Anthony Quinn plays a Brooklyn mobster, Anne Bancroft his pregnant kid sister, and Farley Granger her two-bit punk boyfriend (and later, thanks to Quinn's rather formidable powers of persuasion, her husband), in this revenge-filled gangster flick that's post-Cagney and Edward G., pre-"Godfather", and all Quinn. The plot is a bit creaky, but the dialogue rings true, the acting is fine, and A. Q. himself has a soft spot for his mom, lots of tough, big-bro love for his sister, and a lump of coal in his heart for everyone else; he is utterly compelling and dominates every scene he's in. With a very young Anne Bancroft as the sister and--in a real departure --Farley Granger as her small-time gangster beau. (The producers had to hire a dialect coach to teach Granger the Brooklyn accent.) Not a great crime drama but certainly a good one--even if they did film it on a Hollywood sound stage, and not in the Borough of Kings itself. Also with a pre-"Mission Impossible" Peter Graves as a newspaper reporter. Entertaining and fast-paced; director Maxwell Shane never lingers on one scene for too long. Well worth a look.
Review of The Naked Street
