I'm a big fan of John Garfield's acting, his stock-in-trade was playing vulnerable tough guys who rarely got the breaks and often ended up dead or broken by the end of the film. This low-budget noir is notable for being the last film he completed before his early death, hastened possibly by a weak heart condition, marital problems and in particular the harassment he received at the hands of the omnipresent House of Un-American Activities Committee whose accusations of Communist sympathising saw film work dry up as the major studios shied away from employing him.
That said, it's noteworthy that other more active participants in left-wing politics of the time and indeed who had espoused Communism in the past were also very much involved in this film, from actors Norman Lloyd and Selena Royle, director John Berry and uncredited scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo, among others.
The plot here is a simple one, Garfield is the muscle to Lloyd's brains in their planned operation to rob a security van of its payroll. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't end well, Lloyd is wounded and taken into police custody while Garfield grabs the cash and tries to disappear into the New York background. So he ends up at the public swimming pool, as you would, where he's attracted to a young blonde female, Shelley Winters, whose most famous film role years later coincidentally also involved her trying to swim, but in a wholly different situation in "The Poseidon Adventure". She seems to click with the much older Garfield even when his temper occasionally flares up, so she innocently lets him take her back home, inadvertently giving him the opportunity to forcibly hole up with her old mum, dad and kid brother until he decides his exit strategy, which may or any not involve taking Winters along with him. It all ends up in a face-off between Garfield and the girl's protective father who finally finds his backbone, setting up the inevitable downbeat conclusion typical of this genre.
Only 75 minutes long, this hostage drama is effectively played by all the main participants. Realistically filmed and acted, the characters' motivations and reactions ring true, eschewing sentimentality or cliche even down to the young kid brother who initially seems to look up to the gun-toting Garfield but who soon sees through his big-shot posturing.
Garfield, despite seeming too old to be playing the young punk part, gives his typical full-on performance, Winters is very good as the conflicted young girl as are Wallace Ford and Selena Royce as her trusting parents flung into a terrifying situation. Director Berry, assisted by the redoubtable James Wong Howe behind the cameras, convincingly captures the claustrophobic paranoia which only grows as the film progresses and there's even a Franz Waxman soundtrack to add further drama to proceedings.
Garfield would be dead within a year, not yet 40 and while this film isn't his best remembered, it still stands as a good example of his considerable, mercurial talent and the film itself is a noir well worth tracking down for a viewing.
That said, it's noteworthy that other more active participants in left-wing politics of the time and indeed who had espoused Communism in the past were also very much involved in this film, from actors Norman Lloyd and Selena Royle, director John Berry and uncredited scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo, among others.
The plot here is a simple one, Garfield is the muscle to Lloyd's brains in their planned operation to rob a security van of its payroll. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't end well, Lloyd is wounded and taken into police custody while Garfield grabs the cash and tries to disappear into the New York background. So he ends up at the public swimming pool, as you would, where he's attracted to a young blonde female, Shelley Winters, whose most famous film role years later coincidentally also involved her trying to swim, but in a wholly different situation in "The Poseidon Adventure". She seems to click with the much older Garfield even when his temper occasionally flares up, so she innocently lets him take her back home, inadvertently giving him the opportunity to forcibly hole up with her old mum, dad and kid brother until he decides his exit strategy, which may or any not involve taking Winters along with him. It all ends up in a face-off between Garfield and the girl's protective father who finally finds his backbone, setting up the inevitable downbeat conclusion typical of this genre.
Only 75 minutes long, this hostage drama is effectively played by all the main participants. Realistically filmed and acted, the characters' motivations and reactions ring true, eschewing sentimentality or cliche even down to the young kid brother who initially seems to look up to the gun-toting Garfield but who soon sees through his big-shot posturing.
Garfield, despite seeming too old to be playing the young punk part, gives his typical full-on performance, Winters is very good as the conflicted young girl as are Wallace Ford and Selena Royce as her trusting parents flung into a terrifying situation. Director Berry, assisted by the redoubtable James Wong Howe behind the cameras, convincingly captures the claustrophobic paranoia which only grows as the film progresses and there's even a Franz Waxman soundtrack to add further drama to proceedings.
Garfield would be dead within a year, not yet 40 and while this film isn't his best remembered, it still stands as a good example of his considerable, mercurial talent and the film itself is a noir well worth tracking down for a viewing.