The Come On (1956)

Director:

Russell Birdwell

Writers:

Whitman Chambers (novel)
Whitman Chambers (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 April 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir

Plot:

Unscrupulous con woman gets involved in murder. |

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Private Eye Villain | Port City | Dystopia | Naive Man

Cast

Anne Baxter	...	Rita
Sterling Hayden	...	Dave Arnold
John Hoyt	...	Harold King, alias Harley Kendrick
Jesse White	...	J.J. McGonigle
Wally Cassell	...	Tony (as Walter Cassell)
Alex Gerry	...	Larry Chalmers
Paul Picerni	...	Jannings, assistant D.A.
Theodore Newton	...	Detective Capt. Getz
Karolee Kelly	...	Julie, Tony's girl
Tyler McVey	...	Detective Hogan
Lee Turnbull	...	Detective Tinney

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1960)

Company:

Allied Artists Pictures

Anne Baxter, Sterling Hayden go through paces in routine crime thriller

During the 1950s, Anne Baxter appeared in any number of routine, less than distinguished crime thrillers – last gasps of the dying noir cycle that were long on plot but short on style. One of them, The Come-On, is a warmed-over tale of murder and duplicity, but Baxter, bless her trouper's heart, gives it her considerable all as though she were starring in a major-studio `A' production.

Coming out of the surf down in Mexico, Baxter finds Sterling Hayden ogling her. They strike sparks and agree to meet aboard his boat, the imaginatively christened Lucky Lady. She abruptly leaves their rendezvous; later, in a bar, Sterling sees her with her drunken, abusive husband (John Hoyt). It happens, however, that Baxter and Hoyt aren't really married but partners in a racket – high-class grifters. Only Baxter wants out and wants Hayden to help her – by murdering Hoyt.

It's a mechanical, wheels-within-wheels plot, featuring a mercenary gumshoe (Jesse White) and `accidents' with missing bodies that turn out to be neither missing nor bodies, at least in the dead sense. Through it all, Baxter, emotes all over the place (never more effectively than in a scene near a mail chute, where an incriminating letter may or may not be headed to the police). Sterling's role is less meaty: He's not quite the chump, but except for throwing a couple of slaps and punches, he's pretty passive. Come to think of it, he appeared in any number of routine, less than distinguished crime thrillers during the 1950s, too.