Pushover (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pushover | |
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 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Richard Quine |
| Produced by | Jules Schermer |
| Written by | Story: Bill S. Ballinger Thomas Walsh Screenplay: Roy Huggins |
| Starring | Fred MacMurray Philip Carey Kim Novak |
| Music by | Arthur Morton |
| Cinematography | Lester White |
| Editing by | Jerome Thoms |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | July 30, 1954 (U.S.A.) |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Pushover (1954) is a film noir notable for being the first film to feature Kim Novak in a starring role. The Columbia Pictures picture also stars Fred MacMurray as a good cop gone bad. It was adapted from two novels, The Night Watch by Thomas Walsh and Rafferty by William S. Ballinger.[1]
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[edit] Plot
An honest cop (Fred MacMurray) is tasked to track down over $200,000 in the hands of a gangster after a bank robbery. The cop maintains a 24-hour surveillance on Lona McLane (Kim Novak) - a girlfriend of one of the robbers.
The cop quickly falls in love with Lona, who, when she finds out he's a policeman, tries to persuade him to kill Wheeler (Paul Richards) so the two can take off with the cash. He initially resists, but eventually agrees.
But after the killing, he finds that he also has to kill his detective partner too, in order to cover his tracks. Almost all the action takes place, at night, in the U-shaped apartment building where Lona lives.
[edit] Cast
- Fred MacMurray as Paul Sheridan
- Philip Carey as Rick McAllister
- Kim Novak as Lona McLane
- Dorothy Malone as Ann Stewart
- E. G. Marshall as Lieutenant Carl Eckstrom
- Allen Nourse as Paddy Dolan
- Phil Chambers as Briggs
- Alan Dexter as Fine
- Robert Stevenson as Billings
- Don C. Harvey as Peters
- Paul Richards as Harry Wheeler
- Ann Morriss as Ellen Burnett
[edit] Reaction
Reviews for the film are mixed. Most critics find the film's plot similar to other film noir, but Kim Novak is usually singled out as a rising photogenic star in most reviews. Chicago Reader film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote, "An aging cop (Fred MacMurray) falls in love with a bank robber's girlfriend (Kim Novak in her first major role, and if you're as much of a pushover for her early work as I am, you can't afford to miss this)."[2]
Film critic Craig Butler wrote, "Aficionados will doubtlessly argue whether The Pushover should be classified as film noir or merely as a suspense film, but whichever its category, this overlooked movie deserves to be better known. Not that it's a great film, for it's not -- the characters don't develop fully enough, remaining just film types rather than flesh and blood people, the themes of the film are not explored deeply enough to have resonance, and there's a late development that asks the audience to change its mind about the leading lady that just doesn't work. Still, it's immensely entertaining, skillfully directed by Richard Quine with the requisite suspense trappings (and a wonderfully unsettling sense of voyeurism), and covering a lot of territory in its 88 minutes."[3]
Critic Dennis Schwartz liked the film and wrote, "Pushover covers familiar film noir territory, but does a good job of showing how easy it is to lose control of one's life when one is so vulnerable, obsessed and emotionally weak. Novak does a fine job in her first starring role as a heartless femme fatale who does have a heart after all, but is too inexperienced to prevent the man she loves from disintegrating because he becomes more obsessed with money than with her."[4]
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Screenplay Info for Pushover (1954). Turner Classic Movies (tcm.com). Retrieved on 2007-12-20.
- ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan. Pushover capsule. chicagoreader.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-20.
- ^ Butler, Craig. Film review, Pushover at Allmovie.
- ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, February 4, 2003. Last accessed: April 23, 2008.
[edit] External links
- Pushover at the Internet Movie Database
- Pushover at Allmovie
- Pushover at the TCM Movie Database
- Pushover at Film Noir of the Week
- Eddie Muller remarks about screenwriter Roy Huggins
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