Raw Deal (1948 film)

For the 1986 film, see Raw Deal (1986 film).

Raw Deal
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anthony Mann
Produced by	Edward Small
Written by	Story: Arnold B. Armstrong Audrey Ashley Screenplay: Leopold Atlas John C. Higgins
Starring	Dennis O'Keefe Claire Trevor Marsha Hunt John Ireland
Music by	Paul Sawtell
Cinematography	John Alton
Editing by	Alfred DeGaetano
Distributed by	Eagle-Lion Films
Release date(s)	May 26, 1948
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Raw Deal is a 1948 film noir directed by Anthony Mann and shot by cinematographer John Alton.

Plot

Prisoner Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe), who has "taken the fall" for an unspecified crime, breaks jail with the help of his girl, Pat (Claire Trevor). Neither Joe nor Pat is aware that the escape has been facilitated as a set-up by mobster Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr), a sadistic pyromaniac, who has arranged for Joe to be killed during the break-out in order to avoid confronting him and paying Joe his agree-upon share of $50,000 for the crime. When the break-out scheme succeeds, contrary to Rick's expectations, Rick decides that he must have Joe done in some other way, by somebody else.

In the course of their run, Pat and Joe kidnap a social worker, Ann (Marsha Hunt) who has been visiting Joe in prison, trying to reform him. This begins a doomed film noir love triangle. A fight with a vicious thug ends when Ann shoots Joe's attacker in the back. After this act of murder, Ann realizes she is in love with Joe. Relenting, he sends her away and prepares to flee the country with Pat. In their hotel room, Pat receives a phone call from Rick's associate warning them that Ann has been seized by Rick, and will be harmed if Joe and Pat do not come out from hiding. Pat does not disclose the nature of the phone call, but instead tells Joe that it was a call from the hotel desk clerk about their check-out time, since she is anxious to avoid telling him anything about Ann that would lead him to hesitate beginning a new life with Pat.

After boarding a ship to flee the country, Joe attempts to convince Pat that they can start over a new life together, however Pat finally realizes that Joe will always be thinking of Ann. Pat realizes she must tell Joe that Ann is in danger and does so. Before the ship sets sail, Joe races to save Ann and kill her captor Rick. Under the cover of a thick fog, Joe manages to get past Rick's thugs who are positioned to ambush Joe, and sneaks into Rick's room. Surprised by Joe’s sudden intrusion, a sudden gunfight erupts with Rick and Joe shooting each other and inadvertently starting a fire. Joe and Rick, both wounded, fight hand to hand with Joe finally pushing Rick through an upper story window to his death. Mortally wounded, the dying Joe is comforted by Anne as Pat looks on.

Cast

• Dennis O'Keefe as Joseph Emmett (Joe) Sullivan
• Claire Trevor as Pat Cameron
• Marsha Hunt as Ann Martin
• John Ireland as Fantail
• Raymond Burr as Rick Coyle
• Curt Conway as Spider
• Chili Williams as Marcy
• Regis Toomey as Police Capt. Fields
• Whit Bissell as Murderer
• Cliff Clark as Gates

Critical reception

When the film was released, The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther, panned the film, "But this, of course, is a movie—and a pretty low-grade one, at that—in which sensations of fright and excitement are more diligently pursued than common sense...Except for the usual moral—to wit, that crime does not pay—the only thing proved by this picture is that you shouldn't switch sweethearts in mid-lam.

In Girl and a Gun: The Complete Guide to Film Noir, David N. Meyer wrote "It's the richest cinematography in noir outside of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane."

See also

• List of American films of 1948

External links

• Raw Deal at the Internet Movie Database