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1950s precursor to 'Walking Tall'
lor_8 November 2023
A cop on the beat, looking after the goings on for a street assigned to him, is a rather quaint notion, but given life by straight-shooter George Montgomery in this dated but entertaining B-movie.
It's loaded with stereotypes and cliche plot twists, but the cast does a fine job making it eminently watchable. Nehemiah Persoff is terrific as a truly good bad guy--in fact, his self-serving statements on how he holds the street together and is worthy of running things is far more convincing than George's bull-in-a-china-shop approach as an unbending, old-hat cop who insists on playing everything by the book.
It's a revelation to see young Geraldine Brooks as a sexy drunk with the proverbial heart of gold. As the young teen lead Marilee Earle is a striking and forceful beautiful brunette -I was surprised to see that her career went nowhere in a hurry.
Director William Berke was a lifelong B-director, but he has some interesting credits at the end of a career that was cut short by a fatal heart attack at 54. One of his last films is a favorite of ChiO: COP HATER (1958), the first of two films based on writings by Evan Hunter made by Berke before his death and released posthumously.
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