A ★★★½ review of Roadblock (1951) (original) (raw)
noir1946’s review published on Letterboxd:
Charles McGraw, Nicholas Musuraca, RKO. It must be a film noir. Roadblock is based on a story by Daniel Mainwaring (as Geoffrey Homes), who wrote Out of the Past, and is cowritten by Steve Fisher, whose novel is the source of I Wake Up Screaming, one of the earliest noirs, and whose credits include Lady in the Lake and Dead Reckoning. These boys who know what makes noir noir. The rather ordinary direction by former actor Harold Daniels and a low budget placing limitations on sets are almost beside the point when the script and cast are this good.
McGraw was born for noir, a tough guy with considerable depth. Even his nose, chin, and cheekbones scream noir. He is outstanding in everything from small roles, as in The Killers, to starring roles, as in The Narrow Margin, one of the greatest noirs. Charlie is very good here as Joe Peters, a decent insurance detective lured into crime by femme fatale Diane Morley (Joan Dixon), who needs more loot than the man she calls Honest Joe can provide. This may be the most vulnerable I’ve ever seen McGraw be. Poor sap learns you can’t even trust crooks.
“I want a rocket to the moon. I don’t want anything holding me back.”
Dixon, in her most significant role in a brief career, has girl-next-door looks, but looks can be deceiving. The fact that a purity seems to be trying to peek through her selfish façade is an advantage, as is the fact that she looks swell in a sweater. A dame like her can twist me around her cute little finger whenever she wants.
Lowell Gilmore is also very good as the smooth gangster who’s Diane’s sugar daddy. As Joe’s suspicious colleague, Louis Jean Heydt, who normally plays baddies, as in The Big Sleep, is impressive playing a good guy for a change.
Roadblock is set during Christmas for ironic contrast between the season’s goodwill and the moral morass into which Joe allows himself to become engulfed. Gilmore’s Kendall Webb has a huge Christmas tree, while Joe can afford to give Diane only a tiny one. Things just ain’t fair in the noir world, though they look pretty when Nick M. photographs them.
Daniels stages the slam-bang finale along the Los Angeles River very effectively. As a bonus, we get to see those truly clumsy-looking, black-and-white police cars the LA cops had to use in the early 50s. These have to be the ugliest cop cars ever.
“He’ll never get out of town.”
Watched on the Criterion Channel.