User Reviews

The exact definition for 'film noir' is a tad vague. While some elements of noir are easy to agree upon (they are gangster/crime films and tend to be gritty and realistic), others are not. To me, a noir film MUST be made in black & white. As to my interpretation of noir, you would have to say that after the early to mid-1960s, noir disappeared in America because films were then all made in color--though they continued to make a few noir films in France--using black & white a bit longer. In light of this, UNDERWORLD USA would have to be among the last American noir movies--and probably the last great one. Now the fact that I loved this film surprised me--though I knew that Sam Fuller could make some dandy films. What made me assume the worst was that I just couldn't imagine Cliff Robertson in the lead in such a dark and gritty style of film. Boy was I wrong--as he proved to be more than equal to the task.

The film begins with Tolly Devlin a teenager and well on his way to becoming a career criminal. However, this is interrupted by the beating death of his father by several unknown assailants. The only one young Tolly saw was a guy who was soon sent to prison for life--and it would be tough for Tolly to cross-examine him to find out who did it--after all, he wanted revenge. In an odd move, Tolly appeared to work hard to be caught so he, too, could make it to state prison to talk to this killer. Years pass, but finally he's able to talk to the guy--who is on his deathbed. He learns the other men's identities and comes up with an amazingly intricate plot to get them--intricate because now, a decade later, these men are very, very powerful gangsters. Just approaching them and killing them would be very difficult.

I don't want to talk about all the ins and outs of the plan, but in the process several unexpected things occur. First, he actually is able to help the crime commission by taking out these gang members and works closely with them. It is NOT because he has any fondness for law & order but they are a means to his end...period. In addition, he helps a young lady who is caught up in the mob and begins, for the first time, to actually care about someone. Slowly, you see humanity appearing within Tolly and by the end of the film, he is, for the first time, thinking of something other than himself or revenge. As for the ending, it is dandy--making the film well worth seeing.

There really isn't anything much to complain about here. The story is original and exciting, the acting is very good and the film appears to have been very well made--though it does lack some of the interesting camera work some noir films employed--not a problem, but I do like the dark shadows and smoke used in some examples of this genre. There is an interesting mistake, however, in the final climactic scene. Tolly falls into a swimming pool and only minutes later, as he's running from the gang headquarters, he's inexplicably dry!! And, for that matter, the death scene at the end is a bit overdone--but not in a way that particularly harms the overall film.

If you care, I have seen just about every film Sam Fuller made and I would say that this and STEEL HELMET are probably his very best. He had an amazing knack for making lower budget films that still delivered lots of action and suspense--a lot like super-high quality B-movies.

***SPOILERS*** Director Samuel Fuller takes a crack at organized crime in this murder and revenge thriller involving young Tolly Devlin, David Ken & Cliff Robertson when he's all grown up, who was an eye witness to his father's murder.

It's not that old man Devlin was an upstanding and law abiding citizen he was a mobster himself but what happened to him, beaten to death by four hoodlums, shouldn't have happened to a mad and rabid dog much less then to a human being. Young Tolly there and then made up his mind that he'll tack down his dad's killers and exact justice on them if that's the last thing he does!

It took a while for Tolly to find his father's killers but a stint behind bars, for safe-cracking, brought unexpected results. Recognizing one of his father's killers Vic Farrar, Peter Brocco,in the prison hospital dying from cancer Tolly got him to confess his sins so he can die in peace and with a clean slate when he stands before his creator. With his last dying breath a repetitive Farrar reveal to Tolly those hoods who along with him murdered his old man. Tolly later finds out, through a newspaper headline, that the three other hoods who murdered his dad Gela Smith & Gunther, Paul Dubov Allan Gruener & Gerald Milton, are now the top men in the notorious Earl Connors, Robert Emhardt, crime syndicate.

Using his girlfriend-and former hooker- Cuddles, Dolores Dorn, who's life he once saved Tolly gets in on the inside of the Connor's crime syndicate, by posing as a drug pusher, in order to get to those who murdered his father and make them pay dearly! Playing both sides against the middle Tolly works both with the Connor's Mob and the local D.A John Driscoll, Larry Gates, which turned out to be disastrous for him.

***SPOILERS*** Cliff Robertson had a real great time playing Tolly Devlin in the movie using, or copying off, the facial expressions as well as body language of the late great Paul Muni in his blockbuster 1932 gangster epic "Sacrface". Robertson, as well as director Fuller, also did his best to copy the legendary death scene by James Cagney in the 1939 gangland flick "The Roaring Twenties". Besides Cliff Robertson's convincing acting, as a borderline psycho, there's also Beatrice Kay as Tolly's adoptive mom Sandy. As much as Sandy tried she couldn't prevent Tolly from suffering his dad's fate which was preordain the moment he choose to step into his hoodlum father's shoes!

In looking into this film I came across a nice description of the film, a genre I'd not actually heard of before. They termed this film neo-noir. Film noir is used to describe darker crime dramas that come out during the 40s and 50s but by the time this film arrived those had passed. Taking that same sort of crime drama and placing it into current context (at the time) placed this movie in that new category. The film is filled with crime and has that dark sensibility to it and if you enjoy films of the genre the odds are good you'll enjoy this one.

The movie opens with a tough street kid named Tolly Devlin (David Kent) who witnesses the murder of his father by four thugs. Recognizing one of them he doesn't turn him in, instead vowing vengeance to the mother figure in his life, speakeasy owner Sandy (Beatrice Kay). Becoming a career criminal he first get sent to reform school but then as he gets older upgrades to safe cracking. This gets him tossed into prison where he wants to be since the man he recognized is there.

Now grown (and portrayed by Cliff Robertson) he works his way into the prison hospital where he confronts the man and on his death bed learns the identities of the other 3 men involved. When he's released from prison he returns to Sandy who encourages him to go straight. She's sold her business to the new crime lord in town Earl Connors (Robert Emhardt). Tolly tells her he'll do so but has his own agenda in mind.

Stealing drugs one of the men on his list, now working for Connors, deals he gets a meeting with the man. Claiming he had no idea who they belonged to he gains favor with the man and goes to work for him. While taking the drugs he rescues a woman named Cuddles (Dolores Dorn) who would have been killed had he not done so.

Cuddles and Tolly are soon an item, at least in her mind. For Tolly his life is nothing but revenge. It isn't long before he creates a long term plan to take down the men who killed his father. He approaches the special investigator into organized crime, John Driscoll (Larry Gates). Driscoll was the assistant DA looking into his father's death. Now Tolly tells him he's willing to help by providing him information about the entire Connors crime organization.

Playing one side against the other in this pursuit of revenge there is one thing that Tolly loses in the process, his humanity. His passion to get back at the men who killed his father is so consuming that he loses all respect for anyone, including Sandy. His treatment of Cuddles is no more chivalric than that of her tormentors in the Connors organization who eventually call for her death. The question being asked throughout the film is will Tolly carry on with his quest for revenge or instead seek redemption?

The film was directed by Sam Fuller, known for his work in the genre. Fuller had no problem working outside the studio system and was well known for making solid films on a low budget that didn't seem so. The worlds he depicted were normally gritty and filled with unfeeling characters. This film fit right into the movies he was known for and along with SHOCK CORRIDOR and THE NAKED KISS have become highly regarded critically.

I've always enjoyed Robertson in films I've seen him in but I wasn't prepared for his portrayal of Tolly here. Robertson always played good guys or aw shucks style characters. He holds his own here as the single minded killer with no compunction for destroying the men who killed his father no matter who gets hurt in the process. His treatment of Cuddles is cold and cruel and makes you find it difficult to sympathize with his character. His quest for revenge seems justified but his method of pursuing it leave him someone we all find hard to support.

The movie was an entertaining crime drama that I'm sure fans will enjoy. Twilight Time is releasing this in their usual cleaned up style with a 1080p hi def version on blu-ray. Extras here are more than the usual with an isolated music track, a short documentary SAM FULLER STORYTELLER, a reflection on the film MARTIN SCORSESE ON UNDERWORLD U.S.A. and the original theatrical trailer. As always the release is limited to just 3,000 copies so if interested order yours today.

Sam Fuller prized efficiency above all in his pictures. "Underworld U. S. A." exposes the flaw in that philosophy. It's so efficient, it dispenses with believable characters, a rooting interest, or realistic suspense.

As a young teenager, Tolly Devlin watches his father killed by four hoods. He may be a hood himself, but he has a sense of honor where his old man is concerned, refusing to "fink" on the killers. He wants the pleasure of offing them himself.

"I'll get those punks my own way," he shouts while still a youngster played by David Kent.

For the rest of this movie, that's exactly what happens. Tolly, now an adult played by Cliff Robertson, manages to infiltrate a nationwide syndicate in which three of the four killers are now crime czars respectively running drugs, unions, and prostitution. Simply by stealing a cartridge box full of drugs, he manages to fool the drug czar, Gela (Paul Dubov) by telling him who he is and that he wants to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead of giving him the same treatment he dished out on Pops, Gela puts Tolly to work for his organization.

"I wish my kid felt about me the way Tolly feels about his old man," Gela muses.

Improbable coincidences abound in this silly, mono-dimensional revenge flick. Fuller was a great pulp director but his tendencies toward fish-slap subtlety and on-the-nose exposition are on violent display.

"It was a pretty tough break you had, being born in prison and your mother dying there..."

"My father told me why you collect these dolls. He said you can't have kids of your own..."

The overall crime boss complains to Gela that he hasn't gotten more of the 13 million kids in the United States hooked on drugs: "Don't tell me the end of the needle has a conscience."

"Underworld U. S. A." moves like Fuller was double-parked the whole time, yet at over 90 minutes still feels bloated. There's an aging woman who loves Tolly, a younger woman who does, too, but plans to act on it ("I want your kids"), and a D. A. who spends much of his screen time eating sandwiches and letting Tolly direct his investigation.

It might have been more endurable if Robertson didn't play his role like an off-the-cuff Cagney, "a collection of tough-guy tics" as Jamie S. Rich notes in his Confessions of a Pop Fan blog. Or if there were any complications in Tolly's pursuit of his mission, like say the bad guys getting wise to him, or else him having second thoughts.

The visuals are sometimes arresting, with moody lighting and off- beat editing. But the only thing that grabbed me was Richard Rust's performance as Gus, head torpedo for the syndicate. Even stuck with a particularly egregious quirk, the need to don sunglasses whenever he kills, Rust plays Gus like someone both dangerous and real, with some shadings around his villainy. He's my 1961 Doe Avedon Award winner for great performance in a bad movie.

And this is a bad movie, never mind the Fuller apologists. He did make great movies like "Shock Corridor," decent if flawed ones like "Crimson Kimono," but also occasionally an all-out tom turkey like this, which serves to lay bare the mold he worked from but doesn't do much either for his reputation or for your enjoyment.

"Almost every shot hits you like a punch," Martin Scorsese enthuses in a DVD extra. Let's just say after a couple of viewings, I was glad to leave the ring to Sam and never looked back.

Sam Fuller's ambitious "Underworld U.S.A." is a focused, driven little machine of a picture with Cliff Robertson as a man intent on avenging his father, who was murdered by 5 men who eventually became mafia kingpins. In order to do so, he must first spend time in the "big house" to get the info from the one perp he identified, and then insinuate himself into the organization to track down and destroy the others.

What's notable to me in the film is the way that the positive/moral characters in the film are only vaguely given much room to actually wield moral authority. For example, Sandy (Beatrice Kay), the kindly tavern owner who more or less adopts Tolly Devlin (Robertson) after his father's murder, is characterized by gigantic posters of babies on her walls and creepy looking dolls stuffed throughout her house. The police are portrayed in a positive way, but they're also showed as dupes (Devlin easily abuses the D.A.'s trust for his own revenge) and perhaps overly zealous. The film repeats propaganda tropes about young people ("age 10 to 15" as the villain specifies) becoming hooked on drugs by the mafia, much in the same way Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" scared us with the ever-present commie threat to our way of life. There's a sense that the depiction of that menace is being undermined by the film's single-minded focus on the hero's equally single- minded mission.

Robertson and the rest of the cast are solid, not necessarily remarkable... it's a weird film because in some ways it more closely resembles a film from the late 40s or early 50s, but in other ways it's ahead of its time. It's a bit closer to "Death Wish" or "Point Blank" in terms of how little credence or attention it gives to the idea of the hero actually "going straight" or doing anything other than follow a very linear path to a gruesome ending. As such, it fits into a pattern of other late 50s/early 60s films that reached back to 30s archetypes and tried to re-invent them in more brutally deterministic terms (Fuller's westerns from the period follow the trend as well).

There are many truly memorable scenes here -- this one deserves to be seen by a lot more people.