He Laughed Last (1956)

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writers:

Blake Edwards (screenplay), Blake Edwards (story),

Stars:

Frankie Laine, Lucy Marlow, Anthony Dexter

Cast

Cast overview:
Frankie Laine	...	Gino Lupo
Lucy Marlow	...	Rosemary 'Rosie' Lebeau
Anthony Dexter	...	Dominic Rodríguez
Richard Long	...	Jimmy Murphy (as Dick Long)
Alan Reed	...	Big Dan Hennessy
Jesse White	...	Max Lassiter
Florenz Ames	...	George Eagle
Henry Slate	...	Ziggy

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

woman takes off shoes | hitman | female stockinged foot | mob boss | last will and testament | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

August 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Big Dans Vermächtnis

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the conversation between Max and Rosemary where she is on the couch, Gino's position behind the couch changes between long and close shots.

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Quotes

Max Lassiter: [turns to henchman] Stop Mixing. George, you want me, Max Lassiter, the number two man on the west side to buy an orphanage?
George Eagle: Yeah.
Max Lassiter: What do you think I am, stupid or something?
George Eagle: Do I have to answer that?
Max Lassiter: Yeah.
George Eagle: [turns to the henchman] Mix the cement.

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Soundtracks

"Strike me Pink"
Written by Lew Brown, Buddy G. DeSylva and Ray Henderson
Performed by Lucy Marlow

User Reviews

Defined partly by what it's not

Considering the temporal context, this movie starts out like a film noir, but it's not -- it's in beautiful Technicolor, worthy of a musical of that era. But it's not that, either. Crooner Frankie Laine singing a couple of songs -- "Danny Boy" sung twice, plus another song fragment introducing the opening nightclub scene -- does not a musical make.

If you know Frankie Laine only by his top 40 hits, from "That's My Desire" in 1947 to "You Gave Me a Mountain" in 1969, you may be surprised to find that he was also a competent actor. His nuanced facial expressions in the scene with his character's newspaper buddy which leads into the flashback which consumes most of the movie pleasantly surprised at least this viewer.

This was Blake Edwards' second movie as a director, and the Blake Edwards style is already in evidence. (I haven't seen his first, "Bring Your Smile Along," also with Laine, so I can't comment on it.) What's the Blake Edwards style? It's one of those things that's undefinable (at least by me), but if you're familiar with his body of work, it's recognizable.

As for the movie itself, it's a pleasant pastime, especially in Technicolor; and the interplay between the engaging leads, Richard Long as a cop and Lucy Marlow as his fiancée, a chanteuse turned mob boss, makes for some mildly intriguing comedic conflict.