Vicki (1953)

Director:

Harry Horner

Writers:

Steve Fisher (novel) and
Dwight Taylor (writer)

Release Date:

5 October 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

"If men want to look at me. . .why shouldn't they pay for it?"

Plot:

The untimely murder of a New York glamor-girl sparks an investigation with an emotionally driven detective at the helm.

Plot Keywords:

Flashback | Detective | Waitress | Investigation | Murder

Cast

Jeanne Crain	...	Jill Lynn
Jean Peters	...	Vicki Lynn
Elliott Reid	...	Steve Christopher
Richard Boone	...	Lt. Ed Cornell
Max Showalter	...	Larry Evans (as Casey Adams)
Alexander D'Arcy	...	Robin Ray (as Alex D'Arcy)
Carl Betz	...	Detective McDonald
Aaron Spelling	...	Harry Williams

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16444) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

On Vicki's bedroom wall is a print of the painting "Pinkie" by Thomas Lawrence. In 1949 Jeanne Crain (Vicki) starred in the movie Pinky (1949).

Quotes:

Steve Christopher: Slug me with those, Cornell, and I'll square you off if it takes me the rest of my life.
Lt. Ed Cornell: You're not gonna have a very long life, Stevie. You're like a rat in a box, without any holes. But they're gonna make a hole for you...six by three, filled with quicklime.

Movie Connections:

Version of I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

Soundtrack:

I Know Why (and So Do You)

Soap opera plot with grittier, noir-ish elements struggling to break through...

Billboard and print model is found dead in her apartment; the New York City police get busy interviewing suspects, though the lieutenant on the case has personal reasons for wanting to find the killer. Steve Fisher's novel "I Wake Up Screaming" (its original title uncredited here, perhaps because it was already filmed as such in 1941 with Betty Grable), gets a strictly minor-league treatment this time, with nearly every actor on-board over-compensating for the uncertain script with pushy performances. Jean Peters, who looks like Jessica Walter and talks tough like Susan Hayward, is an odd choice to play the doomed, would-be starlet; Peters isn't the wide-eyed innocent/hash-slinging waitress the plot suggests, instead coming on with both barrels loaded. As her sister, Jeanne Crain has more of the Cinderella quality Peters should be projecting, and hers is the only substantial acting job in the picture. Playing the gruff, snarling lieutenant, Richard Boone is way over-the-top, as is Aaron Spelling in an hysterical role as a wormy desk clerk. Just silly enough to be watchable, though it is never explained why glamorous Vicki is living in that dumpy apartment--nor how her photograph pre-death has managed to land on the cover of every single magazine at the newsstand. ** from ****