Born to Review

Most people know Lawrence Tierney from his later role, that of Joe Cabbot in Reservoir Dogs (You know the Fantastic Four? Lawrence Tierney looks JUST like the Thing), but long before he was yelling at Mr. Pink for not tipping, he was playing roles such as John Dillinger in Dillinger (1945), and Sam Wild in Born to Kill (1947), the latter being the focus of this review.

The movie starts with a scene of exposition, a pretty young thing named Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) stands on some courthouse steps discussing her divorce, and then a discussion of upcoming revelry. Change of scene!

Now we're with Wild, a hit-man who is committing a job, and now he's got to get out of town for a while, wait for the whole thing to cool down, but when Wild goes to the train he and Brent met up for the second time (they met at a casino) and soon the romantic tension begins.

The Script by Eve Greene and Richard Macaulay is a tad forced, like the above scenes. Exposition is not spoon fed, but shovel fed, such as how by minute 19 Wild and Brent are already putting the moves on each other, and at 23 the conflict is firmly established, in the clever guise of Helen Brent's clean cut fiance, Fred, a classic example of the bad boy and the clean cut, all American guy squaring off, a trend that's been repeated a few times...

But that doesn't matter, the way it is done here is more on the unique side. Not only does Tierney go after the heart of Brent, but he marries Brent's foster sister before pursuing Brent, and pursue her he does. The two bounce off each other, hating that they love each other, but of course they must pursue their forbidden love. Even though at the beginning the script feels rushed, it does even out during Act II, and into Act III. I give credit here to Robert Wise, the director of this picture, who also has brought out great performances in The Day the Earth Stood Still (The Real One), The Sound of Music, and West Side Story.

While all these tangled webs are being woven, Albert Arnett (Walter Slezak) is tracking down Wild for the early movie murder. And Arnett is the only truly like able character. Now, the rest of the cast has ironic charm, a killer, a girl cheating on her husband, yadda yadda yadda, they are all terrible people, except our rotund detective.

The acting is pretty good, with a strong performance from Lawrence Tierney, who plays Sam Wild with a great balance of charm and an edge. Unlike many actors who can play tough guys (Lee Marvin) or charming guys (Paul Newman) Tierney does make it very believable that he is a tough as mails bamf, and that girls have a hard time not falling for his confidence, muscles, and that edge of danger women so greatly love.

On the other end of the central affair is Claire Trevor, who matches Tierney's foreboding with a certain strength herself, and being that woman that Wild wants more from than just sex. The two leads have amazing chemistry, and that really helps the average script.

I know it seems like I spent most of this review bashing the movie, but it's really not bad, it's just not amazing. The acting is strong, and the direction is superb, but the script is forced and uneven to start and the pacing seems off, being that it is only a 83 minute movie.

Dr. Brooklyn says: AT LEAST WATCH THIS MOVIE (7/10)