"99 River Street" has all the momentum of classic noir--that is, in spite of the acting. It's not that there's not much good acting but rather that it's the featured actors who fail to deliver. Yup, overacting, which is bad enough in any movie, is worse in film noir. In fact, in this instance, if not for the supporting cast, "99" might fall into the category of middling noir.
I'm assuming that director Phil Karlson directs stars John Payne and Evelyn Keyes to hammer us & emotionally drench us with their roles. It's as if the boxer (Payne) must be verbally boxing at every turn, and that the actress (Keyes) cannot tone down her heightened emotions once offstage. Maybe this is Karlson's idea of staying-in-character (ha)... a boxer is pugilistic, an actress is over-the-top dramatic. Got that.
True, Karlson seems to leave his character actors mainly untouched, which has the effect of muting the bruiting noise & ingratiating over-reach. And so we have Brad Dexter (Rawlins), the vile crook; Jack Lambert (Micky), the underworld diamond expert; and Frank Faylen (Stan), the taxi radio dispatcher, all acting throughout (thankfully) in convincing character. These characters belong to a noir movie, while the stars belong to a stage. Which presents the problem of audience sympathy. Where that lies may differ, but by "99 River Street's" final scenes, I was pulling for the villainous Rawlins character over Payne's. And this was made even more emphatic by the cloying final scene, in which Payne gets his dreamed of gas station, and Keyes, having quit the stage and been humbled enough to make a suitable wife for the hero, gets her man, her chocolates, and his baby.
I'm assuming that director Phil Karlson directs stars John Payne and Evelyn Keyes to hammer us & emotionally drench us with their roles. It's as if the boxer (Payne) must be verbally boxing at every turn, and that the actress (Keyes) cannot tone down her heightened emotions once offstage. Maybe this is Karlson's idea of staying-in-character (ha)... a boxer is pugilistic, an actress is over-the-top dramatic. Got that.
True, Karlson seems to leave his character actors mainly untouched, which has the effect of muting the bruiting noise & ingratiating over-reach. And so we have Brad Dexter (Rawlins), the vile crook; Jack Lambert (Micky), the underworld diamond expert; and Frank Faylen (Stan), the taxi radio dispatcher, all acting throughout (thankfully) in convincing character. These characters belong to a noir movie, while the stars belong to a stage. Which presents the problem of audience sympathy. Where that lies may differ, but by "99 River Street's" final scenes, I was pulling for the villainous Rawlins character over Payne's. And this was made even more emphatic by the cloying final scene, in which Payne gets his dreamed of gas station, and Keyes, having quit the stage and been humbled enough to make a suitable wife for the hero, gets her man, her chocolates, and his baby.