The story is quite downbeat and depressing. The same could be said of the cast and crew members as well. Almost all of the persons connected with this production had known better days and their careers were in decline. Eagle-Lion Studios had scored with some top flight noir movies, but "The Hoodlum" is cheap and tame in comparison with those gems.
The review covered Lawrence Tierney and Max Nosseck (a director that Lawrence had worked with somewhat frequently and supposedly disliked). But consider some of the others:
Allene Roberts had some good roles in features such as "The Red House" and "Knock on Any Door." She seemed to get typecast as the woman who was victimized by handsome men who treated her characters badly. Her last few credits were in low rent "B" films and she opted for marriage and retired from the screen.
Marjorie Riordan had played opposite Bette Davis ("Mr. Skeffington") and Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet ("Three Strangers") at Warner Brothers. But somehow her career never gained much momentum. Her next best credit was in the surreal Sherlock Holmes feature "Pursuit to Algiers" that had one of the craziest plots in the entire series. "Hoodlum" was her penultimate acting role. She appeared in one more part in a "Racket Squad" television episode and decided to quit acting and enroll in graduate school where she studied speech pathology and psychology.
The attractive platinum blonde, Ann Zika (a/k/a Angela Stevens) was a fetching bit of eye candy, but she barely made an impression in "Hoodlum." Her best noir role was as a murder victim in "Without Warning." Otherwise, she was notable for appearing in several short subjects with the "Three Stooges" during the Shemp Howard and Joe Besser transitional period. Oftentimes, she was cast bit parts without receiving screen credits. "Creature with the Atomic Brain" provided her with a rare lead female role.
"The Hoodlum" is watchable, but as entertainment its plot is thoroughly predictable. The most one can say is that it provided a few paychecks to some noir regulars and extras. Tierney's career had really slumped after the low budget smash "Dillinger."
Shelley Winters described her tryst with Tierney in her autobiography. This occurred when she ran into him at a bar while Scary Larry was enjoying popularity due to the success of "Dillinger." Decades later, Winters bumped into Tierney at one her preferred restaurants (the former "Silver Spoon Cafe" in West Hollywood).
They both enjoyed a good laugh when Shelley shouted across the room at Tierney "LARRY! YOU PROMISED TO CALL ME!"
Dan
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