The Phenix City Story (1955)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Phil Karlson directed this hard-hitting drama, shown in semi-documentary style, and set in Alabama near the Georgia border, that is home to a ruthless crime syndicate run by Rhett Tanner(played by Edward Andrews). Local politician and attorney Albert Patterson(played by John McIntire) is determined to crack the syndicate wipe open, and expose the corruption, but is assassinated before he gets the chance. Enraged, his son(played by Richard Kiley) takes up the crusade himself, despite the threats and escalating reprisals as a result, which turns to further murders... Well-directed and interesting film has fine performances by all, and a most involving(if by now) familiar story that was based on fact.

I was a little shocked to say the least after I finished with this one. Wow it's hard to believe this kind of stuff went on for so long and not a soul did anything for such a long time.I grew up in the south and I never had to deal with this kinda stuff but seeing it doesn't make it any easier to swallow. This is a seriously brutal film on the sorta.."Southern Mafia". These weren't your typical New York typa guys by far. These were your regular local redneck guys who happened to be easily some of the worst thugs ever known. These guys were heartless to the umpteenth degree.Basic idea of this film is Phenix City Alabama was way more "Sin City" than Las Vegas was at this time. The term they use is "Vice" but the town is run by the city council and Sheriff's office with no regard for law and order. Murders are common place and go without justice. The town is basically a haven for gambling dens and prostitution rings and drug dealers and it's all geared towards the local military population right across the river at Ft. Benning in Columbus Georgia.Dozens of people get killed, including GI's, and nothing gets done. Enter a former state Senator who has been pushed to his limit and finally decides it's time to do something. He decides to run for Attorney General and promptly wins but before he can take office, he gets assassinated. His son then takes over and promptly gets Martial Law enacted on the city. The military comes in and totally takes down the entire system in the town. What's uncovered is an unbelievable system of corruption that boggles the mind.The film only covers the basics like, the gambling and Murders that occur..including the future Attorney General. You'll walk away from this film beyond stunned. I was speechless until I researched a little more about his online and to my surprise, this was all true. If you wanna see a film that you just can't believe...see this one. You won't believe the reality of this place. Totally shocking that this went on in a town in America. The evil in this film is just mesmerizing. Wow, what a surreal experience.

This documentary style crime drama is based on the true events in Phenix City, Alabama in the early 1950s. In fact there is a talky prologue that consists of a series of interviews that goes on much too long and adds nothing to the film. The film itself is quite interesting, marked by gritty cinematography and a rapid pace. Given the vintage of the film, the violence is shockingly brutal, particularly when targeted at women and children. The main shortcoming is the uneven acting. McIntire is fine, but most of the cast is pretty bad. Kiley is the main culprit here, chewing the scenery as a gung-ho military vet intent on cleaning up his home town.

"The Phenix City Story" is a brutal, hard-hitting docudrama about what was once dubbed the "wickedest town in America." The film documents the events that led up to the murder by the Phenix City crime syndicate of Albert Patterson, an Alabama attorney who made a bid for the state attorney general's office as a way to clean up the vice and corruption plaguing his hometown. His son, John Patterson, picked up his father's mantle after his death and won the post, making clean up of Phenix City a primary item on his agenda.Director Phil Karlson created a film that has the ability to shock even today. The grimness is so relentless that the film is actually difficult to watch. We see the crime syndicate beat and kill in order to get what they want -- the beatings and killings include women and children, and one scene in particular, revolving around the death of a little black girl, is especially disturbing. It's not exactly an enjoyable film, because there's very little payoff at the end to reward the viewer for sitting through the infuriating events leading up to it, but it's a well made film, full of an intense and angry energy.A 15-minute prologue includes a series of interviews with the actual inhabitants of Phenix City, some of who are then portrayed by actors in the fictional portion of the film. It lends the film a quality of urgency that carries over into the narrative, so that we feel like we're watching a documentary the entire time, a feeling that's helped by Karlson's choice to film on actual locations.I'm glad I saw this movie, but it's one of those films that fills you with a sense of righteous indignation and then makes you feel helpless because you can't do anything about it.Grade: A