Whistle Stop (1946)

When beautiful Mary returns home to her "whistle stop" home town, long-standing feelings of animosity between two of her old boyfriends leads to robbery and murder.

Director:

Léonide Moguy

Writers:

Maritta M. Wolff (novel), Philip Yordan (screenplay)

Stars:

George Raft, Ava Gardner, Victor McLaglen

Cast

Complete credited cast:
George Raft	...	Kenny Veech
Ava Gardner	...	Mary
Victor McLaglen	...	Gitlo
Tom Conway	...	Lew Lentz
Jorja Curtright	...	Fran
Jane Nigh	...	Josie Veech
Florence Bates	...	Molly Veech
Charles Drake	...	Ernie
Charles Judels	...	Sam Veech
Carmel Myers	...	Estelle
Jimmy Conlin	...	Al - the Barber
Jimmy Ames	...	Mr. Barker
Mack Gray	...	Bartender

Storyline

Beautiful Mary returns to her small hometown after many years from Chicago wearing a mink coat and carrying an expensive cigarette case. Her arrival causes long standing enmities to surface between two of her old boyfriends, Kenny Veech, a loafing gambler, and debonair Lew Lentz, owner of a local nightclub. Their deep-seated animosity repeatedly results in antagonism and fights as they compete for Mary's affections. Kenny's friend Gitlo, a bartender in Lentz' club, enlists Kenny in an aborted plan to rob Lentz of $15,000 in profits from sponsoring a local carnival. Lentz retaliates by framing both men for murder.

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Plot Keywords:

bartender | mink coat | carnival | nightclub | hospital | 

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Taglines:

SHE SPELLED TROUBLE FOR EVERY GUY THAT MADE A PLAY FOR HER! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Drama | Crime | Film-Noir

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 January 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Angeloi kai daimones

Filming Locations:

San Fernando, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nero Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mack Gray, who plays the replacement bartender, was an old friend of Raft's and his film career consisted mostly of cameos in Raft films.

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Quotes

Kenny Veech: This is a private party!
Lew Lentz: I just thought I could do something for you, sonny.
Kenny Veech: Yeah! You can give me a cigarette.
Lew Lentz: [after he does] Anything else?
Kenny Veech: Now you can light it!
Lew Lentz: [he pauses and lights his cigarette] Now you've got all you want. You better go! I don't want you hanging around here! The next time won't be so sociable!
Kenny Veech: If you said that with a smile, it'd sound better.
[to Mary]
Kenny Veech: Let's go!
Mary: Go where?
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Killer Joe (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Once Again"
(uncredited)

User Reviews

Back to the Freight Yards with this One

This turkey came as an entry in a set of eight noir DVD's. I almost returned the set on the basis of this single movie. Leonard Maltin's Film Guide charitably characterizes the 82 minutes as "stupid". In my little book, that's too generous. From the cheap sets, to the slack direction, to the incoherent script, the movie's nearly laughable, especially when a zombified 51- year old George Raft deadpans sweet nothings into the luscious ear of 24-year old Ava Gardner. It's enough to make you want to call the cops or check your eyeglasses. And that's when Raft's not playing the wayward son of parents maybe 10 years closer to retirement than he is. If he could show a little emotion, he might get away with it, but you almost have to stick a fork in him to make sure he's breathing. Raft doesn't so much walk through the part as blankly stare his way through. No wonder the script turns to McLaglen to carry the action through the last third. And the miscasting doesn't stop with Raft. The sleekly urbane Tom Conway of British accent fame is cast as a small town hood, no less. It's as if both Conway and Raft got confused about which movie they were supposed to be in, and wandered onto the wrong set. Of course, there's the compensation of a ravishing Gardner for the guys, and in a flimsy dressing gown, no less. Too bad, her ability to do anything with the muddled script sort of comes and goes. The sometimes brilliant Philip Yordan's name is on the screenplay, but I can't believe it's actually his. The plot simply meanders all over the page like a bottle of spilled ink. There's no need to go on. This may be somebody's idea of noir, but the shovel has to scrape bottom to find it. Too bad mine did.