Johnny Gunman (1957)

Posted by Solomon on 7/5/2017, 4:58 pm
I think it was Wisconsin Mark (or Marc) who first mentioned this film in his list of "street" films. Otherwise it's overlooked by most fans and critics, apart from 2 reviews on IMDb by fans.

Innocent Ann Donaldson's night voyage with racketeer Martin Brooks
7/10
Author: msroz from United States
5 July 2017

Johnny Gunman (1957) is a noir that's been largely overlooked by noir fans and critics, not appearing on any of the usual lists. I've seen it mentioned once among New York "street" movies, and it does belong there. Mostly, the recognition of it has been left to the two user reviews presently on IMDb.

The story features Greenwich Village locations. It features jazz on the sound track, well-chosen because Art Ford wrote and directed the film, and he's known for the 1958 Art Ford Jazz Party TV series. I recognized three of the male leads from their other work. These are Martin Brooks as "Johnny G", Johnny Seven as "Allie" and Woodrow Parfrey as "Sidney Wells". Brooks's credits are nearly all TV, but in older movies he may be seen in Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) and The Man (1972). Seven also has many TV credits, and he worked in Cop Hater (1958) and The Last Mile (1959) among other movies. Parfrey has 200 credits. He's usually a very distinctive presence in his roles, such as a carpetbagger in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976).

The female lead is Ann Donaldson. Her only other credit was in 1949. She carries her part well as a young writer, a "square" from the country who is headed back to the country but spends her last night in the successive company of 3 different men. She reminds me of Diana Lynn.

The story mainly pits Brooks against Seven. They are two potential inheritors of a convicted underworld leader who controls the action in the Greenwich Village district. Brooks is one of the men she tours with for a few hours. Seven is shown separately with his "Lady Macbeth" girl friend (Carrie Raddisson in the credits) urging him on not to split the territory with Brooks, but to take it all over. The two men are linked by childhood upbringing and a pledge not to use guns.

Ms. Radison (apparently the actual spelling) was the June 1957 Playboy Playmate of the Month. In her first scene here, she's very pretty and also very shapely in her undergarments. I thought she did a very good job in her part. Her other credit, the only one I can find, is in John Cassavetes' Shadows (1959). One IMDB reviewer evidently noticed her twice: "Some of the actors who played minor roles {in Shadows} played more than one part. The two actresses in the 'happiness boys' scene late in the film, Carol Stern (a brunette) and Carrie Radison (a strawberry blonde), are also in the nightclub chorus line (the first and fifth girls in the line), and Carrie Radison is also a bar patron in the early pickup scene."

Johnny Gunman is clearly a low budget b-movie, quite often stagy with simple two-person scenes; but the story is original, effective and well-acted.