Posted by ElliotLavine
on 9/16/2009, 1:15 am
75.35.112.157 | Message modified by user ElliotLavine 9/17/2009, 8:38 am
BETWEEN JOBS first presented on “Jane Wyman Theater” in 1956.
Starring Ralph Meeker, Neville Brand and Jeanette Nolan. Directed by
Don Weis. Photographed by John MacBurnie.
Half-hour anthology dramas from the 50s were as often as not a vastly entertaining wasteland of tightly produced, exciting black and white films. This particularly hopped-up tale of aberrant behavior is one of the strangest short noir films I’ve ever seen.
RALPH MEEKER stars as Joe Novak, a hot-tempered loser who’s prone to violent headaches and violent behavior. As the story opens he’s just decked his overbearing foreman and now faces the prospect of being unemployed again.
Returning to his rundown apartment building that afternoon he is greeted in the courtyard by his leering landlady (Jeanette Nolan) who slinks around the premises, gently stroking her small pet monkey. A viciously shrill harridan, she instantly sets Novak off by intuiting that he’s just been fired. She demands to know how he’ll pay his rent now. Novak flies into a defensive rage and is soon overcome by a crushing headache that sends him fleeing up to his apartment. Her maniacal denouncements of his character can still be heard in the courtyard below as Novak enters his upstairs room and frantically gulps down a handful of aspirins. Sprawling onto his bed, he passes out.
Having slept away the afternoon and early evening, Novak awakens refreshed and ready to go out. Leaving the building he is once more confronted by the landlady who starts up where she left off. Snarling back at her he disappears into the night.
Novak winds up down by the docks. A strong wind has blown up and it’s now raining pretty hard so he ducks into a seedy beanery. He begins to chat up the desperately eager waitress (Peggy Maley), but is once again seized by a king-size headache. He stumbles out of the joint, wincing in pain.
A steady, pounding night rain is falling and the cold wet air seems to help Novak’s throbbing head. Staring out into the choppy black waves he spots a cabin cruiser that’s capsized. He also sees two figures, flailing and bobbing helplessly in the waves. He drags a disheveled charter boat captain (NEVILLE BRAND) out from his dockside shack and they drop a rowboat into the drink, setting out on a hazardous rescue mission. After a fierce struggle with the elements they are able to pull the survivors, a middle-aged man and a younger woman, into their boat.
Back on the dock Novak and the captain wait with the survivors for help to arrive. The man is nearly delirious and confides to them that a box containing $350,000 worth of his wife’s jewels is still on board the sunken craft. And even though he’ll collect the insurance, there’s no reason why someone couldn’t retrieve the ice and make a double killing. But now the cops and the ambulance have arrived and the man and his wife are packed up and rushed to the hospital.
It doesn’t take long for this dubious pair to devise a scheme to make it back to the sunken boat and grab the loot before anyone’s the wiser. Back out on the treacherous waters, they embark on this dangerous retrieval. The captain’s an experienced diver and after an unsuccessful first attempt, he comes up the second time clutching the jewel box. In a sudden frenzy, Novak pulls the box away and grabbing an oar beats the captain back into the water. The pounding waves prove too much for him and he is pulled into the blackness, screaming hysterically for Novak to save him, finally being pulled under forever. Novak, half insane with the prospect of unlimited wealth for himself, rows back in to shore. Stumbling back home, he washes down another handful of aspirins. Fondling the jewels as if in a trance he seems to be a man possessed. A blinding headache erupts and he falls into bed.
Novak awakens to morning sunlight and the sound of agitated yelling down in the courtyard. Looking outside he sees a pair of cops grilling the landlady. Pointing up toward Novak’s window she insists the cops go upstairs. Fearing capture he panics. Staring out at the wall across from his window he sees the ghostly apparition of the captain’s shadow making its way closer to him, taunting him. Devoured by fear Novak loses complete control, screaming incoherently as the two cops rush inside. From out in the courtyard another voice is heard; the landlady’s monkey has been found, back in its cage. The realization that no one had suspected him of anything at all comes too late. Demanding to know where the overflowing jewel box on the bed came from, Novak stares catatonically at the cops and begins to slowly recite the events of the day.
An all-together terrifically done tv noir. The director, Don Weis, who had a hugely successful career in features and television, creates a rugged and believable atmosphere (the scenes out on the water during the storm are especially impressive) while spinning a madly far-fetched and highly stylized nightmare. Ralph Meeker and Neville Brand, icons for sure in the noir pantheon, both give gripping, over the top performances. A five star classic, and how!
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