Why so much hype?

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

A neurotic, jumpy stick up man, well played by John Garfield in his final role, has killed a cop in a botched robbery and takes a family hostage while he tries to figure out his next move. Recalling somewhat similar (and better) films like "The Desperate Hours" (the 1955 version) and "The Petrified Forrest", this tries to deal on more psychological terms of the tormented bad guy and his victims, but it sometimes feels overblown, and at others downright illogical. Shelly Winters plays the 'good' daughter with a yen to go bad, falling for Garfield (although he's so convincing at being a psychological mess, it's a little hard to buy she falls as hard and fast as she does). None-the–less, the tension level stays pretty high throughout, the film looks good, and Garfield does create a pretty complex and unique anti-hero, longing to trust people, but never able to. If not a classic, certainly worth seeing if you like the genre. Sadly, it seems to be out-of-print in the U.S. I had to get my copy from the U.K.

This is John Garfield's last film, made by the star's own company, which means he bowed out with a dignified vehicle which finds him in his most congenial element. Unfortunately, he would die of a heart attack on the eve of his HUAC hearing the next year at the young age of 39; ironically, the premise of a hounded petty criminal (hiding out in an apartment block) actually seems to be a tragically prescient parable for his current personal plight! Anyway, here the star is ably supported by the likes of Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford and Norman Lloyd.Though essentially routine (not to mention overly familiar), the film is undeniably well-made, reasonably slick for an independent production – though, of course, not quite in the same league as the star's earlier BODY AND SOUL (1947) and FORCE OF EVIL (1949) – and, at a mere 77 minutes, thankfully it does not overstay its welcome. Suspense is nicely sustained throughout (from the opening payroll robbery which snowballs into murder, to a scene where an argument escalates into hysteria and results in a hand injury to the heroine's mother, and the effective – if contrived – downbeat ending). A memorably hard-boiled moment constitutes perhaps the most hilarious order ever given at gunpoint – Garfield to Ford: "Carve the turkey!" Among the notable credits are scriptwriters Hugo Butler and Dalton Trumbo (both boasting associations to my favorite auteur Luis Bunuel!), cinematographer James Wong Howe (making the most of the enclosed setting), production designer Harry Horner (ditto), editor Francis D. Lyon and dialogue director Arnold Laven – interestingly, the last 3 all eventually graduated to the director's chair (while both Trumbo and Howe would try their hand at it just once). Also worth mentioning is the fact that, apart from Garfield, director Berry and the afore-mentioned scriptwriters (with Guy Endore 'fronting' for Trumbo) were similarly targeted by the so-called "Red Scare".

Pretty decent cast -- John Garfield, Wallace Ford, Selena Royle -- but the film is no more than routine. Garfield is a gangster who has just committed a payroll robbery. On the run, he takes refuge in the working-class apartment of a girl he just met, Shelley Winters, and her family -- Mom, Pop, and kid brother. His identity is discovered by the family and he quietly takes them hostage, holding a snub-nosed .38 on them. But what's he going to do with them? How is he supposed to get away with the dragnet out for him? Mom and Pop are quietly repulsed by him, but Winters is attracted and evidently spends the night with him, intending to accompany him on his getaway. He sends her out to buy a car with part of the payroll money but comes to believe she didn't buy the car. Instead, she's betrayed him to the police. In the end, she's forced to shoot him at the doorway to the apartment house. He looks surprised, says, "You never had no love for me," stumbles out the door, only to discover before he collapses that she'd been true to her word. There sits the car. And Garfield plops into the rain-filled gutter.Mostly -- throughout the movie -- they talk. Then they talk more. Then they go on talking more. Garfield's character emerges as embittered and cynical, self pitying, angry at those who have betrayed him all through his life, beginning with his mother.But he's not very smart. He allows the family to go out in order to show up at work or run errands, as long as he has one member at home for a hostage. While the rest are absent, in a burst of generosity and hope, he has an elaborate turkey dinner prepared. When they return, he beams with pride and tells them to dig in. But they remain silent, and Mom produces some left-over stew, which they proceed to spoon out without enthusiasm. "I don't get it," says Garfield. "What's the mattah with the toikey? Ga head -- cahve it up." Pop tells him solemnly, "This is our dinner. The turkey is YOUR dinner." Garfield is dumbfounded. "Huh? Oh -- I GET IT." (Finally.) It could easily have been a radio play, still popular at the time (1951) or a live TV show from Playhouse 90. The budget is low and the story skeletal. Usually they find room for remarks about how this is going to be the hottest day of the year or something. Here the patter is limited to remarks about the future, about good character, about responsibility, and they lead nowhere.I usually find John Garfield's performances likable -- another lower-middle-class guy from New York -- but never magnetic. Shelley Winters usually gets panned but I don't know why. She's never bad, and often better than the script calls for.

twists and turns, and unusual developments. The perfect suspense and noir film not only for John Garfield fans.Garfield is a man down on his luck who with partner in crime Norman Lloyd decides the perfect heist is to rob a payroll clerk on payday. They steal the money and to escape he blends in to the crowd. He ends up at a sort of YMCA/neighborhood pool which is very crowded; the police are looking for him but he hides the money in his locker. There is much suspense created here under rather ordinary circumstances. Some of the scenes in the pool are interesting, as when he is swimming, hiding underwater to avoid the police. He flirts and eventually befriends a stand-offish Shelley Winters. She has that likable and vulnerable quality that a thief could use, to hide-out. He takes her home, which turns out to be a small apartment where she lives with her parents and kid brother. The parents portray the average working class, decent people who would not expect a man to be capable of such crimes.Eventually Winters falls for him. She has her hair done and even buys a new dress to impress the Garfield character. He needs to make a get-away and gives her $1,500.00 of the money to get a car. When she returns the jig is up. The police have been notified and it is just a matter of time. Garfield doubts that Winters even bought the car... she must have turned him in, he thinks. Possibly not? The ending has a good twist of fate and movies such as this are hard to come by. Highly recommended.There was something very real, and affecting about these movies centered in NYC. Nothing since has ever come close. If you enjoyed this you may also like "Pickup on South Street" with Richard Widmark and Thelma Ritter. Also "Road House" with Ida Lupino and Richard Widmark. Another stand-out. 9/10.