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The analytical approach is that of the protagonist—there's a botched heist early on, the crowd gawks at the body on the sidewalk, Legs Diamond (Ray Danton) studies the architecture of the jewelry. The Twenties, "an era of incredible violence." Scarface themes, "top of the world," the dancer takes off by crushing the foot of his ballroom rival. "Who are you, Mr. Diamond?" Hired muscle, raffish collector, ruthless user of people, bulletproof in his own mind. (He's trained by his former war sergeant following an attempted rubout, and returns with a pistol in each hand.) A good business model, stealing from thieves, appreciated by the kingpin (Robert Lowery) but not by his successor (Jesse White). Instructor (Karen Steele), moll (Elaine Stewart) and showgirl (Dyan Cannon) are the discarded dames, not even the tubercular brother (Warren Oates) can stand in his way. "The most gall of any man I've ever met!" A detached coolness is Budd Boetticher's aim, his masterly study of an underworld hollow man is his bleakest vision. (Prevalent long shots and flattened sets only add to the acerbity of the images.) A hard cut sees the man who can't be jailed behind bars, a dissolve puts the chortling hood in front of a Tommy gun. A hurled grenade kicks off the gang war, a high-angled view from a hotel ponders a stark tableau of fresh corpses twisted on the pavement. "You either think, or you go crazy. I've been thinking." The beginning of the downfall is announced via Prohibition newsreels in a Parisian cinema, Boetticher's outlook mirrors Cummings' on "kumrads" and their lack of love, to confront the void within is the ultimate punishment. "There's one thing you can't make bank on, and that's human nature." Cinematography by Lucien Ballard. With Simon Oakland, Judson Pratt, Frank DeKova, Gordon Jones, Richard Gardner, and Sid Melton. In black and white.
--- Fernando F. Croce |