Themes: Out For Revenge, Love Triangles, Innocence Lost
Main Cast: Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, John Ireland, Raymond Burr
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
Plot
Violent and viscerally sexual, Anthony Mann's muscular low-budget noir tells the tale of a framed gangster's quest for vengeance after he busts out of prison. Once freed, gangster Joe Sullivan Dennis O'Keefe) and his girl friend Pat (Claier Trevor) set off to find the mobster who set him up. The kidnapping of Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt), the social worker who wrote to Joe in prison, leads the fugitive into a romantic triangle of death, passion and tragedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
A noir with several, clever scenes, some fine cinematography and no shortage of violence, Raw Deal is a better than average, crime story, but it lacks plausibility at times, and telegraphs its upcoming twists. Noir genius John Alton handles the camera here and deftly cloaks the whole film in shadows. As the film opens, Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) is visited by both Pat (Claire Trevor) and Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt) in prison. This scene sparkles with some smart dialogue and is a nice warm-up to the love triangle that follows. The gangsters in Raw Deal are pretty mean with Raymond Burr leading the pack as he scalds a party girl with his birthday flambeé. One problem with Raw Deal is the lack of believable chemistry between Joe and Ann. She likes Joe, but quickly changes her mind and attempts to call the police after he breaks out of prison. Not long after, she declares her love for him again after shooting the man who's attempted to kill him. Why Joe so prefers Ann to his longtime girlfriend Pat is also not made clear. On the screen, Joe and Ann don't seem to have much in common and the attraction seems vague at best. Though, otherwise, this is an entertaining, if not terribly artful noir, with Alton's camerawork standing out more than Anthony Mann's direction. ~ Adam Bregman, All Movie Guide
Edward Ilou - Art Director, Frances Ehren - Costume Designer, Ridgeway Callow - First Assistant Director, Anthony Mann - Director, Alfred de Gaetano - Editor, Paul Sawtell - Composer (Music Score), Irving Friedman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Ern Westmore - Makeup, Ted Larsen - Makeup, John Alton - Cinematographer, Edward Small - Producer, Armor E. Marlowe - Set Designer, Clarence I. Steensen - Set Designer, Jack R. Rabin - Special Effects, George J. Teague - Special Effects, Earl Sitar - Sound/Sound Designer, John C. Higgins - Screenwriter, Leopold Atlas - Screenwriter, Arnold B. Armstrong - Short Story Author, Audrey Ashley - Short Story Author
Prisoner Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe), who has "taken the fall" for an unspecified crime, breaks jail with the help of his girl, Pat (Claire Trevor). Neither Joe nor Pat is aware that the escape has been facilitated as a set-up by mobster Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr), a sadistic pyromaniac, who has arranged for Joe to be killed during the break-out in order to avoid confronting him and paying Joe his agree-upon share of $50,000 for the crime. When the break-out scheme succeeds, contrary to Rick's expectations, Rick decides that he must have Joe done in some other way, by somebody else.
In the course of their run, Pat and Joe kidnap a social worker, Ann (Marsha Hunt) who has been visiting Joe in prison, trying to reform him. This begins a doomed film noir love triangle. A fight with a vicious thug ends when Ann shoots Joe's attacker in the back. After this act of murder, Ann realizes she is in love with Joe. Relenting, he sends her away and prepares to flee the country with Pat. In their hotel room, Pat receives a phone call from Rick's associate warning them that Ann has been seized by Rick, and will be harmed if Joe and Pat do not come out from hiding. Pat does not disclose the nature of the phone call, but instead tells Joe that it was a call from the hotel desk clerk about their check-out time, since she is anxious to avoid telling him anything about Ann that would lead him to hesitate beginning a new life with Pat. After boarding a ship to flee the country, Joe attempts to convince Pat that they can start over a new life together, however Pat finally realizes that Joe will always be thinking of Ann. Pat realizes she must tell Joe that Ann is in danger and does so. Before the ship sets sail, Joe races to save Ann and kill her captor Rick. Under the cover of a thick fog, Joe manages to get past Rick's thugs who are positioned to ambush Joe, and sneaks into Rick's room. Surprised by Joe’s sudden intrusion, a sudden gunfight erupts with Rick and Joe shooting each other and inadvertently starting a fire. Joe and Rick, both wounded, fight hand to hand with Joe finally pushing Rick through an upper story window to his death. Mortally wounded, Ann comforts the dying Joe in her arms as Pat looks on.
When the film was released, The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, panned the film, "But this, of course, is a movie—and a pretty low-grade one, at that—in which sensations of fright and excitement are more diligently pursued than common sense...Except for the usual moral—to wit, that crime does not pay—the only thing proved by this picture is that you shouldn't switch sweethearts in mid-lam.[2]
In Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir, David N. Meyer wrote "It's the richest cinematography in noir outside of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane."[3]
