Joe Farley (Pat O'Brien) and ex-cop Vince Kane (George Raft) are bail bondsmen partners in L.A. Vince gets a call from police detective friend Nick Ferrone. Nick is investigating Claude Brackette. Claude's wife Lucy is Vince's old flame and she convinces him to sign a bail bond for her husband despite failing to raise the required 10%.
This is stylized pulp. It's mannered noir. It's deliberately hard at all times. All of that is great but the story is wading through mud. It takes way too long to get to the meat of the story. It's the Muzak. It's the monotone world. It's very static. It's a lot of verbal dancing but in a circular motion. There is a monotony to the flow. It's going and getting nowhere quickly. It doesn't have the action to pump up the intensity until the final five minutes. It's pulp in many sense of the word.
This is stylized pulp. It's mannered noir. It's deliberately hard at all times. All of that is great but the story is wading through mud. It takes way too long to get to the meat of the story. It's the Muzak. It's the monotone world. It's very static. It's a lot of verbal dancing but in a circular motion. There is a monotony to the flow. It's going and getting nowhere quickly. It doesn't have the action to pump up the intensity until the final five minutes. It's pulp in many sense of the word.