Themes: Out For Revenge, Miscarriage of Justice, Gambling
Main Cast: Joe Don Baker, Conny van Dyke, Gabriel Dell, John Marley, Brock Peters
Release Year: 1975
Country: US
Run Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Director Phil Karlson harks back to the no-nonsense, no-thrills directness of his 1950s "B" pictures in Framed. Joe Don Baker, Karlson's star in Walking Tall, plays Ron, a high-rolling gambler with a streak of integrity. Framed by the film's villains--including a cartel of corrupt cops--Ron is carted off to prison. Upon his release, he embarks upon a carefully calculated campaign of revenge. The film's stylistic ties to the enormously successful Walking Tall include the screenwriting contributions of Mort Briskin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
This reunion of the core creative team behind Walking Tall offers up another sweaty, brutal tale of vice and revenge in the South. Mort Briskin's script grounds its twisty storyline with familiar crime-movie characterizations and some fun, convincing trash-talk dialogue. Despite the story's length and expansiveness, it moves at a solid clip that is punctuated by some often startling scenes of action. Joe Don Baker anchors the film with a stoic, determined performance as the wronged hero: his rough-hewn, physical style of acting might lack the charm of a conventional leading man but it's perfect for this film's dark, unsentimental take on the crime genre. His work is supported by a strong cast of character actors:John Marley offers a commanding presence as a mobster who befriends Baker, Gabriel Dell is a fast-talking delight as the inmate who becomes the hero's partner in revenge and Brock Peters provides a likeable straight-arrow presence as the film's only sympathetic law enforcement character. In terms of villains, Warren Kemmerling is appropriately sleazy as the sheriff-turned-mayor who sets the frame-up in action and Joshua Bryant steals a few moments as slick, morality-free lawyer who works with the mayor. However, the most important element of Framed is Phil Karlson's punchy direction: he keeps the narrative focused, the atmosphere intense and the action brutal (even by modern standards, a few of the fight scenes are brutal enough to make today's viewers squirm). Some might consider the film's storyline simplistic in its portrayal of corruption but Karlson is savvy enough to understand that it is a morality play writ large and gives it the aggressive, no-nonsense approach it needs. In short, Framed is one of Baker's best starring vehicles after Walking Tall and a must for anyone who likes their crime films mean and hard-hitting. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
John Larch - Sheriff Bundy; Warren Kemmerling - Mayor Morello; Walter Brooke - Senator; Roy Jenson - Haskins; Al Hager - Emmett; Brenton Banks - Jeremiah; Henry O. Arnold - Lenny; Joshua Bryant - Andrew Ney; H.B. Haggerty - Bickford; Les Lannom - Gary; Ken Lester - Big Jim; Paul Mantee - Frank; Lawrence Montaigne - Deputy Allison; Red West - Mallory; Hoke Howell - Decker; Gary Gober - Kenny; Hunter Von Leer - Dewey
Credit
Phil Karlson - Director, Harry Gerstad - Editor, Patrick Williams - Composer (Music Score), Stan Jolley - Production Designer, Jack A. Marta - Cinematographer, Mort Briskin - Producer, Joel Briskin - Producer, Bert Allen - Set Designer, Charles D. Knight - Sound/Sound Designer, John K. Wilkinson - Sound/Sound Designer, Glen Glenn Sound - Sound/Sound Designer, Gil Perkins - Stunts, Carey Loftin - Stunts Coordinator, Mort Briskin - Screenwriter, Art Powers - Book Author, Mike Misenheimer - Book Author
Mike Lambert takes to driving a truck when he falls on hard times. When his rig brakes stop working in a small town he meets Paula Craig (Janis Carter) at the La Paloma Cafe and is quickly drawn into a criminal plot devised by the seductive femme fatale.
Paula talks her boyfriend, Stephen, into robbing the bank that he manages. The two then drug Mike, intending to frame him for the crime. Paula then kills Stephen and takes all of the stolen cash. She then tells Mike that he is the one who killed Stephen in a drunken rage and that she has covered up for him, thereby implicating herself. She begs him to run away with her. Mike considers her offer until he learns that his close friend Jeff has been accused of the killing—and that Paula intends to pin the robbery that Stephen committed on his friend.
Critic Mark Deming called the film, "[a] superior low-budget film noir."[2]
Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the film and wrote, "Janis Craig gives a very sexy and dangerous performance, which plays off very well against Glenn Ford's very earnest one of the good guys who can't get a lucky break. Even when he finds someone he could love she turns out to be poison, someone who was about to poison his coffee until she was reassured that he does not know something incriminating about her role in the crime. It was an entertaining B-film that ably caught how an honest but [a] desperate man reacts after hooking up with a falsehearted woman. The good performances overcame the cheap production values and slight story."[3]
