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Storyline
Jeff Bailey, small-town gas pumper, has his mysterious past catch up with him one day when he's ordered to meet with gambler Whit Sterling. En route to the meeting, he tells girlfriend Ann his story. Flashback: Once, Jeff was a private eye hired by Sterling to find his mistress Kathie who shot Whit and absconded with $40,000. He traces her to Acapulco...where the delectable Kathie makes Jeff forget all about Sterling... Back in the present, Whit's new job for Jeff is clearly a trap, but Jeff's precautions only leave him more tightly enmeshed... Written by
Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
Taglines:
A MAN - Trying to run away from his past... A WOMAN - Trying to escape her future!
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Two lines from this film ("Do you wanna talk business or do you wanna play house" and "I'm tired of gettin' pushed around") were sampled in an early house music track entitled "Tired of Getting Pushed Around." It was the only song released by 2 Men, a Drum Machine and a Trumpet, which was comprised of 2 of the 3 members of the band
Fine Young Cannibals (who took their name from the film
All the Fine Young Cannibals).
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Goofs
Leonard Eels's apartment at 114 Fulton Street would be part of the block then occupied by the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library (now the Asian Art Museum).
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Quotes
Jeff Bailey:
You say to yourself, "How hot can it get?" Then, in Acapulco, you find out.
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Soundtracks
"THE FIRST TIME I SAW YOU"
(uncredited)
from
The Toast of New York
Music by
Nathaniel Shilkret
Used as main theme in score
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Out of the Past came at a time for Robert Mitchum after one of the worst films in his career, Desire Me which he did on a loan out to MGM. He must have been grateful to get back to RKO studios and to do one of the best noir films ever done.
Mitchum plays the luckless Jeff Bailey, private eye who has the ill fortune to fall under the feminine charms of Jane Greer after gambler/racketeer Kirk Douglas hires him to find her and $40,000.00 she stole from him after shooting him. Mitchum trails her to Mexico, but when he meets her, let's just say he easily sees why Kirk Douglas wants her back so bad. It's one piece of intrigue after another at this point until there's tragedy all around.
This was Kirk Douglas's second picture and he showed his range as a player after playing a weakling in his debut film, The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers. Douglas and Mitchum got good notices, but this film really belongs to Jane Greer. The sheer scope of this woman's evil will leave you gasping. Out of the Past gave Jane Greer her career role and she made the most of it. Two of post World War II Hollywood's biggest leading men and several others in tow. It's breathtaking when you think of it.
Out of the Past is a real downer of a film, but mesmerizing as a study of how a man can get hooked on feminine charms applied right.