Night and the City
Director: Jules Dassin
Year Released: 1950
Rating: 3.0
A two-bit hoodlum (Richard Widmark) turns a wrestler father against his promoter son (Herbert Lom) in order to make money on matches in London, but as expected, his double-crossing leads to him being double-crossed by a nightclub owner; in the dark, highly moral underworld of film noir, few people that cheat the system win in the end. Aside from Widmark's sweaty scene-chewing, it's an intriguing and off-beat movie (making good use of Greco-Roman wrestling, of all things, to keep the plot moving) that's constantly on-the-move and in-a-hurry - though I despise swindlers in real-life, they make great fodder for the screen. Gene Tierney is underused as Widmark's love interest - one he keeps turning to for money when he's desperate - but, like the city of London, she's just a delight to look at.
