Shakedown (1950)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Joseph Pevney

Writers:

Nat Dallinger (story)
Martin Goldsmith (writer)

Release Date:

1 September 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

His camera Was More Deadly Than A Gangster's Gun!

Cast

Howard Duff	...	Jack Early
Brian Donlevy	...	Nick Palmer
Peggy Dow	...	Ellen Bennett
Lawrence Tierney	...	Harry Colton
Bruce Bennett	...	David Glover
Anne Vernon	...	Nita Palmer (as Ann Vernon)
Charles Sherlock	...	Sam, Colton's Henchman
Rock Hudson	...	Ted, the Night Club Doorman
Peggie Castle	...	Hat Check Girl
Joseph Pevney	...	Keller the Reporter

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Repellant Protagonist in a Cynical Crime Film

In "Shakedown," Howard Duff plays a photographer who will stop at nothing to climb his way to the very top of the success ladder. On the strength of his sheer tenacity, he gets a job with a major newspaper, and it's not long before he's made a name for himself by charming a notorious crime boss (Brian Donlevy) into allowing himself to be photographed. Donlevy takes him under his wing, but Duff decides to bite the hand that feeds him and sets Donlevy and another crime boss, Lawrence Tierney, against one another. He uses photos to blackmail Tierney into providing him with a steady income while he sidles up to Donlevy's wife on the sly, all the while romancing the photo editor of the paper at which he works. But Duff's cockiness and confidence in his own cleverness get the best of him, and he meets his end in a wildly melodramatic finale in which he snaps one last photo, that of his own murderer, before dying.

"Shakedown" is notable for its highly suggestive dialogue and sexual content, and for the sheer repulsiveness of its protagonist. Duff's character is unapologetically repellant--he has no moral qualms whatsoever about anything he does, even if people get killed as a direct result of his actions. The film is probably about ten minutes too long, and over all is a minor work, but it should be seen as an example of post-war cinema at its harshest and most cynical.

Grade: B