THE NARROW MARGIN (1952)

Police detectives Charles McGraw and Don Beddoe are assigned to escort a mob witness (Marie Windsor) from Chicago to Los Angeles on a train.  Not even twenty feet outside her front door, Beddoe is gunned down, so now it's up to McGraw to get her the rest of the way all by himself.  They safely get to the train only to discover that there's an unknown number of mafia hitmen with itchy trigger fingers on board.

At only 71 minutes, THE NARROW MARGIN doesn't mess around, but still, despite the quick pace, I just couldn't stretch my imagination enough to believe that the police would allow a single cop to escort this supposedly super important witness across country by himself.  Not only that, but they knowingly allow all of these armed killers on board a normal passenger train?!  I call shenanigans.  I understand that the 1950's is light years away from the present time, but still the story seems pretty far-fetched to me.  That said, the acting and the camerawork are both good and I was mildly entertained.

THE NARROW MARGIN is not a bad film, just too improbable for me to get into.

THE KILLING (1956)

There's no foolin' around here!  THE KILLING jumps straight into the exciting story about a group of tough guys that are looking pull a racetrack heist worth $2 million clams. You got two inside men (a cashier and a bartender), the distractions (a giant wrestler to start a bar fight and a sharpshooter to snipe the lead horse during the big race), the financier, the gun man and the getaway guy (a crooked cop). The plan is full proof. Full proof I tells ya! Except that this one palooka keeps running his yap to his dame - a selfish money-hungry, shit-talkin' moll, that'll stop at nothing to get her mitts on all that tasty spinach.

THE KILLING is awesome. It's hard to think of a better example of a young filmmaker improving his craft from one film to the next better than with Stanley Kubrick and the rough around the edges, KILLER'S KISS in 1955 to the incredible THE KILLING only one year later. Memorable characters that are all bitter and hard-boiled as fook, a quick pace, the acting by the entire cast is great, awesome story, a few shocking moments...but I think the two things THE KILLING is remembered for the most is its photography and non-linear storytelling. Both have been copied many times since. I won't get into all the examples, but it's a lot.

Sadly, The Kube turned his back on film noir after THE KILLING but at least he went out with a bang. Highly recommended.

Rodney Dangerfield