Sadly Over-hyped

Good movie but grossly overrated

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand: three of the most notable bad guys in movie history.

Someone else called this an enjoyable noir, which it is. But the same reviewer also said it was little-known. Though I think by this point, KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL has become increasingly more well-known because the genre's fans are elevating this particular title to some sort of cult status. And it deserves that extra recognition.This was the first collaboration between director Phil Karlson and leading man John Payne. Payne plays a down-on-his-luck ex-con who becomes implicated in a heist that is masterminded by Preston Foster and involves Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef and Neville Brand. The gritty drama takes several exciting twists and turns, and viewers get drawn into the predicament faced by Payne's protagonist. Though the action begins in Kansas City, it eventually moves to Borados, Mexico, as our guy tries to clear himself and unmask the culprits. Karlson shot the exterior scenes set in Mexico on Catalina Island. The film is bolstered by the presence of Coleen Gray as Payne's love interest, a young woman determined to help him.

I know a lot of people are against remakes of any sort, but I think Kansas City Confidential is one of the few classic films that are hard to argue against remaking. With an updated and star studded cast it can be a possible Oscar contender. Film Noir's just aren't really made anymore and I can totally see someone like Ben Foster or Michael Fassbender taking on these roles. But don't get me wrong, the film doesn't need to be remade. The original 1952 crime drama is fantastic. Not only is it utterly suspenseful but the performances across the board are flawless. The actors make the unlikable characters hard to root against and that's an extremely difficult thing to do, especially when you're dealing with murder and bank robberies. The film tells the story of a perfect bank robbery done by 4 troubled men, and then the framed man who wouldn't give up.I love the mysterious beginning. Sure, you know who is truly behind all of it from the get-go, but the film does a great job of creating cryptic characters and let the story unfold without interruption. At first I found the film to be hard to follow considering some of the main characters look similar in black and white, but after 20 minutes or so I was sucked in. When the tables start to turn for each character, the film elevates to a whole other level. One of the best scenes in the film is the poker match. It reminded me a lot of The Departed where each character thinks he is starting to understand exactly who everyone else is, only it's just the beginning. I had wondered throughout the entire film which one of these characters would come out on top. Or better yet, who would crack first and go to the cops.I think the only part of the film that fell short was the romance. I feel like Joe and Helena weren't developed enough as a couple for the relationship to blossom that fast. The film needed a few more female characters. I think if they ever do remake the film they could totally have one of the main bank robbers be a female. But I guess the time period just didn't have a lot of female roles to go around.+Performances +Utterly suspenseful +That poker match though...+Unpredictable -Lack of female presence 9.0/10

This initially started out as a great movie. A basic bank-robbery/frame-up plot is punctuated with a bit of intrigue, as the robbers are anonymous to each other due to some creepy masks.Our hero's sense of desperation is fairly- accurately relayed throughout his beatings at the hands of the cops, loss of employment, and search for justice in Tijuana. The death scenes are pulled off fairly well, despite the complete lack of blood. (I get it: WWII just ended and soldiers didn't want to see any more carnage. However, it isn't as difficult to change a camera angle as it is to completely suspend one's sense of disbelief.)The movie starts to unravel as soon as our protagonist's love interest comes into the picture. Her acting ability is sub-par, and her dialog does little to endear her to the viewer. In fact, the suspense the film has produced up to this point is completely destroyed... and all for a poorly-interwoven romantic sub-plot. The gritty atmosphere is abandoned for a mediocre romantic angle that goes nowhere - and our hero's belle is nowhere near likable enough to develop the sub-plot to any degree worthy of the digression.As such, whereas I would have given the movie 8/10, it is reduced to 5/10.