Out In The 1950s Film Noir Night-John Ireland’s The Scarf

DVD Review

The Scarf , starring John Ireland

Erza, old codger saint prophet and seeking of some rough plebeian justice on the sly, patron of all the lost strangers, all the lost fellahin in the Joshua Tree high desert California night was pulling for him, for his Johnny boy. Cora, well, Cora too met on some ancient dusty road, maybe a little round at the heels, maybe just a little too jaded for the occasion, and maybe too just a little to city wise for Johnny boy was pulling for him too. Hell, when the deal went down, when things got hot, and when it looked like Johnny boy was going to take the big step off Level Louie, and he earned that sobriquet as he will gladly tell you, put his oar in for Johnny boy too. That left only best friend, the Doc, to gum up the works, to ease the steps to that big step off. So, no, no way, Doc was pulling for Johnny boy, in the beginning, in the middle, and certainly not in the end. So an old ancient desert philosopher –king Ezra (sans those ancient robes), Cora who turned out to be not a bad warbler as well as swell pal, and Level Louie who sticks his neck out for no man, or not recently, have to take up Johnny boy’s cause and scream to high heaven to get him loose.

And he is why. Johnny boy (we can forget the boy after this okay because Johnny is really a thinking man, or trying to be) strangled his ever-loving girlfriend with a scarf, some cheap jack dime store thing not that such low-rent material couldn’t do the job. So he was ready- made to takes the big step off for it. Except, and this is the puzzling part, he doesn’t remember doing the deed and so he had not sense of guilt about it. Yah, I figured it that way too. Bonkers, or doing a good job of faking it. And so they sent him to the prison for the criminally insane. But he can’t figure, bright guy (a lawyer to boot) that he is, how he did the deed and that gets him thinking, thinking and lamming out of the dead end joint to put try and put two and two together. That is where an old desert prophet, a singing waitress and a guy who doesn’t stick neck out for nobody combine to set Johnny from that big edged frame, frame that fits him just right. And notice, if you haven’t already that good old boy Doc hasn’t lifted a finger to help his best friend and he could have because he is nothing but a certified shrink. Johnny has to depend on the kindnesses of strangers for real. Watch this film to see why.