't get much cooperation from Andy as the crooner tries to let Hub handle most of the investigation. Bonner is a good cop and can see through Andy's thin veneer. A ransom is finally demanded and it is a big one. Andy now figures on paying.

Uh oh...Andy soon learns his inner circle is not as loyal to him as he thought.  His childhood pal Bake (Steve Harris) is his manager and he has just embezzled from Andy. Bonner finds this out and arrests Bake, but not fort the abduction. Lisa is beside herself and sneers at her two-timing husband. Andy's stage performances go from alluring and fun to twisted and odd. More brutal murders occur and Lisa is terrified that her little boy may also have been been murdered.  Hub hits the streets and calls old informants...then he gets a hot lead.  The lead is so hot, more murders, assaults, and debauchery are thrown at us.  Andy is now not in control and he does not look smooth and confident anymore.  Lisa loses all hope...and Lt. Bonner, we can tell, believes their child is a goner.  Hub? He's confident and maybe a little too confident.  Both Lisa and Andy see this and now Lisa has a job...flirt with Hub distract him, and... well...you'll see.

This movie takes us from the stage with playful crooning and fawning beauties to the dark underside of the gritty city in no time.  No one emerges as someone with virtue, and everyone shows their prurient and evil side.  If Andy wants to see his son again, and save his marriage, he will have to change into something he doesn't have any familiarity with. Does Andy want to see his son again and save his marriage to the "I Dream of Jeannie" babe?  Is one of Andy's inner circle the kidnapper/murderer? Will the final reveal be as dark as the rest of this film?  Not the feel good film of 1963, but Pat Boone is wonderful, and so is Barbara Eden. For a gritty mystery that will leave you feeling like you need a shower, see "The Yellow Canary." Oh, one more thing! Sgt. Schultz (John Banner) is also in this.

Heat Wave, Summer of Murder

Ah! Summertime.  Fun at the lake.  Boating...swimming...murder!  Yep, we have a nice one today about a schmuck who gets involved with a rich, and evil, dame.  Never works out.  She's sultry, he knows she's bad, but boy is she hot!  When the heart speaks, the mind turns to peanut butter.  Then, suddenly we are talking about the electric chair.  Let us look at 1954's "Heat Wave," directed by Ken Hughes. Perhaps, we can call it "The Great Gatsby-Lite."

Pulp novelist Mark Kendrick (Alex Nicol) is secluded at a bungalow by a resort lake in England.  He's struggling and his literary ideas are stale and unappealing.  He is stuck at the typewriter with no ideas as he watches the mansion across the lake.  Then the phone rings.  He shouldn't have answered. It is the sultry Carol (Hillary Brooke). Fast forward, Mark takes his boat to the party and is met by the ravishing blonde Carol in a sleek evening gown.  At the party Carol fawns over the pianist (Paul Carpenter) and an ignored Mark makes friends with Carol's rich husband, Beverly (Sidney James). Bev is unhappy as his wife is screwing the pianist.  Rich and with a bad heart, Bev develops a cynical friendship with the failed author. Bad news, Bev's doctor says he could drop dead at any minute.

Worse news...though he hates her, Mark can't resist and enjoys kissing and passion with Carol.  The news gets worse...Mark's publisher drops him and now the failed novelist has no money. Carol gets chummier with Mark and she claims to love him.  Though Bev will be dead soon, he confides to Mark that he will soon cut her out of the will.  See where this is going?  Death happens...or is it murder?  Andrea (Susan Stephen), Bev's daughter, believes Carol killed Bev...boating accident, you know.  Whatever happened on the boat on the very foggy lake...there were no witnesses...or were there?  Along comes the persistent and curious police inspector (Alan Wheatley) and he doesn't miss anything.  Now Carol and Mark better keep their stories straight.  Uh oh...Carol is Carol...or, dames are dames, and this won't bode well for Mark.

Is anyone going to take a murder rap?  Will Carol and Mark live happily ever after with Bev's fortune?  Is the police inspector as good as Lt. Columbo?  This is a good one, and perhaps a grim morality tale.  For those of you who love hot blonde femme fatales, see "Heat Wave." 

The Big Punch, God vs. Hoodlums

God will win, every time. In the debut film for Gordon MacRae, the fellow who played "Curly" in "Oklahoma," his problem is that he'd like to win every time, but hoodlums will force him not to. Yep, a boxing film...kind of.  Just like today's NFL, most matches are fixed, and if a young boxer doesn't go along with the crime lords, he'll be broken. Today, Major League Baseball and the NBA have proven their allegiance to gambling interests, but in the 1940s, we all knew most boxers were on the take. The guy with the glass shoulder was always going to take a fall.  A good man just would not go into boxing...and this is our story today. Today we look at 1948's "The Big Punch," directed by Sherry Shourds.

Chris (Wayne Morris) is a good man. He was a fighter pilot in WW2, then a star fullback for a pro-football team.  Corrupt fighting promoter, Con Festig (Anthony Warde) will offer him a king's fortune to fight for him. Chris meets with Con, thanks him, and turns down the money. Why? Chris wants to be a minister. Johnny (MacRae) is one of Festig's boxers who is due to take a dive tonight.  He hears Chris turn down a fortune and also the reason why. Chris explains God has already claimed him.  Chris poses the question, what would you do if you had one day to live? On that query, the film progresses. Chris goes off and becomes a minister at a small town church.  Johnny goes all honest and doesn't throw the fight. Now gangsters, led by Festig, want Johnny dead and he's on the run.

Chris gets to a little town filled with nice people.  He meets the disillusioned babe, Karen (Lois Maxell). The beauty was an army nurse and saw so many young men shredded. Now Karen hates people, hates God, and hates herself.  Chris ministers to her and now Karen seems ready to come back into the flock. With nowhere to go, Johnny remembers the uncorruptible Chris and finds out he now ministers to a congregation at a little church. Johnny heads there and is taken in by Chris...and ministered to. Johnny meets Karen, likes her, and realizes Karen likes Chris. Trouble brewing? Yes, but on many fronts. Johnny's evil past finds him and now he is being blackmailed into returning to serving his previous master. Karen, who now is in love with a man of God, devises an awful plan to save Johnny.  Chris hesitantly goes along.  Now Karen dons a sultry evening gown, glams up, and goes all seductive. The guys won't have a chance!

Just what is the skeptic turned" seductress for the Lord" up to?  Will Chris be giving a sermon on redemption or the whore of Babylon this Sunday?  Can a divine outlook and faith save Johnny from the vicious thugs that seem to have a stranglehold on him?  This is a quirky one and inspiring.  Not known as a faith film, per se, "The Big Punch" is incredibly more honest and holy that that over-rated TV show, "The Chosen." See "The Big Punch" and consider it a sermon with pro sports, hunks, and a real doll in a slinky evening gown.  

Hi-Jacked, Truckers in Peril

Shocking! Most Americans don't realize why they pay higher prices for their toasters, hairdryers, and television sets. Hijackings on our highways.  Trucks are robbed enroute to their destinations and their goods stolen.  This costs Americans $40 million per year.  It costs trucking companies $200 million in elevated insurance costs. Yep, this is almost as much as a few Somali daycare centers in Minneapolis rip-off the federal government in a week. Somali fraud is rampant now, and we implore ICE to help take care of it.  But in 1950, $40 million was real money, hence we will look at that year's Film Noir picture, "Hi-Jacked," directed by Sam Newfield.

Joe (Jim Davis) is a schmuck truck driver. He's a good soul and on parole.  As the film begins his sweet wife, Jean (Marcia Mae Jones) comes back to him. So cute! Uh oh...Joe is being set up by his own trucking company.  His truck is hijacked and he is knocked out in the process.  He comes to and the cops and insurance investigators figure he, a parolee, did the job. The trucking company manager, Clark (Ralph Sanford) funnels info on the routes and loads, to hijackers headed by Matt (David Bruce).  Killer (Sid Melton) is one of Matt's thugs and is eager to get a gun and murder someone.  Matt wisely never gives him a gun...until...well, you'll see. Killer? He looks and talks just like Joe Pesci and has a Napoleon complex. Now Joe is made the patsy again in a fur heist.  The coats are worth thousands...each. Now the trucking company has to fire Joe if they plan on keeping their insurance.

Joe realizes only he can clear his name.  Before he sets out to do this, the hijackers show up at his house, rough him up, and lock his sweet wife in the closet. She got off easy. Now Joe figures on violating his parole with his plan of violence he adopts to clear his name.  The schmuck Joe puts two and two together, figures his manager, Clark, is in on it, and heads to them.  Oh, Jean, the sweet wife? Yeah, the hijackers take care of her as soon as Joe leaves on his quest of vengeance.  Now Joe's idiot plan to clear his name better work perfectly, or poor Jean will...well...you'll see.

Will Joe clear his name?  Will the sweet Jean remain unsoiled as the end credits arrive? Can't Fernando Mendoza, who just signed a $57 million dollar/year contact with the Raiders, write a check and cover all the hijacking losses?  This is a gritty one, and you will enjoy the scenes at the diner with one colorful and sultry waitress played by Iris Adrian. See "Hi-Jacked," and learn some weird new names for common diner food.