I've seen dozens of film noirs by now, but one thing that keeps me interested in the genre is seeing just how violent each one of these films can be. While what's being shown onscreen can easily be misconstrued by many people as a display of bloodshed the producers take pleasure indulging in, it's actually the opposite most of the time. Highway 301 is quite violent, but only because the producers are trying to dissuade the viewers from participating in crime. The film starts off with a gang robbing a bank. The gang's leader, George Legenza (Steve Cochran) is a no nonsense, coldblooded killer who is willing to risk the lives of everyone around him (even his own men) to get what he wants. After speeding away from the bank heist, George, his guys, and 3 girls go to a restaurant. Everything appears nice and calm, until one of them, Madeline, inquires about what happened at the bank. A French Canadian woman named Lee wants to know about what happened there, but the guys just shrug it off and say it was meant to be a joke. Secretly, George is livid. Madeline knows that George is going to come after her for almost blowing his cover, so she tries to go back to her apartment, gather her things, and then run away. George ambushes her at the top of the elevator and shoots her dead near a stairwell. George and the others later attempt to rob an armored car and kill a guard to do it, but after getting away, they find out the money is worthless as all of it has been cut in half. The gang head to an apartment in order to hide for a while, and cops eventually come across their car, the plate number matching the one they're looking for. A cop disconnects something under the hood. When George and another gang member try to start up the car and nothing happens, they're ambushed by the cop. George runs back to the apartment, and the other guy is shot dead. Lee is confronted by George in a bedroom, and George tells her now that her boyfriend is dead, she should go with him now. Lee doesn't want this, and instead wants to move back to canada. George knows this is something he can't allow, as she knows too much. He locks her in the bedroom, then visits a diner, planning to shoot her once he gets back. George leaves another one of his thugs to make sure Lee doesn't run away, but he falls asleep on the couch. Lee manages to pick the lock and escape. When George comes back, he tries to chase Lee through the streets, but is forced to back off after a few drunken friends show up. Lee manages to hail a taxi, but is shocked to learn that somehow, George is driving it. He shoots her point blank with his magnum. Back at the apartment, Mary, another one of George's molls, tells him that she heard on the radio this morning that Lee is not dead and is being treated at a hospital. George decides the only way to make sure she doesn't squeal is to shut her up for good this time. He and his gang drive to the hospital and instruct Mary to go inside and find what room Lee is being treated in. She finds the room, but is taken in for questioning by a sergeant who wants to know why she needs the room's number. Mary says she's a reporter for a Mr. Blake, but when the sergeant attempts to call him, her ruse is discovered and she's arrested. George and his thug go in the hospital, find the room and shoot Lee, but she doesn't die. Once they try to escape, George's car overturns and he attempts to outrun the cops, eventually coming to some railroad tracks. He is shot several times and then brutally splattered by a locomotive. I have to say, this movie is pretty barbaric. It's not the first film (not even the first film noir) I've seen where the main character is run over by a train at the end, but even so, Cochran's character is 100 percent murderous. Even in White Heat, James Cagney is shown to care for at least one person, but Cochran doesn't give a damn about anything. He hits his girlfriend, guns down his former one after she asks about a robbery, and kills people in broad daylight. While I thought this was entertaining to watch just how evil he is, it made him feel quite one dimensional. Like any noir worth anything, Highway 301 is not lacking in shadows and dark visuals, particularly the scene which has George chasing Lee throughout the town. You can pause the movie at any time during that sequence and each frame would look stylish. In all, I felt Highway 301 was a remarkably savage movie that shows how (most) criminals will get caught sooner or later, no matter how dangerous or sociopathic they are. Shooting someone laying in a hospital bed is an all time low.
Review of Highway 301
