Themes: Femmes Fatales, Bank Robbery, Police Corruption
Main Cast: Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak, Philip Carey, Dorothy Malone, E.G. Marshall
Release Year: 1954
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
Plot
Two bank robbers get away with 250,000 dollars in unmarked, unrecorded bills, murdering a guard in the process. The police know the leader was Harry Wheeler (Paul E. Richards) and turn their attention to his girlfriend, Leona McLane (Kim Novak), detective Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray) arranging to pick her up in a "chance" meeting at a movie and spend some time with her. After one day, he knows what he needs to -- that she's not in touch with Wheeler, but expects to be -- but he keeps things going between them for three more days. By the time the department has a full surveillance team in place, he can't get her off his mind, and when she discovers that he's a cop and raises the notion of letting events take their course with Wheeler (i.e., him ending up dead) and the two of them keeping the money, he's hooked. Sheridan is fast on his feet and a quick thinker and sees how he might pull this off and get the two of them away clean. But he doesn't bargain for the alcoholism of one of the detectives (Allen Nourse) on the surveillance team, the inquisitive nature of his squad commander (E.G. Marshall), or the attachment that his younger associate (Philip Carey) develops for a nurse (Dorothy Malone) living in the building they're observing. Kim Novak had previously appeared in small roles in some films at RKO, but The Pushover marked her formal introduction to audiences as a star, and she more than lives up to the billing and the buildup she received, her acting ability and her physique easily carrying her end of the picture (she's onscreen alone for long minutes under observation, and is convincingly seductive), while MacMurray gives one of the best performances of his career, rivaling his work in Double Indemnity, The Caine Mutiny, and The Apartment. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Review
Aficionados will doubtlessly argue whether The Pushover should be classified as film noir or merely as a suspense film, but whichever its category, this overlooked movie deserves to be better known. Not that it's a great film, for it's not -- the characters don't develop fully enough, remaining just film types rather than flesh and blood people, the themes of the film are not explored deeply enough to have resonance, and there's a late development that asks the audience to change its mind about the leading lady that just doesn't work. Still, it's immensely entertaining, skillfully directed by Richard Quine with the requisite suspense trappings (and a wonderfully unsettling sense of voyeurism), and covering a lot of territory in its 88 minutes. The casting of Fred MacMurray unfortunately brings inevitable comparisons to Double Indemnity, but if that superior film can be put out of the viewer's mind, he'll find The Pushover more than decent entertainment. MacMurray doesn't leave the indelible impression that he did in Indemnity, but he's quite good; and if Kim Novak is no Barbara Stanwyck, she's still more than acceptable as the kind of femme fatale that could test almost any man's morals. Judged on its own merits, The Pushover is very decent, and at times quite good. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Allen Nourse - Paddy Dolan; Phil Chambers - Briggs; Alan Dexter - Fine; Robert Forrest - Billings; Don C. Harvey - Peters; Paul Richards - Harry Wheeler; Ann Morriss - Ellen Burnett; James Anderson - Beery; Tony Barrett - Man; Dick Crockett - Young Man; Anne Loos - Teller Who Screams; Mort Mills - Bartender; Paul Picerni - Dapper Man; Marion Ross - Young Woman; Jack Wilson - Detective; Robert Carson - Bartender; Mel Welles; Ernst R. von Theumer - Detective; Richard Bryan - Harris; Hal Taggart - Bank Executive; Joe Bailey - Hobbs; Walter Beaver - Schaeffer; John DeSimone - Assistant Bank Manager; John Tarangelo - Boy
Credit
Walter Holscher - Art Director, Jean Louis - Art Director, Philip A. Waxman - Associate Producer, Jean Louis - Costume Designer, Richard Quine - Director, Jerome Thoms - Editor, Arthur Morton - Composer (Music Score), Morris W. Stoloff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Clay Campbell - Makeup, Lester White - Cinematographer, Jules Schermer - Producer, James Crowe - Set Designer, James A. Crowe - Set Designer, John P. Livadary - Sound/Sound Designer, Roy Huggins - Screenwriter, Bill S. Ballinger - Book Author, Bill S. Ballinger - Short Story Author, Thomas Walsh - Short Story Author
