![]() ![]() Our aim is to build a comprehensive listing of movies and TV shows available to date. The items that are not released yet, or not out on DVD / Blu-ray are indeed unavailable, and that is what we would tell our customers if the requests ever come in. Our catalog is built as a reference for our customers, while we do our best to sync our in-stock items on our website. I did have to upvote Robert Ryan and I gained more respect for William Talman as an actor, but all the rest still goes to the winner of this face-off: Key Largo.Please note that a product being listed on our website does not necessarily mean it is in stock and readily available for order. In writing this face-off, I voted as I went along, thinking I’d be more balanced in my conclusions, knowing I liked Key Largo more for its richness of character, theme, and setting than the more static and superficial The Racket. And though they’re more symbols than characters, there is at least an attempt to represent/honor non-white people (the Seminole). Key Largo is no less sentimentally patriotic as well as pro-military, but the film is more subtle, with Bogart’s Frank McCourt relearning the selflessness of his WWII days and what he was fighting for. Neither film is an expressionistic masterpiece, but I will remember the images of Key Largo, and I think mostly of static sets/settings in The Racket.įinally, both films do some serious flag waving, and The Racket has an especially heavy-handed #BlueLivesMatter ending. I hate to be a name-dropper, but Freund boasts Metropolis (1927) and Dracula (1931) in his credits, while Diskant did a lot of TV. Young Innocent Trapped by Circumstance: Nora Temple (Lauren Bacall) v David Ames (Robert Hutton) There’s just not much to compare here, really. An extra treat is letting Trevor sing - sans accompaniment - in her own voice. By contrast, Gaye Dawn is far better written as a character, one with regret and even dynamic as she tries to drink herself into accepting her poor choices and unhappy life but ultimately comes out swinging. And, thanks again to Hollywood norms, she is dubbed when she sings, showing an ability as a crooner that she disparages but we hear as far more beautiful than her hoarse voice should produce. If we compare her to others of her type, like Gloria Grahame’s Debby Marsh in The Big Heat (1953), she falls flat. ![]() I don’t care about Irene, and her romance at the film’s conclusion feels tacked on in dreadful Hollywood fashion. She is far more a caricature than a character, the stock type of the woman with low self-esteem and high independence who falls for all that glitters and eventually regrets it. I honestly can’t say much about Irene because neither can the film. Our Hero: Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) v Captain Thomas McQuigg (Robert Mitchum) (Of course, he could have been directed this way to give the film more fully to Bogart and Bacall.) By contrast, Robinson is fabulous, but more resting on his laurels than making the character truly new. In the end, I think Scanlon is better written than Rocco, more of the film is his, and Ryan puts all he has into it. Both characters use and abuse their sidekick hitmen, though Scanlon is willing to beat them regularly to keep them in line, including his own (otherwise pampered) brother. Scanlon is far more physical than Rocco, with Ryan doing a fabulous sociopathic smile and showing every bit of his ruthless ambition. Rocco faces no real threats other than recapture after having returned from deportation. Scanlon is unstable from the opening, struggling to hold onto his power with a new style and the “Old Man” above him. And as the storm in Key Largo rises, he becomes more insecure and emotionally unstable. Rocco is classic gangster, self-absorbed and arrogant, ruthless and willing to use violence to get the deed done. But this is a Noir Face-off, so below I break down some key elements and compare them as I see them… And Robert Ryan is really growing on me (so is William Talman), though I’ve always adored Edward G. ![]() I’m a bigger fan of Bacall and Trevor than Scott, but I like Mitchum more than Bogart. Despite just how different the films are in tone, setting, style, and performance, I couldn’t miss the similarities between The Racket and Key Largo. And then I had to create a blog post showdown to decide which film I ultimately liked more and why. I thought about Richard Conte’s similarly evil performance a few years later in The Big Combo (1955) - a film much more clearly linked with noir style - and then I thought back to Edward G. After watching The Racket (1951) earlier this week, I was impressed by Robert Ryan’s sadistic performance and puzzled by the identification of the film as noir, despite its police procedural/gangster focus and lack of noir cinematographic style. ![]()
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