Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Ben Hecht (screenplay)
Victor Trivas (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

7 July 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Plot:

Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon wants to be something his old man wasn't: a guy on the right side of the law. But Dixon's vicious nature will get the better of him.

Plot Keywords:

Sucker | New York City | Police Detective | Racketeer | Cover Up

Cast

Dana Andrews	...	Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon (16th Precinct)
Gene Tierney	...	Morgan Taylor(Paine)
Gary Merrill	...	Tommy Scalise
Bert Freed	...	Det. Sgt. Paul Klein (Dixon's partner)
Tom Tully	...	Jiggs Taylor, Morgan's Father
Karl Malden	...	Det. Lt. Thomas (16th Precinct Detectives commander)
Ruth Donnelly	...	Martha, Owner of Martha's Cafe
Craig Stevens	...	Ken Paine
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Herbert Lytton	...	Joe, Scalise Hood (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Germany:12 | UK:12 | USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #14458) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This is the last in a series of films that Otto Preminger made as a director-for-hire for Twentieth Century Fox in the 1940's. The series includes "Laura", which also stars Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, "Whirlpool", and "Fallen Angel"

Goofs:

Continuity: When Andrews is staging the murder scene after Stevens' death, he is gloveless. A few seconds later he suddenly has gloves on both hands.

Quotes:

Morgan Taylor: It's a wonderful day. No job. Everybody against me. My poor dad sitting in a cell... and it's a wonderful day. Isn't that amazing?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Trip to Swadades (2008)

Even better than "Laura"

Despite the lack of a haunting theme song and the austere and humourous presence of Clifton Webb, this film is a much more exciting experience than "Laura", the other collaboration between Preminger, Andrews and Tierney. This is one of the grimmest film noir films I've ever seen, and not just in its lurid shadows and rain-drenched streets. The film is dark to its very soul. Dana Andrews plays what is now a standard stereotype: the cop who is bitter and deadly with his temper. But Andrews plays it with more honesty and humanity than most any other angry movie cop you're likely to see. Despite the fact that his character is good at heart, he is also a criminal and a killer, and the film beautifully strings him along, forcing him to serve his spiritual penance. What of course is most fun is the way that his terror over being discovered slowly comes to a boil. I've seen tons of film noir movies but I can't recall ever seeing the protagonist ever becoming the anti-hero in such a startling way. Many of the best film noir pics have that dizzying spiral theme of a man trapped by his own weakness. "Night in the City", "Detour", "Scarlet Street", "In a Lonely Place", "Act of Violence" and "Johnny Eager", are among the best of them. "Were the Sidewalk Ends" holds its own among them. Not a bad recommendation!