LAWRENCE TIERNEY VILLAINIZES 'NAKED CITY: ONE TO GET LOST'

Lawrence Tierney in Naked City: One To Get Lost Year: 1959 Rating: ***1/2

By the late 1950's, Lawrence Tierney, who was an RKO leading man ten years earlier, turned up mostly on television... and it was in-between his infamous drunken brawls that had ruined his career and, ironically, made those villainous small-screen guest spots a reality...

But he's always good, like this episode of NAKED CITY titled ONE TO GET LOST in which mild-mannered businessman (and another former RKO contract actor) Kent Smith has cheated on his wife with a loose lover who turns up dead and, hours before, said admitted to be dating an elevator operator...

John McIntire, James Franciscus and Harry Bellaver on Naked City: One To Get Lost

The episode's director gets a lot for his money, having Tierney's back turned by the time Smith has caught up... inside a tight-space elevator... keeping up the tension and suspense since, once the real killer is revealed, he's gonna be one formidable enemy...

And even though... after seeing him in shadows in the prologue... Lawrence isn't fully revealed until the 11th hour, he's pretty much everything... Smith's marriage in jeopardy to the first season's lead actor John McIntire's real life wife Jeanette Nolan isn't as intriguing as that final elevator fight... providing co-star cops James Franciscus and Harry Bellaver something... or rather, someone... to truly battle. 

Lawrence Tierney and Kent Smith on Naked City

Lawrence Tierney and Kent Smith on Naked City

Lawrence Tierney in Naked City: One To Get Lost

Lawrence Tierney in Naked City: One To Get Lost

Lawrence Tierney in Naked City: One To Get Lost

Lawrence Tierney in Naked City: One To Get Lost

Lawrence Tierney in Naked City: One To Get Lost

Lawrence Tierney in Naked City: One To Get Lost

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