cult film freak: STANLEY BAKER & LAURENCE HARVEY IN 'THE GOOD DIE YOUNG'

Written by James M. Tate / 3/14/2021 / No comments / boxing , british , british film noir/melodrama , fifties , gloria grahame , heist , joan collins , john ireland , laurence harvey , lewis gilbert , richard basehart , romance , stanley baker

STANLEY BAKER & LAURENCE HARVEY IN 'THE GOOD DIE YOUNG'

3/14/2021 | No comment

Lawrence Harvey's the gun here Year: 1954 Rating: ***1/2

Lewis Gilbert's London-set Noir Melodrama would lack some of the Melodrama without the two Americans countering the two Englishmen, although Stanley Baker's working class boxer does get theatrical, but only outside the ring...

Staring out with four men in a car, guns drawn, about to commit a robbery, we experience backstories of each: With John Ireland, a broke, whiny GI married to cheating movie star Gloria Grahame — a horribly unbelievable, mismatched couple to begin with. And Richard Basehart with pregnant Joan Collins and a crazy mother-in-law, attempting suicide every time they attempt flying stateside: So one American needs airfare while the other needs a divorce... making both weak candidates for crime, and saving the best for last...

And the only character lacking the title's idealistic GOOD and in that, the equally charming and weaselly Laurence Harvey, married to a glamorous artist and trying to squeeze inheritance out a very living father after wifey kills his allowance, makes a fantastically deceptive, unashamedly hedonistic, cruel and cutthroat manipulator, especially towards Baker's crippled boxer (he'd lost his hand), needing cash the most. The two polar opposite Brits would have created a tighter, edgier tale. But the highly anticipated postal-truck heist leads to the kind of collective action the story had been begging for. Making one forgive all the soap operatic fluff that's still pretty entertaining. As soaps can very often be.

Laurence Harvey, Stanley Baker, Richard Basehart and John Ireland in The Good Die Young

Thomas Gallagher, Leslie Dwyer and Stanley Baker in The Good Die Young

Stanley Baker in The Good Die Young

Leslie Dwyer with Stanley Baker in The Good Die Young

Stanley Baker in The Good Die Young

Laurence Harvey in The Good Die Young

Richard Basehart and Joan Collins in The Good Die Young

Stanley Baker in The Good Die Young with a miscast Rene Ray

Richard Basehart and Laurence Harvey in The Good Die Young

Stanley Baker and Richard Basehart in The Good Die Young

Gloria Grahame in The Good Die Young

Share This Post :

Tags : boxing , british , british film noir/melodrama , fifties , gloria grahame , heist , joan collins , john ireland , laurence harvey , lewis gilbert , richard basehart , romance , stanley baker

James M. Tate

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)CANYON PASSAGE 5)THE FEARMAKERS 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)ANATOMY OF A MURDER 10)THE CROWDED SKY 11))THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE SYSTEM 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)TENTACLES 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)CURSE OF THE DEMON 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)KILLER FISH 25)AIR PATROL 26)DUEL IN THE JUNGLE 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE ROARING TWENTIES 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)JACK NICHOLSON 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)STANLEY BAKER 1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)STANLEY KUBRICK 4)ORSON WELLES 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)JOHN LANDIS 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)VAL GUEST 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER