Drive a Crooked Road (1954) User Reviews

A nice change of pace for Mickey Rooney

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 29 May 2017]

"Drive a Crooked Road" is an excellent picture--written by Blake Edwards and starring Mickey Rooney. Most would probably consider it an example of film noir, though its camera-work and dialog aren't exactly typical for noir.

When the story begins, you learn that Eddie (Rooney) is a small-time race car driver and mechanic. He also is rather quiet and is treated rather poorly at times due to his being so small. Because of that, he's vulnerable when a pretty lady (Dianne Foster) begins showing him a lot of attention. But she is not such a nice lady and halt ulterior motives. It seems her boyfriend (Kevn McCarthy) is a mobster and they are actually setting him up to become part of their robbery scheme! What's next? See the film.

Most Mickey Rooney films, particularly those earlier in his career, are similar because Mickey plays nice guys or guys who become nice guys. Here, however, he agrees to become entangled with gangsters...gangsters who really are scum. Overall, well acted and interesting throughout...and well worth seeing. If you are interested, it's currently posted on YouTube.

The Mechanic, The Racer, The Lover and The Avenger

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 27 December 2018]

In California, the mechanic Eddie Shannon (Mickey Rooney) is also an excellent racing-car driver that expects someday to save money to race in Europe in Le Mans, Grand Prix and other car races driving a European car. Eddie is a short and shy man that has difficulties to date a woman. When the crooks Steve Norris (Kevin McCarthy) and Harold Baker (Jack Kelly) see the performance of Eddie in a local race, they use Steve´s girlfriend Barbara Mathews (Dianne Foster) to seduce Eddie to convince him to drive the getaway car in a bank heist. What will be Eddie´s attitude?

"Drive a Crooked Road" is a film-noir written by Blake Edwards and directed by Richard Quine. Mickey Rooney performs a dark and sad role that seems to be tailored for him. The femme fatale Dianne Foster is the key element of the story, first seducing Eddie and then triggering his anger leaving him full of hatred. The gloomy conclusion surprises, but fits perfectly to the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Valentões" ("The Bullies")

Mickey Rooney in an understated performance

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 1 January 2011]

In his youth, and in particular his heyday over at MGM, Mickey Rooney would practically do cartwheels through his roles - he was that high energy. However, he was capable of something more than playing the energetic optimistic young man of pre-war America, and this film and 1950's Quicksand are probably the best examples of what that something was.

Here he plays auto mechanic Eddie Shannon that also does some race car driving. A mob of thieves take note of his talent behind the wheel at the race track and the gang leader's girl (Dianne Foster as Barbara) flirts with Eddie and gets him to believe that she loves him. Then the thieves lower the boom on him - they proposition him to drive their getaway car during a bank robbery in return for 15000 dollars. The reason that Eddie is so needed is that the road between the bank and the main highway past the point where any road blocks would be requires fast driving over what amounts to unpaved desert terrain. Eddie's an honest guy, willing to wait and work for the things he wants, but Barbara is holding out the need for this quick money as a condition of their relationship continuing, so he gives in and agrees to the robbery plan. To him, Barbara is his treasure, not any amount of money that he could land. Little does he know she's fool's gold.

Rooney is convincing as the little guy who takes it on the chin from a verbally abusive coworker at the garage who - like all bullies - doesn't seem to realize that high school is at least ten years behind him. Without saying much you can tell Rooney's character Eddie is a guy that has come to have low expectations of life, not so much abused as he is ignored and invisible to the opposite sex, and is surprised when a beautiful girl takes notice of him. Things are getting out of hand for Barbara too, as she feels deep remorse for using Eddie. Kudos also go to Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly as the two thieves. McCarthy's character has a very thin veneer of charm painted over what appears to be a soul of pure evil. When he kisses a rather apathetic Barbara and doesn't like her lack of enthusiasm, he warns her to never kiss him like that again in a way that will give you goosebumps. Jack Kelly's character is more of an all out wild man. You can just tell that he considers violence the most amusing pastime on earth.

I'd recommend this one for Rooney's performance, but I'd downgrade this one just a little bit on lost opportunities for what could have been some fine action shots during the bank robbery scene and the getaway thereafter.

Drive A Crooked Rode Hits Right Path ***

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 1 May 2008]

Hell hath no fury like a man scorned.

Mickey Rooney starts out as if he is a Danny Kaye milque-toast character. Taken in by Diane Foster, he soon meets up with 2 guys who want his driving talent to be used in robbing a bank.

Rooney is great here as he goes from a quite guy, afraid of really living to aiding the guys in the heist.

Hurt by the betrayal of Foster, she shows compassion at the end and this leads to tragedy as Rooney becomes a killer.

This is really film-noir at its very best.

The robbery was a complete success but the thieves were done in by personal reactions. This one is worth catching.

Little Guys Also Dream

[dougdoepke · 2 June 2006]

As other reviewers point out, America's favorite little guy was at a career crossroads at this point (1953). All in all, this downbeat low-budget caper film was a gutsy choice for MGM's former golden boy. Not only is Rooney's Eddie Shannon a rather pathetically repressed and vulnerable nobody, but the script stays entirely within that character, allowing Rooney none of his usual assertive (and often annoying) antics. The result is perhaps the biggest departure of his career, and also perhaps the most moving.

The film itself is a good one, benefiting from unfamiliar Southern Cal locations, excellent acting from a number of up-&-comers, Jack Kelly , Kevin McCarthy, et al., and a plausible script. As a caper film, it's inferior to the best ones of that decade (The Asphalt Jungle, The Killing, etc.), but as an account of one man's sad and lonely plight (never a Hollywood biggie), it holds its own with the best of them, thanks to Rooney.

Mickey's other side

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 7 May 2007]

I should say that "Drive a Crooked Road" probably won't hold your attention quite as much as most movies that I've seen. What's mostly eye-opening about it is just seeing Mickey Rooney in a gritty role in a film noir. He plays Eddie Shannon, a mechanic with little aim in life. The high points in his daily routine are when his co-workers ogle women walking by the shop. But when he gets mixed up with the wrong woman, he suddenly finds himself involved in a bank robbery with apparently no way out.

While some people might assert that Mickey Rooney was miscast here, I beg to differ. In this role, he shows that he can be something totally different from the "family-oriented" roles with which he's usually been associated (though I best remember him from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "Night at the Museum"). This movie is approximately as gritty as the average film noir, and while it's not any kind of masterpiece, still worth seeing. As it's apparently not widely available on video or DVD, Portland's video/DVD store Movie Madness has a copy.

Also starring Kevin McCarthy (of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers") and Jerry Paris (the neighbor on "The Dick Van Dyke Show").

Affecting performance by Rooney as duped misfit in odd weeper/noir

[bmacv · 7/10 · 18 August 2002]

Is there such a thing as a male weeper? Bang The Drum Slowly certainly belongs, as do parts of The Knute Rockne Story (`Let's win this one for the Gipper!'). Probably the whole athlete-dying-young genre does for men what Stella Dallas did for women. Another candidate for inclusion is Drive A Crooked Road, a 1954 noir starring Mickey Rooney.

Rooney's abbreviated stature helped keep him in pictures as America's oldest teen-ager. But once he hit 30, it was inevitable that adult roles should come his way. As the noir cycle was in full swing, that's where he landed. In The Strip and Quicksand, he still managed to pass as a stripling. By the time of this movie, however, he was well into his 30s, with broad hits of chubbiness settling into his face and midriff. He was still the star, not yet relinquished to character roles, though it was unclear how to handle him. So he became a misfit – a `freak.'

He's an awkward, lonely auto mechanic with dreams of driving someday in the Grand Prix – dreams he knows won't come true. With one exception, his fellow mechanics tease him mercilessly, especially about his lack of sexual experience. One day an unattainable woman (Dianne Foster) gives him the big eye, and he succumbs, however tentatively at first. (His ache for her is palpable when she plays hard to get, as he tosses on his rooming-house bed with his few racing trophies now emblems of hollow triumph). But she's just a cat's-paw for her real boyfriend, Kevin McCarthy, living the high life in his beach-house bachelor pad; he's planning to knock over a bank in Palm Springs and needs Rooney as his daredevil driver. With Foster's increasingly reluctant urging, Rooney signs on....

The resolution, of course, is the falling out of thieves; a large portion of the plot was to be echoed, 10 years later, in Don Siegel's remake of The Killers. Though the robbery and escape should have been the centerpiece, or at least the central set-piece, of the movie, here it seems curiously perfunctory (these comments are based on viewing a version some minutes short of recorded running times, however). But the movie's staying power lies in Rooney's portrayal of the dupe, the victim – all the more memorable for being so understated.

Perhaps Rooney's finest movie

[bux · 10/10 · 29 May 2001]

I saw this one at the theater, as a kid, when it came out. I have searched for a VHS copy of this one for years, and finally came across it recently on the internet. It is no wonder that this one stayed with me for so long. This is without a doubt Mickey Rooney's best movie as an adult. It would seem that after the war and the Andy Hardy series wound down that Mick was having a difficult time finding his niche in Hollywood. He did score very well with "Quicksand"(1950)but in this one he pulls out all the stops. Constantly he is referred to as "the little freak" and several comments are made concerning his manhood, or lack thereof. We slowly watch as Mick is played off by the gangster's moll, lured into the web of robbery and deceit; this is NOT a pretty movie. The movie builds slowly to an unforgettable, unexpected climax. Still a great movie after almost 50 years!

Not too crooked

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 2 March 2022]

Seeing a different side to Mickey Rooney, a darkly gritty and more understated side rather than the comedy and enthusiastic cheekiness he was known for, immediately piqued my interest. Especially when also hearing that he was apparently very fond of the performance and film, if memory serves correct. Have also enjoyed a good deal of Kevin McCarthy's work and thought that seeing him in a more villainous role would be good.

'Drive a Crooked Road' struck me as well done and well worth watching, and if Rooney was fond of the film and his work here it is not hard to see why. It was great to see a different side to him and see it done as well as it was. Is 'Drive a Crooked Road' perfect or great? No, there are things that could have been done better. Is it good? To me, yes it was and thought it had a lot of things done extremely well. So yes it's recommended, if not quite in a raving fashion.

Am going to begin with what could have been done better. The film doesn't start all that promisingly, with a cheap-looking and atmospherically bland opening scene. The final quarter also could have done with more excitement.

It is agreed too that some of the pace early on is on the drawn out side.

Rooney however excels in a performance that has grit but genuinely moving pathos, this is an example of an actor doing something completely against type and managing to bring out a different side that sees them in a different way. The other standout is McCarthy, who has a deceptively suave charm but underneath that is a sinister slyness. Jack Kelly brings wit and edge to his role and Dianne Foster is alluring. Richard Quine shows that he could do thriller with class and atmosphere, while not one of my favourite directors he did do some films worth seeing, such as 'How to Murder Your Wife', 'Pushover' and 'Bell, Book and Candle'.

With the exception of the opening, 'Drive a Crooked Road' doesn't look too bad. The locations in particular are very nice. There is plenty of gritty tautness in the script and once the film gets going it is crisply paced, darkly suspenseful and absorbingly told. The climax does have tension, even if not a major surprise.

Overall, interesting and well done. 7/10.

Mickey Rooney is Career Driven

[howdymax · 8/10 · 23 April 2008]

I tuned into this movie expecting to see Mickey Rooney doing his impersonation of a dramatic role. I mean, Mickey Rooney. Has anybody ever seen him do anything on film that wasn't over the top? Well, tune into this movie. I think you'll be as surprised as I was.

The story has to do with a lonely, out of step guy who has a dream of racing in The Grand Prix. He's an accomplished mechanic, who races on weekends, but you know he'll never amount to anything. Along comes, long legged Dianne Foster. He falls hard, and she sucks him into a devious plot to rob a bank. What Mickey doesn't know is that she is in cahoots with a couple of classy mutts played by Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly. Foster lures the Mick into driving the getaway car so they'll have the money for him to race and they can live happily ever after. Not a chance. The plan all along is to ditch Mickey after the robbery, so she can run off with the mutts. Poor Mick never catches on on until the hammer drops, but by this time, the girls conscience gets the best of her and she spills the beans to Mickey. There is an explosive ending, but it does leave the viewer hanging a little.

This is a Columbia cheapo, but the story is tight and well written. More importantly, the acting is first rate. All the principals really perform, but it's Mickey movie. He underplays the part of Eddie the sap perfectly. I didn't think it was possible, but this was later in his career, and I wish he had done more like it. It proved to me that he had much more range than one would think. I have to wonder if his height held him back. Or maybe it was his earlier body of work. Either way, I know he had much more to offer than Hollywood ever asked of him. Keep an eye open for it. You won't be disappointed.

Nearly perfect with a couple of big problems

[HEFILM · 8/10 · 12 April 2010]

Richard Quine probably has his best "non comedy" film with this one, but maybe has to take the rap also for what's weak about this film. The opening car race and the key bank "race" are pretty blandly done as is any other action set piece in the movie. The opening scene is really poor, like something you'd see in a film made in the Early silent days. Badly matched rear projection, the camera angle is so wrong in the rear projection that is doesn't match the action of Rooney driving at all. The process work isn't bad, the footage shot is. The rest of the race material is also poor. And for a film about the ability to race, the fact that the racing is bad can't be overlooked. After this crappy beginning the excellent performances and dialog drive the film along perfectly. Most of the cast is perfect and the personal violence between characters is very strong. Rooney is very understated here--in many of his other adult work he'd tend to over act, not here though at all. It's an award worthy performance.

Just too bad that the action is treated like sloppy second unit work--some say (un)credited to Blake Edwards himself--but with Edwards interest in fast cars etc., hard to believe he'd shoot this stuff so badly. The ending, which also involves some action is perfunctorily done and the resolution too quick. Too bad because otherwise this would be a nearly perfect movie. Still if you get over, the opening especially, this is a must see.

20 miles in under 20 minutes

[RanchoTuVu · 8/10 · 5 January 2011]

A shy Los Angeles mechanic and weekend racer (Mickey Rooney) is duped into being the getaway driver for bank robbers played by Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly. It seems as if they have a rather elaborate plot to hook him into their scheme by using McCarthy's girlfriend played by attractive Dianne Foster as lure for the shy and withdrawn Rooney who only has his job and his racing trophies to keep him going. It all works fairly well and shows how an innocent person is lured into doing something he would never ordinarily do with the bait being implied sex. Rooney is really good but so are both Kevin McCarthy and his partner played by Jack Kelly. The robbery itself occurs in Palm Springs and does not disappoint in execution with Kelly especially good as the gunman cracking jokes as he accompanies the head teller to the bank followed by the getaway car (which was souped up by Rooney). The film's title comes into play as Rooney drives like mad over a twisting mountain road back to the highway in under twenty minutes. All the elements of the story are mixed pretty well with a tough ending.

Strong Performances And Great Dialogue

[atlasmb · 8/10 · 12 September 2021]

Looking to change his screen image, the flamboyant Mickey Rooney stars as Eddie Shannon, a lonely, socially awkward mechanic who races cars in his spare time. Two schemers (Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly) target him as the perfect person to drive their getaway car in a bank robbery.

He is not the type of person to break the law, so they use the wiles of Barbara Mathews (Dianne Foster) as a lure, and she reels him in like a master angler.

Dynamically, the film is divided into three parts. In the first section, the tension is about whether or not Barbara is just a femme fatale or if she might come to feel sorry for the diminutive mechanic with the prominent facial scar. Then the film turns into a caper, with details about the timing of the job and how their plan relies on expert driving by Eddie. In the final section--after the heist---will the foursome go their own ways or will cracks in the relationships spell trouble?

Blake Edwards, who was Rooney's roommate at one point, wrote the screenplay. Richard Quine directs. The film's dialogue is excellent. And the cast does a fine job, especially Foster, who shows a wide range. Rooney manages to keep his energy in check and is convincing as the mild-mannered Eddie.

Great performance by Rooney

[madformickey05 · 10/10 · 24 October 2005]

Drive A Crooked Road was a great performance by Mr. Mickey Rooney. I'm never ceased to be amazed by this man's talents. As a child I used to watch his films and he always amazed me then and always will. I recently discovered this classic gem and is one of the best performances of Mr. Rooney's. Mickey Rooney always gives a good performance. Mickey Rooney plays an auto mechanic who is framed by the girl he thinks loves him. Mickey Rooney did a lot of great film noir in the 50's. For other great Rooney 1950's performances check out Baby Face Nelson, The Big Operator, The Last Mile (an amazing performance by Rooney.) You will not be disappointed.

m rooney fans will like it.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 30 October 2021]

Weird, short, Mickey Rooney is Eddie, who falls for Barbara (Diane Foster), who just happens to be hanging out with a gangster. So now he's caught up in that underworld that he had avoided until now. Rooney plays it straight in this one.. he's the every-guy, working stiff, while his co-workers crack jokes all around him. Co-stars Kevin McCarthy (had just been nominated for Salesman.) and Jerry Paris (neighbor on Dick Van Dyke show, and will go on to direct many many tv series). Eddie doesn't even say much until fifteen minutes in, when he is asked to report to Barbara's house to fix something he already fixed once. Then its off to the beach at malibu. ... and 48 minutes in, we finally get to the plot.. when Eddie finds out the chick wants him to help pull a heist. A different role than everything Rooney has done up until now. But it's all very serious. Plot is a bit thin, but it goes. He seems to have the mind of a very innocent 15 year old, being tricked by just everyone around him. It's barely okay. No biggie. I guess the M. Rooney fans will dig it. Directed by Richard Quine; had worked with Rooney on about ten films, as well as Rooney's own television show. Story by James Nablo.

shy Mickey

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 12 September 2021]

Eddie Shannon (Mickey Rooney) is a shy master mechanic with a scar across his face from a crash. He finishes second in a car race and two men (Kevin McCarthy, Jack Kelly) take an interest in the loner. Femme fatale Barbara Mathews (Dianne Foster) stops by the garage and every guy's head is turned. She seems to keep coming back to Eddie. In fact, she's trying to recruit him for nefarious purposes.

I like the shy Mickey Rooney. It loses a little bit with the melodramatic love. It might be better if Barbara doesn't have second thoughts. It's more compelling with Eddie being taken advantage of. There's no need for the girl to fall for him. It gets a bit overwrought anyways. This is an interesting little crime noir.

Crooks on a crooked road.

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 16 April 2021]

A thriller verging on tongue in chick in its first part ,it turns film noir only in the final sequences .

Dianne Foster is an updated femme fatale ,but her prey is a not-so -handsome mechanic (Mickey Rooney,so naive he's really endearing) ,his colleagues 'laughing stock . One is far from the old film noirs , all happens in simple nay banal settings ,a garage or her lover's house by the sea.

The excellent Kevin McCarthy is superb as the coaxer who "wants to do the lad a service" : if he accepts to drive them on a crooked road ,he'll get a hefty sum .But it's after a bank break-up .And his love interest shows considerable skill too ("It's up to you; if you don't want to do it, leave it").

If the girl's attitude is predictable , the film ,in spite of a trite screenplay, is entertaining ,thanks to its good cast , MacCarthy my favorite.

Taut but not always believable tale of auto mechanic's seduction by femme fatale

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 23 November 2021]

In his 30s at the time, Mickey Rooney needed a vehicle (no pun intended) to reinvigorate his career which began as a child actor and soon afterward as a teenage matinee idol. He found it in the crime drama Drive a Crooked Road.

Rooney plays Eddie Shannon, a crackerjack auto mechanic and low rent race car driver who works at an autobody shop where he's occasionally mocked by some of his co-workers for his complete inexperience with women.

One day a very attractive woman, Barbara Matthews (Dianne Foster), brings her car to the shop where Eddie is assigned to repair it. After seemingly fixing it, the following day Barbara calls the shop and informs that she still is unable to start the car. Eddie drives out to fix the car again and Barbara feigns interest in him despite his obvious shyness and lack of confidence with women.

Barbara is the girlfriend of a criminal, Steve Norris (Kevin McCarthy) who has conscripted her to seduce Eddie and get him to participate in a bank robbery in which there is a necessity for an experienced driver to drive to a location hyper-fast to avoid police roadblocks.

The mechanics of the robbery just don't seem to be fraught with any kind of verisimilitude. For starters, Norris's associate Harold Baker (Jack Kelly) kidnaps the bank teller as he's leaving for work. Inexplicably, Norris with Eddie driving, follow Baker and the teller to the bank. During the ride to the bank, the teller is able to see what kind of car is following them and hence is in a position to identify it later on.

If they didn't follow the car, the teller could not describe the make and model and there would be no necessity to avoid a roadblock (Barbara could have joined Norris and Eddie and simply hid the loot in the car). The presence of a woman in the car would not have raised suspicions had the car been stopped and the bag of cash could have been easily hidden where the police would have no probable cause to search it.

There is also the problem of Baker forcing the teller to give him all the cash with the bank vault opening automatically at a set time. How is it possible that only the bank teller is present when Baker pulls off the robbery? You would imagine that there would at least be an armed security guard at the location.

Before the bank robbery goes down, Barbara reveals to Eddie she knows about the robbery and convinces him to participate as proceeds from the robbery will allow him to fulfill his dream of purchasing an expensive race car and compete in international racing competitions. At no point does Barbara show any physical affection toward Eddie (like even giving him a chaste kiss). But the poor schlub Eddie is so smitten with this femme fatale that he'll be content with the mere expectation of a future romance and hence will do anything for her (including committing a crime that could land him in jail).

Eddie's misguided obsession and infatuation with the scheming Barbara seemed plausible enough and despite the questionable (previously alluded to) mechanics of the robbery, I wanted to see how Eddie would end up driving the car and outwitting the police.

Then there's Barbara's regrets and feelings of guilt over seducing Eddie and manipulating him. In the dark moment at the end of the Second Act, she confesses her treacherous subterfuge with Eddie present, which convinces Norris that Eddie must now be eliminated. Baker is given the job of finishing Eddie off but while driving away from the beach house, Eddie causes the car to crash and Baker is killed.

I was a bit disappointed in the denouement. While Eddie saves Barbara from being killed by Norris, I wanted him to escape punishment at the arms of the law. But this is supposed to be a full blown tragedy-the expectation is that punishment will be meted out to Eddie as he was a direct participant in the robbery (his obsession with the manipulative Barbara of course does not absolve him of the crime-and the argument of "mitigating circumstances" would probably fall on deaf ears with a jury during Eddie's upcoming criminal trial).

Rooney does well enough in this low-key role but he's still too much of a pathetic sad sack to care for the character. It's really Foster and McCarthy who steal the show as the bad guys who interestingly enough have the inevitable falling out at film's end-due to the aforementioned guilt feelings that arise.

A few lessons we can learn from this "crime doesn't pay" drama: 1) many women have difficulty avoiding "bad boys" which they are drawn to; and 2) nice guys finish last!

drive a crooked road

[mossgrymk · 8/10 · 1 October 2021]

Lotta things to like about this 50s crime drama/noir, chief among them Mickey Rooney's effectively low key (yeah, you heard that right) performance as a loner/loser. Amazing how good this usually obnoxious actor can be when he drops the obnoxiousness, huh? And since Rooney rarely does this onscreen (honestly can't think of any other time, can you?) guess you have to credit director Richard Quine, along with Mick. Also quite good are the sleazy duo of Kevin McCarthy (almost as oleaginous as the current minority leader of the House, whose name he shares) and Jack Kelly showing there was more to him than Jim Garner's understudy. Co writers Blake Edwards and Quine perfectly capture McCarthy's insincere insidiousness as well as Kelly's extremely annoying compulsive jokiness. And the slacker, Malibu beach house world these two jerks inhabit is perfectly rendered through the lens of cinematographer Charles Lawton. There are some definite downers, however. Dianne Foster is not a skilled enough actress to pull off the femme fatale with a heart role and Edwards and Quine's otherwise good script has Rooney's character change from "no way I'm doing a bank heist" to "yeah I'm in" in under two minutes of screen time. Not a lot of credibility there. And the score is way too melodic and swelling for a noir. So, let's give it a B.

ROONEY STICK TO YOUR TOOLS...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 14 December 2020]

A film noir about a mechanic/racecar enthusiast caught up in a bank robbery & a femme fatale from 1954 starring Mickey Rooney. Rooney is a mechanic & a sideline driver who dreams of racing in Le Mans but due to his an injury (his face bears a scar) & diminutive status, he's aces at fixing cars but not in engaging w/people. One day a slinky woman, played by Dianne Foster, comes into his shop w/car trouble & catches his eye & her being pliant to him awakens a possibility of romance. It turns out she's actually the lady of a traveling bank robber, played by Kevin McCarthy, who gives Rooney an opportunity to be a driver for a bank robbery (a chunk of the getaway takes place on a desolate road leading to the highway) so at first he emphatically says 'no' but after being massaged verbally by Foster, he goes along w/the heist which yields the typically depressing bouts of crosses & double crosses apropos for the genre. A nice vehicle (sorry!) for Rooney who was going through a new phase in his career since he wasn't the cute youngster anymore belting out tunes w/Judy Garland so this film (ironically there's another movie he made around the same time where he played a car driver) was a good stepping stone for the bottom of half of his resume. Funnily the film was scripted by Blake Edwards (the Pink Panther auteur himself) who would cast Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's (which he directed & Rooney played Mr. Yunioshi) w/direction by Richard Quine, an actor turned director (he also was briefly married to Kim Novak), who showcases his actors well in a lot of sun dappled locales which in itself is an antithesis to the usual morose doom & gloom of most noirs.

Not a dry eye in the house when I saw this.

[NRREX · 10/10 · 5 February 2000]

Single greatest B picture I've ever seen. Sad ending is beyond belief, yet there is comic relief in the middle that is really funny. Mickey Rooney wondered why Redbook magazine voted this best picture of the year (over the A pictures.) He should have SEEN the picture! An absolutely unforgettable movie.

Rooney holds his own; but the script falters

[mollytinkers · 7/10 · 14 September 2021]

If you've seen Quicksand and Killer McCoy, you know that Mr. Rooney was, at the core, a serious actor and entertainer. He tries hard to make his character believable in this film, but the script ultimately lets him down. He manages to deliver a great performance anyway!

A shoutout to the director for not using music during certain important sequences. An even bigger shoutout to composer George Duning, ultimately a five-time Oscar nominee, for an engaging score nonetheless.

Worth one watch.

Why did they slip the theme song from the film "From Here to Eternity" in here?

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 24 April 2014]

***SPOILERS*** In one of his best adult roles Mickey Rooney is car mechanic and race car driver Eddie "Shorty" Shannon who gets caught up in a bank robbery not for money but for love in him impressing gun moll Barbara Mathews, Dianne Foster. It was Barbara who made a play for Eddie in getting him involved, as a wheel man, in a bank robbery that her boyfriend greasy Steve Norris, Kevin McCarthy, and his pal Harold Baker, Jack Kelly, were planning to pull off.

Not at all interested in his take of $15,000.00 in the robbery but only wanting to impress Barbara Eddie against his better judgment went along with the plan only to end up getting stiffed by her in dropping him like a hot potato and planning to check out to France with her greasy boyfriend Norris. Eddie for his part heart broken as he was still carried a torch for the double-dealing Barbara and after he escaped being murdered by Baker in order to keep him from talking to the police went back, bloodies and battered after his escape, to the beach house where Norris & Barbara were and that's where the real action in the movie began.

***SPOILERS*** A tour de force by Mickey Rooney who's acting in the film was so both tragic as well as touching that it should have easily earned him an Academy Award. Mickey playing against type and a lonely and shy , with girls, young man compared in real life where he romanced the most beautiful women, Lana Turner Norma Sherer Ava Gardner & Marilyn Monroe, in Hollywood Mickey made you forget who he was in the role, as a love starved schnook, that he so convincingly played.

Racecar noir

[nickenchuggets · 9/10 · 20 September 2021]

I've found myself watching a bunch of Mickey Rooney movies lately. Being a highly talented actor who got into the business all the way back when he was 6, I would think it obvious that he was able to give enjoyable performances most of the time. One often overlooked film he stars in is Drive a Crooked Road, which for the 1950s, possesses some seriously violent scenes. Noir movies did usually venture into this territory of having a lot of violence, as most noir plots involve at least one murder. What makes this one unique is how Rooney is essentially a stooge for two other guys in the movie who ruthlessly manipulate him. The film starts with Eddie (Rooney), a mechanic who likes to race cars and compete in tournaments in his free time. He dreams big and wants to go to europe one day to participate in the Grand Prix, but there's an obstacle in the way. Rooney's job as a mechanic doesn't get him enough money. Some time later, Eddie meets a a woman named Barbara (Dianne Foster), who is annoyingly catcalled by Eddie's coworkers every time she strolls past the mechanic's shop. Her and Eddie start seeing each other more frequently, and soon, he goes to a party with her. While there, he meets her current boyfriend, Steve, although Eddie isn't aware of his relationship with her. Steve visits Barbara after the party and tries to persuade her to use Eddie in an illegal scheme. Steve knows Eddie won't turn down such an attractive girl's offer. Eddie meets with Steve and his friend Harold one afternoon to discuss his reason for being invited, and they bluntly tell him they need his assistance to rob a bank. Steve has the whole plot laid out on a map and says he needs Eddie to drive a remote and dangerous road through the desert with the stolen money. Not only this, but the extremely difficult task has to be completed within about 20 minutes. By that time, the cops will have been notified. Initially, Eddie says no, but is later sucked in by the promise of 15 thousand dollars. This would allow him to achieve his dreams of racing overseas. The day of the robbery comes, and Eddie successfully drives the stolen money through the desert very quickly and makes it to a highway. With cops now looking for the criminals, Eddie goes back to Barbara to tell her he feels guilty about committing a crime just to gain money. Eventually, Eddie shows up at Steve's house again and Barbara (who was thought to have moved away) shows herself. She tells Eddie she was used as bait by Steve to lure him into helping 2 criminals, and that she never loved him. It physically hurts her to say this. Harold then takes Eddie outside, presumably to shoot him, and Steve tries to calm down his hysterical girlfriend by slapping her in the face. Meanwhile, Eddie is forced at gunpoint by Harold to drive a car down a road with a ravine next to it, and Eddie turns the wheel sharply to the left, catching Harold off guard. The car rolls off the cliff and lands upside down. Eddie manages to escape but is badly injured, and Harold is dead. The cops eventually find the car wreck, and trace its registry number to the nearby beach house. They arrive just in time to see Steve abusing his girlfriend, which Eddie puts a stop to by killing him with Harold's gun. After saving Barbara, Eddie kneels by her as the cops close in, and the movie ends on an ambiguous note since it looks like they're going to arrest him. This is a great noir. As stated before, Rooney was no stranger to acting, and was involved with it since he was a child. In the 50s, he appeared in quite a number of noir films, another one being Quicksand. Here, he's a determined and aggressive pursuer of his goals, and never wants to give up. His crippling weakness is his affinity for Barbara. Foster does a wonderful job portraying her, since she actually undergoes a personality change during the movie, and is not just thrown in to give Rooney a love interest. She starts off believing her boyfriend's scheme is the right thing to drag Eddie into, but then gains some respect for him. Ultimately, she is saved by him on the beach at the end. Even though it's not very well known, Drive a Crooked Road is a must watch for noir fans, as it is surprisingly fast paced for a 50s movie and stars one of the greatest actors.

Short in stature and short on confidence.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 3 August 2013]

Drive a Crooked Road is directed by Richard Quine who also co-adapts the screenplay with Blake Edwards from a story by James Benson Nablo. It stars Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly. Music is by Ross DiMaggio and cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr.

Car mechanic and race car driver Eddie Shannon (Rooney) is surprised when beautiful Barbara Mathews (Foster) shows interest in him. Normally the butt of jokes at work and uncomfortable around women, Eddie falls for Barbara's charms big time. Is it too good to be true? You bet it is...

Frustrating! Neatly performed by the principal performers and featuring classic noir characters, yet it's a picture not being all that it can be.

The pace is borderline laborious as characterisations are formed and film's central plot device unravels for the first two thirds of the piece. That the acting is so strong keeps us interested, Rooney, in a performance he was very fond of, tugs the heart strings with a beautifully understated performance as the dupe falling into a world that is alien to him. Foster as the femme fatale is sexy and sultry and utterly convincing in the way she lures Eddie into the web. That web is being spun by McCarthy's suave and sly Steve Norris, who backed up by the witty and edgy William McIntyre (Kelly), has plans afoot to break more than just the Palm Springs Bank.

It's very good characterisations, undeniably, but visually the film is flat. Oh the L.A. locations used are nice to look at, but the all round sunny days feel to the surroundings never sits comfortably with the human dynamics. Then there is the problem of the "big pay off" for the last third. All things are in place for some excitement but the makers fail to deliver, the action sequences are brief and only adequately constructed. While although the closing scene carries enough of a sting to lift the production out of the mundane, this is just watchable fare without being essential for the film noir enthusiast. 6/10