Kansas City Confidential
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| Kansas City Confidential | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Phil Karlson |
| Produced by | Edward Small |
| Written by | Story: Rowland Brown Harold Greene Screenplay: George Bruce Harry Essex |
| Starring | John Payne Coleen Gray Preston Foster Neville Brand Lee Van Cleef |
| Music by | Paul Sawtell |
| Cinematography | George E. Diskant |
| Editing by | Buddy Small |
| Studio | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | November 28, 1952 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Kansas City Confidential is a 1952 film noir crime film directed by Phil Karlson and starring John Payne. Karlson and Payne teamed up a year later for another noir, titled 99 River Street, followed by a 1955 color film, Hell's Island.[1]
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[edit] Plot
Four robbers hold up an armored truck getting away with over a million dollars in cash. Joe Rolfe (John Payne), a down-on-his-luck flower delivery truck driver is accused of being involved and is roughly interrogated by local police. Released due to lack of evidence, Joe, following the clues to a Mexican resort, decides to look for the men who set him up both to clear his name and to exact revenge. What he doesn’t know is that the heist involves a retired policeman who is also intent on revenge.
[edit] Cast
- John Payne as Joe Rolfe/Peter Harris
- Coleen Gray as Helen Foster aka Punkin
- Preston Foster as Tim Foster
- Neville Brand as Boyd Kane
- Lee Van Cleef as Tony Romano
- Jack Elam as Pete Harris aka Johnson
- Dona Drake as Teresa
- Mario Siletti as Tomaso
- Howard Negley as Andrews
- Carleton Young as Martin
- Don Orlando as Diaz
- Ted Ryan as Morelli
[edit] Background
In Kansas City Confidential, perennial movie bad guys Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand and Jack Elam play thugs and criminal associates. Although the title would suggest that the story takes place in Kansas City, most of the film actually takes place at a fictitious fishing resort in Mexico. Kansas City Confidential was director Karlson's second crime film; he also directed Scandal Sheet, also released in 1952, which proved to be a modest commercial success. This movie's plot was the inspiration for Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs.[2]
[edit] Marketing
The producers used the following tagline to market the film:
- Exploding like a gun in your face!
[edit] Critical reception
The staff at Variety magazine said, "With exception of the denouement, director Phil Karlson reins his cast in a grim atmosphere that develops momentum through succeeding reels. Payne delivers an impressive portrayal of an unrelenting outsider who cracks the ring.[3]
More recently, when the film was releaced in DVD format, film critic Gary Johnson said, "This is prime Karlson. It's brutal, hard-edged, and unflinching, but it's also livened by a distinct streak of optimism. Whereas some directors of film noir preferred the deterministic pessimism of Out of the Past and Raw Deal, Karlson tempered the surface cynicism of his films with an underlying sense of hope."[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Kansas City Confidential (1952) at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Hughes, Howard (2006). Crime Wave: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Crime Movies. London: I.B.Tauris. pp. 186. ISBN 1845112199, 9781845112196.
- ^ Variety. Film review, November 28, 1952. Last accessed: November 30, 2009.
- ^ Johnson, Gary. Images Journal, film/DVD review. Last accessed: November 30, 2009.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kansas City Confidential |
- Kansas City Confidential at the Internet Movie Database
- Kansas City Confidential at Allmovie
- Kansas City Confidential at the TCM Movie Database
- Kansas City Confidential at Film Noir of the Week
- Kansas City Confidential available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- Kansas City Confidential at Google Video (view film)
