…he, Howard Hughes, he, of the flamboyant
personality, the take charge guy, the ever forward guy, whether it was stocks,
inventions, planes, films, or women, particularly those last two in his heyday
before he began to fear the world, fear some microbe madness, and went into splendid
hiding, decided that he needed to get his, uh, prodigy, his woman, Jane Russell
before the cameras. And since she, luscious brunette with a drop- dead body
(drop dead in those days, those 1940s and early 1950s days, being, uh, large bosom, small waist, and
wide hips, say 36-32-36 or something like that, don’t quote me on the numbers,
please I could be way off, way off like I am about a lot of things with women),
luscious hair, luscious eyes, luscious big ruby red lips (imagined in this
black and white vehicle), luscious, looked good, could sing a little (although
not enough to make a living at , unless she had some walking daddy, a walking
daddy like, say, Howard Hughes who could buy the cabaret, or a string of them ),
keep her lines straight a little, and could get the guys (in the movie and in
the audience) thinking about those luscious things this film popped out. A
comedy noir, comedy of errors for the
comedy part, noir for the spiffy
language and those languid looks between Jane and Robert Mitchum (Dan and Lenore
in the film), if you will.
So here the skinny on the plot here and you
can decide whether this thing was just a very expensive present for a wayward
girlfriend looking to keep busy when not busy with Brother Hughes or something
more. Now remember, as I go through the numbers, that Robert Mitchum is already
in the film noir hall of fame for his
little misbegotten tryst with Jane Greer in Out
Of The Past so the big brawny guy with the line of patter around the woman,
and the body that was built to take a beating or seven, and so he ain’t
brittle, has some pretty big shoes to fill for his part. Jane, well, Jane just
had to look into his eye, and well, let’s leave it as just had to look into his
eyes and guys, including Mitchum, would be reaching for their sweaty handkerchiefs Dan (Mitchum) is a professional gambler, and as such, has a seedy past, maybe has done some small jail time but mainly has to keep low, deal high and keep moving. So he hasn’t got any grieving wife or worried friends into the world. Thus a perfect guy for the caper exiled crime boss Nick has in mind (played by Raymond Burr before he got, uh, religion and started working the other side of the street as television’s Perry Mason series) who is desperate to get back into Estados Unidos to make, well, to make some big easy dough again, and to be the king hell king of the gangster night. And so Nick has an idea, an illegal idea, to be sure, but an idea. Get some stooge, give him some dough, or promise of dough, ship him off to Mexico to hide-out and use his, the stooge’s, identification to get back on jump street in the old U.S. of A. Simple. And if things don’t work out with the stooge, or he gets on his high horse well Nick has that covered, the big sleep, naturally. So that explains why Dan is down south of the border. Lenore (Russell),well, she is in sunny Mexico (Mexico before the cartels and high density shoot ‘em ups for real obviously) because, uh, she is from hunger and is ready to lay it on the line if a certain famous movie star (played by Vincent Price) is on the level and will divorce his wife. Got it.
Of course as Dan and Lenore start to steam up the screen, that certain actor’s Mrs. hit south of the border and as Dan starts to get wise to his real fate then the fireworks begin with plenty of mishaps, a few dead bodies, and the problem of Nick and his needs (or wants) get all bundled up. But know this, or know these two things. No way, no way on this good green earth is a hulk, is a street smart guy like Robert Mitchum going to go under to some cheap jack hood’s odd-ball scheme. And no way, no way in hell, are those steamy languid looks between Dan and Lenore going to go to waste by that pair not surviving whatever rotten deal was going down. So Howard you did okay, okay indeed.
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