99 River Street

Keep your theatre and the rats in it.

99 River Street is directed by Phil Karlson and adapted to screenplay by Robert Smith from a story by George Zuckerman. It stars John Payne, Evelyn Keyes, Brad Dexter, Frank Faylen, Jay Adler, Eddie Waller and Peggie Castle. Music is by Arthur Lange and Emil Newman and cinematography by Franz Planer.

After sustaining a serious eye injury, boxer Ernie Driscoll (Payne) has had to retire from the ring and now drives a cab for a living. Constantly chided by his beautiful wife, Pauline (Castle), for being a failure, Ernie is close to breaking point when he finds that she is having an affair with a charismatic jewel thief. So when Pauline turns up dead in the back of Ernie's cab, he's obviously the chief suspect. But along with actress friend Linda James (Keyes), he attempts to unravel the mystery that is threatening to destroy his life.

Tough as old boots, 99 River Street is the kind of unsung film noir crying out to be discovered by more like minded cinephiles. Though short of expressionistic verve, which was never Karlson's thing anyway, all the elements for a nitty-gritty noir are in place. New York forms the backdrop as a city of broken dreams, shattered illusions, a place frequented by unfaithful spouses, shifty fences, violent thieves and theatrical luvvies so far removed from the real post war world it would be funny were it no so sad! Smack bang in the middle of this tainted Americana is Ernie Driscoll, basically a good guy, but when pushed into a corner emotionally or physically, he strikes out in the only way he knows how, with his fists.

As Karlson blurs the lines between the theatrical world and that of the real one, deftly essayed by Ernie and Linda, the director is clearly enjoying having such colourful characters to work with. Payne's tough guy anti-hero, Keyes' savvy heroine, Adler's unerringly menacing fence, Dexter's oily villain and Castle's disgustingly selfish wife. Throw in some thugs, persistent cop...

Like so many boxers before him, "Ernie" (John Payne) discovers that wealth and fame are fickle things. He loses an heavyweight fight and is soon driving a taxi to make ends meet. This does not sit well with his selfish and pretty nasty wife "Pauline" (Peggie Castle) who strays into the affections of the unsavoury "Rawlins" (Brad Dexter) with ultimately fatal results. "Ernie" finds himself suspect number one, and so must now try to piece together just what did happen and to stay one step ahead of the pursuing police just long enough to apprehend the real perpetrator. In my view, this is easily the best effort from Payne. He and Dexter work well to generate a sense of menace and desperation whilst a strong supporting cast with Evelyn Keyes ("Linda") and Eddy Waller ("Pop") do their level best to look out for the rather decent, frequently out of his depth boxer. The story develops slowly, but thoroughly, with a well paced dialogue and a score that helps Phil Karlson keep the tension building tautly towards the end that isn't quite as you might expect.