Road House (1948) 7.3
A night club owner becomes infatuated with a torch singer and frames his best friend/manager for embezzlement when the chanteuse falls in love with him. Director:Jean Negulesco |
|
| 0Share... |
Road House (1948) 7.3
A night club owner becomes infatuated with a torch singer and frames his best friend/manager for embezzlement when the chanteuse falls in love with him. Director:Jean Negulesco |
|
| 0Share... |
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Ida Lupino | ... |
Lily Stevens
|
|
| Cornel Wilde | ... |
Pete Morgan
|
|
| Celeste Holm | ... |
Susie Smith
|
|
| Richard Widmark | ... |
Jefferson T. 'Jefty' Robbins
|
|
|
|
O.Z. Whitehead | ... |
Arthur
|
|
|
Robert Karnes | ... |
Mike
|
|
|
George Beranger | ... |
Lefty
|
|
|
Ian MacDonald | ... |
Police Captain
|
|
|
Grandon Rhodes | ... |
Judge
|
Jefty, owner of a roadhouse in a backwoods town, hires sultry, tough-talking torch singer Lily Stevens against the advice of his manager Pete Morgan. Jefty is smitten with Lily, who in turn exerts her charms on the more resistant Pete. When Pete finally falls for her and she turns down Jefty's marriage proposal, they must face Jefty's murderous jealousy and his twisted plots to "punish" the two. Written by Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
This was a very interesting character study of three people: "LIly Stevens" (Ida Lupino), "Jefty Robbins" (Richard Widmark) and "Pete Morgan" (Cornel Wilde).
The two guys are attracted to Lupino, who prefers good-guy Wilde. The scorned Widmark then gets his revenge. This film was a year after Widmark played sadistic killer "Tommy Udo" in "Kiss Of Death" and his character in this movie isn't too far removed from Udo. In both films, Widmark provides the spark when the story needed it.
That's not to say the rest of the cast isn't good, too, but Widmark playing these psycho villains is just fascinating and just stands out. Another fine thespian is Celeste Holm, who also is in this picture but with a role that did not stand out. I can't even remember what she did in here, although it's been awhile since I've seen this. Hopefully, this film noir will be issued on DVD some day.