Robert Mitchum made a lot of decent little films from the late '40's to mid '50's, this is one of them. It had been chopped about by Howard Hughes and it shows in its length, absurdities, romantic corn and melodrama at times, but all mixed together with an atmospheric well acted noir frisson than can keep you glued to the end.
Terse and seedy start has Mitchum forcibly payrolled by baddies to do some as yet unknown job in Mexico he spends the first hour trying to find out what it is. In between sounding out the oddball guests at the hotel he's forced to stay at, a few tight clinches with Jane Russell and a swift gambling scene, all reminiscent of Casablanca, chunky goodie Tim Holt finally tells him the truth. By the middle of the picture valiant Vincent Price steps into the breach, and once he utters the line "What fools ye mortals be" the film wobbles into a mixture of comedy and sadism. Raymond Burr excellently played the big baddie here, with a violent vicious streak but apparently also an inability to fire a gun. Russell did what she did best ... sang two nice songs and looked cynically decorative as ever. Mitchum glided about the sets effortlessly throwing out priceless quips such as "See you all of a sudden Sam", and in my favourite bit nonchalantly ironing out his money.
Overall, too long to be a classic but that don't bother me none: I wouldn't have minded it lasting 4 hours - great stuff.
Terse and seedy start has Mitchum forcibly payrolled by baddies to do some as yet unknown job in Mexico he spends the first hour trying to find out what it is. In between sounding out the oddball guests at the hotel he's forced to stay at, a few tight clinches with Jane Russell and a swift gambling scene, all reminiscent of Casablanca, chunky goodie Tim Holt finally tells him the truth. By the middle of the picture valiant Vincent Price steps into the breach, and once he utters the line "What fools ye mortals be" the film wobbles into a mixture of comedy and sadism. Raymond Burr excellently played the big baddie here, with a violent vicious streak but apparently also an inability to fire a gun. Russell did what she did best ... sang two nice songs and looked cynically decorative as ever. Mitchum glided about the sets effortlessly throwing out priceless quips such as "See you all of a sudden Sam", and in my favourite bit nonchalantly ironing out his money.
Overall, too long to be a classic but that don't bother me none: I wouldn't have minded it lasting 4 hours - great stuff.