Rogue Cop

Rogue Cop

Theatrical Film Poster
Directed by Roy Rowland
Produced by Nicholas Nayfack
Screenplay by Sydney Boehm
Based on the novel 
by William P. McGivern
Starring Robert Taylor
Janet Leigh
George Raft
Music by Jeff Alexander
Cinematography John F. Seitz
Edited by James E. Newcom
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • September 17, 1954 (United States)
Running time
 92 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $695,000[1]
Box office $2,509,000[1]

Rogue Cop is a 1954 film noir directed by Roy Rowland, based on the novel by William P. McGivern, and starring Robert Taylor, Janet Leigh, and George Raft.[2]

Plot

The film tells of Christopher Kelvaney (Taylor) a crooked police officer who is not timid to take bribes and payoffs from criminals and other nefarious folk. His brother Eddie (Forrest) is a young member of the police force and is honest and uncold.

In a penny arcade, a drug dealer is stabbed to death by a man who claims the territory for himself, and Eddie witnesses a gangland murder. The murderer goes to Kelvaney and asks to buy his brother off. When Christopher Kelvaney realizes that his brother won't change his testimony he tells the mob to leave his brother alone.

An out-of-town button-man is brought in to kill both brothers, but he succeeds only in killing Eddie. His conscience aroused, Kelvaney goes after the mob leaders himself.

Cast

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $1,417,000 in the US and Canada and $1,092,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $920,000.[1]

Critical response

Film critic Bosley Crowther gave the film a positive review and wrote, "This is not a new thesis. They've been making movies on it for years. And Rogue Cop is not so exceptional in its construction or performance that it is likely to cause surprise. But it is a well-done melodrama, produced and directed in a hard, crisp style, and it is very well acted by Robert Taylor in the somewhat disagreeable title role...For what it is in the line of crime pictures, there's a lot to be said for Rogue Cop."[3]

Awards

Nominations

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ↑ Everett Aaker, The Films of George Raft, McFarland & Company, 2013 p 159
  3. ↑ Crowther, Bosly. The New York Times, film review, September 18, 1954. Last accessed: January 18, 2008.

Tony Tracy, 'Unnatural Law: William McGivern's Rogue Cops' in James Rodgers, Matthew O'Brien (eds), After the Flood: Irish America 1945-1960. Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 2009

External links