Written by / 10/30/2022 / No comments / , , , , , , , , , , ,

RICHARD FLEISCHER'S TRUE CRIME ADAPTATION OF 'COMPULSION'

Poster for Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION Year: 1959 Rating: ****1/2

In-between the late Dean Stockwell's green-haired child actor days and the likeable chubby fella leaping through time TV-era, he was a handsome young man but always with a gritty edge... 

Befitting perfectly alongside a more jovially crooked Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION directed by Richard Fleischer, who had trouble with the first-billed/third-act star Orson Welles (for tax issues more than attitude), providing a walloping anti-death penalty speech lasting ten minutes... yet by that time the best scenes had long passed...

Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION Judas Goat scene with Dean Stockwell

The third and fourth billed stars (following Welles and their college friend Diane Varsi) carry the picture from before and after they decide to kill a young boy for the hell of it, leaving out the crime altogether...

Taken from the original thrill kill rich kids Leopold & Loeb case, changed to Judd Steiner and Artie Strauss ala Stockwell and Dillman respectively, COMPULSION is adapted from the Meyer Levin novel where even HE has a  role in the form of Martin Milner as a young working-class reporter, lacking the trust funds of his college mates turned murderers...

E.G. Marshall in COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell and Gavin Macleod

Ironically both Stockwell and Dillman would later play murder victims on COLUMBO (in different episodes); and the pivotal middle-section here wields those kind of cat-and-mouse mind games from prosecutor E.G. Marshall... 

His scenes interviewing politely while surreptitiously interrogating each suspect is as suspenseful and tense as things get, despite the audience already knowing the historic outcome...

Bradford Dillman helping Columbo-villain style in COMPULSION with Robert F. Simon

But it's the boys during their short-lived good times before the cops move in (because of the real life clue of Leopold/Stockwell dropping his glasses at the crime scene) where COMPULSION really shines: including scenes where Dillman helps the investigators by naming names of his former bullying schoolteachers as possible culprits... 

And it's especially intriguing when the book-smart killers discuss philosophy (particularly Friedrich Nietzsche), romance, violence and risk-taking... and how it all somehow connects...

Dean Stockwell in COMPULSION opposite Bradford Dillman

Stockwell and Dillman's odd couple chemistry makes up for contrived ingenue Diana Varsi's melodramatic kinship with the reclusive Steiner (Stockwell), who's far more comfortable with his dominant male counterpart... 

Providing more than a subtle nod at a homosexual relationship, steered keenly and cautiously by Fleischer, an apt director of Film Noir able to tow the line of true crime and fictional thriller, just like the novel it's based. 

Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION with Richard Anderson
Orson Welles in COMPULSION with E.G. Marshall
Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION with Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell
Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell in COMPULSION

Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell
Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell
COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell
Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell
Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell
COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell
Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell
Martin Milner replicates Meyer Levin in COMPULSION
E.G. Marshall in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles in COMPULSION with Richard Anderson as Stockwell's brother
Orson Welles in COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell & Bradford Dillman
COMPULSION with Gavin MacLeod & Bradford Dillman
E.G. Marshall in COMPULSION with Dean Stockwell
Orson Welles commands the third act trial of COMPULSION
E.G. Marshall and Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION
E.G. Marshall and Dean Stockwell in COMPULSION
Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell in COMPULSION
Bradford Dillman, Dean Stockwell and Orson Welles in COMPULSION
Orson Welles and Bradford Dillman also in Fleischer's Crack in the Mirror
Bradford Dillman, Dean Stockwell and Diane Varsi in COMPULSION
Dean Stockwell in COMPULSION
Bradford Dillman in COMPULSION

Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

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

All Time Popular

Featured Post

ROBERT BEATTY WITH TERRY MOORE IN 'POSTMARK FOR DANGER'

Title: POSTMARK FOR DANGER Year: 1955 Rating: ** Twenty years before Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, involving a first-act wher...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "The Love Generation... Vicious little creeps!" Peter Strauss, Rich Man Poor Man

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)CHARLES BRONSON1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

FOR HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS

Most Popular Last Year

RETURN TO THE HOMEPAGE