LOOPHOLE & McCarthy era noirs with persecutors
Posted by Dan Hodges on 11/1/2021, 5:45 pm, in reply to "Where Danger Lives 1954: LOOPHOLE"

I want to lead with the following two quotes from the review of LOOPHOLE:

“Allied Artists’ Loophole is one of the numerous exercises in ‘it could happen to you’ storytelling that surfaced in the noir films of the McCarthy era. With obvious parallels to the red baiting of the day, it served to remind 1954 audiences that not all was well in the world, and that innocence didn’t immunize any citizen from persecution…

“As a film that brokers in the attainability of the American Dream, much of its conceptual darkness comes not from the unfair circumstances thrust upon the hero, but instead from its depiction of the man responsible for the hero’s misfortune. He is neither a bank robber nor a police officer, but a sociopathic insurance investigator long since bereft of his judgment. One can argue that this man, played vividly by the iconic Charles McGraw, is the real noir protagonist in Loophole.”

As the review says, persecution could befall the innocent in the McCarthy era, and McGraw is, indeed, the film’s real noir protagonist. Yet, while the review associates Barry Sullivan, the it-could-happen-to-you character, with noir films of the McCarthy era, the film's noir protagonist, McGraw, isn't given this historical association. The review fails to contextualize McGraw with other, contemporaneous noirs in which there is, similarly, a persecutor who represents authority. Often, as agents of law enforcement, they may be vigilante cops.
In this period, film noirs with a persecutor vary in their political perspective. For example, in the right-wing noir, NAKED ALIBI (1954), Sterling Hayden’s persecution of Gene Barry, continuing even after he’s dismissed from the force for his violent behavior, is vindicated, and the film ends with Hayden triumphant. In the left-wing noir, TOUCH OF EVIL (1958), Orson Welles’s illegal methods of framing the guilty are exposed by his partner, and the film ends with Welles’s ignoble death. Another left-wing noir of persecution is I CONFESS (1953), in which the inspector of a murder, Karl Malden, badgers Anne Baxter, in front of her husband, into admitting she’d had an affair with a priest, Montgomery Clift. Clift, however, doesn’t reveal who the killer is. The film’s title is perfect for the McCarthy era, but it’s ironic since Clift never succumbs to Malden's interrogation.

A list of vigilante cop noirs is as follows. They appear most frequently around the core of the McCarthy era.

1953
Big Heat
I, The Jury

1954
Human Jungle
The Long Wait
Naked Alibi
Ring of Fear
Rogue Cop

1955
Crooked Web
Kiss Me Deadly

1956
Female Jungle

1957
The Midnight Story
My Gun Is Quick
Street of Sinners

1958
Touch of Evil

Charles McGraw fits very well into this trend. However, the review inaccurately interprets the end of LOOPHOLE. It says, “The film’s most fascinating moment is its final one, when an exonerated Mike, restored to his job at the bank, looks up from his orderly column of figures to see Slavin inexplicably lurking outside his window--as the narrator confides that once again ‘Mike Donovan’s sitting on top of the world...or is he?’ It’s in this moment, when we recognize that there will always be Gus Slavins in the world, that we begin to wonder if it’s possible to ever truly be safe.”

Although the narrator speaks those words, what happens afterward refutes the conclusion of the review. That is, the film's ending isn't downbeat but very upbeat. The LA detective on the case, Don Haggerty, enters Sullivan’s bank office to wish him well. He looks up and sees McGraw outside and staring through the office window. Haggerty says, “Oh, no. Don’t tell me he’s still trying [to pin the crime on Sullivan].” Sullivan’s expression is neutral; he shows no fear. Haggerty removes his hat, smiles and gives a little bow toward McGraw. McGraw removes his own hat, tips it toward Sullivan and Haggerty, then turns and walks away. Offscreen, the last we hear on the soundtrack are Sullivan and Haggerty chuckling. Why? Because of the humor they find in McGraw's prank to come to the bank and look menacingly through the window -- as if he were "still trying."

Contrary to the review’s interpretation, the film finishes with McGraw’s acknowledgement of his error. The review only considers McGraw as a persecutor, and that he is unable to be otherwise. The review fails to recognize that the film shows that McGraw can change, and that he does change. As the last character shown, he remains the film's noir protagonist. In the finale, he's no longer malevolent. He is a reformed man; he has changed for the better. That is one indicator of the film's politics. And, of course, another indicator is that the film shows that the innocent, like Sullivan, will obtain justice. For the deserving, contrary to the review, the world is safe. LOOPHOLE is neither a right-wing nor a left-wing noir. The ending reveals that its politics are (sunny) liberal.

The following link is to my more extensive post on this topic.

http://www.filmnoirfile.com/naked-alibi/

Re: LOOPHOLE & McCarthy era noirs with persecutors
Posted by Don MalcolmUser icon on 11/3/2021, 7:49 am, in reply to "LOOPHOLE & McCarthy era noirs with persecutors"

Thanks, Dan. Good correctives (as far as they go) for the late Mark F.'s take on LOOPHOLE and for Dennis Broe's typology in your essay at your own site.

I think the "private cop" films (mostly Spillane) films should get separated from this list, as they're not showing us another form of institutional corruption, but rather a lone wolf character that takes the law into his own hands. (Ford's character in the BIG HEAT is one of the very few cases of a "vigilante cop" pushing against the "fix" existent inside law enforcement; there are echoe of that in ROGUE COP, but Taylor's character is far more complicit in the corruption.)

I also think the timing of the films per McCarthyism is a bit off, both temporally and otherwise, particularly when we get to 1957 (McCarthy had long since been discredited by that point, having been censured in December 1954; he died in mid-1957).

I think the "bad cop" sub-genre should rightfully be preserved intact, and then broken into subtypes from there. This character, in all of its manifestations, was a way for writers and directors to displace the social commentary that had been more overt during the Blacklist era, and it soon became a battleground between competing political viewpoints. It's clear that studios made conscious choices as to how these characters would be presented, often in accordance with specific and particular political slants...but not always. Sometimes a bad cop is just a bad copy (as in THE BURGLAR, where the cop character discovers his "inner criminal", or in SHIELD FOR MURDER, where a 50s variation of the present-day "culture of grievance" brings Eddie O'Brien to a level of corruption that is as reckless and brazen as it gets.

As for Mark's essay, it's clear that he was not always scrupulous in expanding his horizons to include the full range of films within a sub-type before plunging into a film review. Though he's of course no longer here to absorb criticisms and corrections, I think it's entirely appropriate to point out omissions or misinterpretations that sometimes exist in these essays, which more often than not read as though they were written in one sitting and posted shortly thereafter without any subsequent editing. His skill was such that many are cogent and on point even when they could have used some additional attention before publishing, but this one is an example of where further research was clearly necessary in order to present an accurate assessment of the film.

Re: Criminal Cops
Posted by Dan Hodges on 11/3/2021, 3:25 pm, in reply to "Re: LOOPHOLE & McCarthy era noirs with persecutors"

Eight years ago, I drew up two lists, one for vigilante cops, which I've already posted, and another for criminal cops, which appears below.

1949
Scene of the Crime

1950
Between Midnight and Dawn
The Man Who Cheated Himself
Where the Sidewalk Ends

1951
The Prowler
The Racket
Roadblock
Rogue River
The Sellout

1952
Kansas City Confidential
On Dangerous Ground
Scandal Sheet

1953
City That Never Sleeps
Vicki

1954
Private Hell 36
Pushover
Shield for Murder

1955
Murder Is My Beat

Re: Criminal Cops
Posted by Don Malcolm on 11/4/2021, 4:32 pm, in reply to "Re: Criminal Cops"

Thanks, Dan. The cop in THE BURGLAR should be on this list as well. There’s also a compromised cop in THE TURNING POINT. And there is Jack Carson’s evil sheriff in THE TATTERED DRESS.

And perhaps the grandfather of all this “bad cop” stuff is found in the rather forced SO DARK THE NIGHT (1946), where Steven Geray’s police inspector ultimately discovers that he is actually the murderer he’s been seeking.

I think a branching display of the variants of the “bad cop” motif is still the best way to organize an overview of this key character subtype.