ROAD HOUSE (1948)

Richard Widmark is the owner of a popular road house that features a bar, a bunch of bowling lanes, a hang out area and a live piano singer.  After recruiting a sultry singer (Ida Lupino) from out of town, he starts to fall for her.  Unfortunately she falls for the road house's manager (Cornel Wilde).  Things get a little heated and next thing you know Widmark has framed Wilde for stealing from the payroll and then in a completely ludicrous, or should I say...Seinfeldish, (Remember the butler storyline?) turn of events Wilde has his 2 - 10 years prison sentence suspended under the condition that he's put on probation in the care of Widmark for 2 years!!!  What kind of wacky shit is that?!  Not only did he get framed, but now his punishment is to be the perpetrator's slave for two years?!!  As you can guess, Wilde doesn't take too well to being Widmark's slave.  Lupino isn't too happy about it either, so things get a little shooty.

From a filmmaking standpoint ROAD HOUSE is fine.  It looks good, the sets look alive and the acting is way better than that weak script deserves.  It's nice to see Lupino in a strong role and Widmark is always great when he's sleazy, but couldn't maybe he have blackmailed Wilde and Lupino instead of having to stretch the limits of believably by Wilde be his court appointed slave?

Interesting film with good acting, but I wish the story had made more sense.  Worth a watch for classic movie fans.

HIGH SIERRA (1941)

Aging gangster, "Mad Dog" Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart), is sprung from prison by a governor's pardon that was paid for by kingpin, Donald MacBride.  MacBride wants him to knock over an exclusive resort motel.  He can't do it alone, so MacBride hires him some help.  Unfortunately, they're just a bunch of punk kids green behind the ears.  On the way to the meeting place, Bogart nearly has a wreck with a dirt poor family that happens to have a very attractive (and manipulating) daughter.  Bogart falls for her.  At the same time, a girl that came with one of his crew members (Ida Lupino) falls for him.  You can probably see where this is going.

George Raft and Paul Muni both passed on the role of "Mad Dog" Roy Earle, but lucky for us the lesser known Bogart picked it up and he's great.  His co-star from the previous year's THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, Ida Lupino might have gotten the top-billing, but he's clearly the star here as the worn down gangster with a noble heart.  That's not to say that Lupino isn't great also, cause I think she's always awesome.  Anyway, great movie, somewhat dated, excellent supporting cast, quick pace and Bogart's real life dog, Zero, is cute as a button!

Remake 1 - Colorado Territory (1949)
Remake 2 - I Died a Thousand Times (1955)