Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Good concept, poorly executed.

A Masterpiece!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Producer: Otto Preminger. Copyright 4 July 1950 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening the Roxy: 7 July 1950. U.S. release: July 1950. U.K. release: 18 September 1950. Australian release: 1 December 1950. 8,502 feet. 94 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A tough policeman with a reputation for beating confessions out of criminals, is sent to question a man suspected of murder. He becomes involved in a fight, and accidentally kills the man. The cop believes that a gang leader, Scalise, is responsible for the original crime, and that if he succeeds in concealing his own guilt he can secure Scalise's conviction for both murders. Unfortunately he meets and falls in love with the victim's widow.COMMENT: Preminger always stated in interviews that he remembered absolutely nothing about this movie. Certainly he doesn't even so much as mention it in his autobiography. That's a pity because there are two very interesting people involved with the production: Screenwriter Ben Hecht (under the pseudonym Rex Connor - though TV prints now credit Hecht in big letters); and dress designer Oleg Cassini (under the pseudonym Don Appel - get it, Don Apparel) who gives a remarkable performance as the spiv, Willie Bender. At the time, Cassini was married to star Gene Tierney.Producer/director Preminger liked unusual casting. He brought Clifton Webb back to the screen for Laura and he was later to introduce director John Huston in front of the cameras for The Cardinal, plus lawyer Joseph N. Welch in Anatomy of a Murder, unknown Jean Seberg in Saint Joan, politician John V. Lindsay in Rosebud.Yes, it's amazing Preminger remembers nothing about this movie. An obvious spin-off from Laura, it suffers from a typically limpid performance from Gene Tierney - who fortunately makes a late entrance, but then efficiently proceeds to slow down the pace which till then had been memorably brisk. Fortunately, Miss Tierney makes amends by lending her husband to the film, a bit of really inspired casting. Dana Andrews of course is as stiff as usual, but there's a great support cast of typically Hechtian characters (complete with sharp dialogue) who are vigorously brought to life. (Cassini incidentally has yet another role here - playing himself). Even more important than this fine array of character players, we have Gary Merrill giving the performance of his life as the smarmy gangster. Classily semi-documentary Fox in flavor and style with lots of location shooting in glossily low-key photography, and a cleverly integrated music score using Alfred Newman's famous "Street Scene", Where the Sidewalk Ends, despite its faults, is a definite must for the film noir connoisseur.

Dana Andrews plays New York City police detective Mark Dixon. Dixon is in trouble with his superior because he beats up the hoods he encounters. The problem is Dixon's father was a hood himself and got the current big cheese in the underworld, Tommy Scalise (Gary Merrill), his start in crime. Mr. Merrill looks about as Italian as a Cro-Magnon man, in fact he actually resembles Cro-Magnon man, but that's another story. So Dixon really sees his much hated but long departed dad in all of these rats he collars, thus the attitude. Dixon's superior says one more complaint about his rough stuff and he's off the force.Then a murder at a private game set up by Scalise to take an out of town hayseed. You see, the hayseed started winning - 19K to be exact - and then wanted to leave. Scalise and his mob disagreed.When Dixon and his partner get the call, the rich Texan is lying dead with a knife in his heart, Scalise says he was losing not winning when he died, and the guy (Craig Stevens as Ken Payne) who got into a fight with him over a girl (Gene Tierney as Morgan Taylor) is long gone, as well as the girl. Dixon and his partner split up, with Dixon going to Ken's place to see what he has to say.Now apparently all Ken did - and all the audience saw - was Ken knock the Texan cold. Ken has no idea that he has been set up to take the fall for a murder. So when Dixon shows up at Ken's place a fight breaks out when Dixon tries to arrest him. Ken throws a punch at Dixon, Dixon hit back, and Ken lands on the floor dead. Then a phone call from Dixon's partner. When asked if he found Ken, Dixon says no. The partner warns him not to get rough with the guy because, besides being a first class scum bag, he was a war hero and has a steel plate in his head due to war wounds. Thus the one punch death.Nobody is going to believe the truth given his reputation, so Dixon has to come up with a clever plan to get rid of the body and make the timeline look like he could never have been the killer. He succeeds too well. Then he begins to fall for Ken's widow, Morgan. And Dixon did a very good job of throwing suspicion off, because it lands on Morgan's dad who is booked for Ken's murder once the body is found. So Dixon has the possibility of making the woman he loves both a widow and an orphan. How can he make this right and get to keep Morgan, or can he? Watch and find out.Andrews' acting is subtle, mainly all facial expressions, since he can't talk out the dilemma he is in with anybody. The entire cast is superb. You've even got Karl Malden in a minor role as the new supervisor of detectives, and Tom Tully as Jiggs Taylor, Morgan's cab driving dad whose loud voice and big stories help get him into the legal jam he finds himself. That mousy little petty criminal who manages to have a small part all through the film that you've seen a hundred times in similar roles? Wrong. That was Don Appell in his only screen appearance. Finally there is Ruth Donnelly adding some great atmosphere as the hash slinging mom figure to Dixon. The only characterization that made me go "huh?" was Gene Tierney playing the daughter of a cab driver like she is a Park Avenue debutante.I'd give it a nine if not for the ending. Darn that production code. Watch and find out what I mean.

The central character, a troubled cop, is the nucleus of this Film-Noir and as things spiral out of control we are swept into this milieu of maniacs and the machinations of Police procedures. It is compelling cinema and its claustrophobic cage of confinement are ever present.The two stars are here to give us a foundation in an otherwise floundering footing of cement and steel, plaster and glass. They both deliver superb performances and are supported by a strong backdrop of characters and cronies. The cop's alter-ego is a loathsome, effeminate, drug sniffing snob who surrounds himself with beefcake.The Director is not one of the best of Noir's pantheon but manages to deliver a better than average entry despite his penchant for glossy grotesques rather than a down and dirty look. His underbelly always seems to have just a little too much palatability. A look at rather than a look from the gutter. A perspective that ultimately plays better in melodrama than pure Film-Noir.

I'm in the minority but this is a turgid noir entry. Andrews is so deadpan he's boring. Dialogue is borderline comical. Tierney's role is thankless & wasted. Lightning & street scenes are good but they can't compensate for how pretentious this film becomes. Special nod to a very young Neville Brand.The script is so far-fetched it leaves you incredulous. Cops did not converse in this manner. Who did? Karl Malden does the best he can with crass material. Curio film to see Gary Merrill too. Who soon married Bette Davis after working with her in All About Eve.No spoiler alert here but simply a summary to say this is a very odd film. I'm a fan of noir but there are so many better options than WTSE. In fact, I couldn't wait for this film to end.