Highly Overrated But Still Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Hard shadows and bleak souls populate this pulpy yarn from director Anthony Mann. A ripping crime movie, sure, but this is really about a woman coming to terms with the devastating fact she is in love with a man who doesn't love her back. Claire Trevor's longing eyes behind a spotted veil and throaty voice-over tell you everything. Who really got the Raw Deal? I think I know.(I'm an enthusiast, not a critic. Thanks for reading.)

"Raw Deal" is one of the best film noirs I've seen, with seedy production values that enhance the seediness of the story.Dennis O'Keefe plays a man who escapes from prison with the help of his girlfriend, Claire Trevor in a fabulous performance. He and Trevor end up taking his social worker, played by Marsha Hunt, hostage to keep her from alerting the authorities. He then sets off on a plan to get vengeance against the crime boss (Raymond Burr) that landed him in prison in the first place.This is as cynical, brutal and jaded as noirs get, reminding me in its nearly total absence of moral considerations and its lack of redemption for just about any of its characters of another supremely cynical noir, "Detour." One of the most interesting things to me about "Raw Deal" is how much it's actually about the women around our main character, almost more than it's about the main character himself. It's as if the women can't help but be dragged down by the criminal world they've attached themselves to -- the social worker ironically becomes a killer, while the gangster moll is the one who faces the film's primary moral dilemma.Terrific off-kilter compositions and camera work by John Alton (a surreal scene late in the movie filmed through fog is a stand out) heighten the sense of decay and sleaze. Movies like "Raw Deal" are what got me hooked on film noir in the first place.Grade: A

Dennis O'Keefe stars in this crackerjack noir film directed by Anthony Mann. O'Keefe plays a man who took a rap for gangster kingpin Raymond Burr and now he's thinking he's gotten the bad end of a Raw Deal. He wants out of prison and Burr arranges an escape hoping he'll be killed in the attempted breakout.If you recognize the plot think back to Angels With Dirty Faces where James Cagney takes the rap for Humphrey Bogart and George Bancroft and now wants back in on the rackets they've built up and the other two don't want to cut him in. As dark as that classic was, Raw Deal is a good deal darker as O'Keefe's world is getting smaller and smaller due to the bad choices he made in life.With cops and Burr looking for him, Dennis also has himself involved with two women, steady streetwise Claire Trevor and the secretary of his lawyer Marsha Hunt. Both are carrying a big torch for O'Keefe, but Trevor is the jealous sort. Watching Raw Deal reminded me of a Eugene O'Neill play Strange Interlude where the characters voice over narration tells you their real feelings. That device is used for O'Keefe, Trevor, and Hunt as they express their emotions in the narration. And like any classic O'Neill play there is an inevitability about these people especially O'Keefe.Before Anthony Mann moved on to westerns and bigger budgets he did some good noir work in the Forties and Raw Deal is a fine example.

Pat (Claire Trevor) narrates the story of her involvement with boyfriend Joe (Dennis O'Keefe) from the night that he escapes from prison until she is arrested. The story follows them on the run with Ann (Marsha Hunt). Who does Joe really love? It is obvious to all concerned...This film has a dramatic tension created by two women fighting over one man while they all try and make an escape together. The cast are fine with a particular mention to Claire Trevor and Marsha Hunt who inject the emotion into the story as O'Keefe seems completely devoid of any. Raymond Burr who plays "Rick" and John Ireland who plays "Fantail" make a couple of good bad guys and there is one disturbing scene where Burr's character throws a dish which is on fire onto his girlfriend's face - we didn't really need that. It certainly is a raw deal for everyone in this film.There are some nicely filmed scenes, eg, when Pat and Joe are on the boat minutes from departing to a new country and we focus on Pat's profile until she finally breaks the tension by calling out Ann's name. Overall, it's an entertaining film even if the outcome is obvious.