Woman on the Run (1950)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Frank Johnson is out giving his dog a late night walk when he sees a gangland murder. Realising he is the only witness he decides he has a better chance going into hiding. Meanwhile the cops get his estranged wife involved – this is Ann Sheridan – who is brilliant. She is not sure if her husband is running from the mob or from their failed marriage.Then Dan Legget (Dennis O' Keefe) arrives on the scene as a newspaper man with an inquiring mind, a way with words and the cash to help them get out of San Francisco. However, both the cops and the mob are onto him and in the game of cat and mouse that ensues he has to be one step ahead of everyone.Now to say this is well made is a huge understatement, the dialogue is razor sharp with perfect timing and lines delivered the way they just don't do them anymore, Beautifully framed in black and white and with a story that is part crime, part chase and part romance, this sort of has something for everyone. The acting is all excellent and I loved the time period too with cars as big as small whales and everything that went in the fifties. This is a film for fans of golden Hollywood, fans of noir and fans of a ruddy great film making.

Ross Elliott witnesses a murder but cuts out on the police. In order to find their only witness and lead, they enlist the help of his wife, played by Ann Sheridan. But it seems that husband and wife were not very happy and were not really speaking to each other, so she isn't really that much help or in a mood to help. But the law, played by Robert Keith, is still sticking to her anyway, no matter what. Dennis O'Keefe is a newspaperman who wants a story, a story, so he is by her side all the way. By way of a letter left for her by her husband, she is on a quest to find him and in the process learns things she didn't know about him, herself and their marriage. Is is worth sticking it out? Does he love her? Does she love him? All this factors in this quick and absorbing film noir. Quick, or astute, viewers will get the "gotcha moment" long before unobservant viewers. The highlight is the roller coaster ride Ann takes as she realizes who the killer is. A well made little film, "Woman on the Run" entertains and really delivers the goods. You can find it from time to time on TCM, but this deserves to be seen more often and to have the same reputation of other more famous film noirs.

As another user here said, seeing that this film was in the public domain for anyone to sell or distribute made me assume that perhaps it would be a film that wasn't even seen as worthy of the cost of the stamp to renew the copyright. I was pleasantly surprised to see that actually, while not brilliant, it was actually quite enjoyable in how it moved. The plot sees a normal guy (Frank) out for a walk when he witnesses a murder and, although shot at himself, he is not hit. The police interview him as a witness but it quickly becomes clear to Frank that he was very lucky not to be killed himself and will clearly be a target again. As a result he goes missing and soon his wife (Eleanor) is looking for him, believing that he is actually running away from their difficult relationship. With journalist Danny Leggett alongside her looking for a scoop, she sets off to find him herself.The story unfolds as a reasonably engaging thriller with solid development. I enjoyed the relationship between Leggett and Eleanor as it skirts on the sort of playfulness that you tend to get with male/female partnerships in these sort of films but yet at the same time as more going on as Eleanor is open about her relationship. As others have said here, there is a twist at the end and it probably works much better if you don't know it is coming, because if you do then you are pretty much looking for it (which is why I think telling people there is a twist is a sort of spoiler in and of itself). Anyway, it is not too hard to guess but it is still quite nice when it comes.Although the film opens with Elliott, he is absent from most of the film and never really made an impact on me. Sheridan is great though with her turn and she works very well with O'Keefe. The direction from Foster is good at making an atmosphere without overdoing it in the process. Generally the film delivers well and has a nice tough edge mixed with playfulness which teases the viewer in quite a satisfying way.

Woman on the Run is directed by Norman Foster who also co-adapts the screenplay with Alan Campbell from a story by Sylvia Tate. It stars Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith and Ross Elliott. Music is by Arthur Lange and Emil Newman and cinematography by Hal Mohr.When Frank Johnson (Elliott) witnesses a man being shot and he himself is shot at by the killer, he decides to go on the run rather than trust police protective custody. The police turn to Frank's wife, Eleanor (Sheridan) to help track him down, but she thinks he has other reasons to runaway. Aided by newspaperman Danny Leggett (O'Keefe), who is after the exclusive story, Eleanor follows the trail left by her husband; but nothing is as it first seems...Compact at under 80 minutes, Woman on the Run is something of a little seen film noir offering. Basically a man hunt in essence, picture boasts strong atmosphere around the San Francisco locations and a last 15 minutes of noir excellence. In the narrative is a failing relationship that gets expanded upon as the story moves forward, and of course there's a twist, which thankfully is a genuine surprise. It's also very well performed, especially by the excellent Sheridan. The problem is that for the first hour it is exposition heavy, while the musical score is often too chirpy, a hindrance to the visual atmospherics. However, once we reach the last quarter and the story unfolds at an amusement park (Pacific Ocean Park), the picture hits its stride. Here is where the shadowy photography takes on a sinister edge, the action seemingly in a drug induced state. It's a terrific finale that lifts the film from being ordinary into must see status for the film noir faithful. 7/10