Thursday, November 16, 2023

JOHNNY O' CLOCK 1947 (TUBI)

Fine Film noir starring Dick Powell as the odd named title character.

O'Clock runs a New York gambling house with two other people. One is a gangster and the other is a crooked cop named Chuck Blayden (Jim Bannon). Blayden wants to get a bigger share of the profits and wants to be partners with the third man, Guido Marchettis (Thoman Gomez).

Blayden warn Johnny not to interfere and before long, after the mysterious death of Blayden's ex-girlfriend Harriet (Nina Foch) Johnny and Guido find themselves prime suspects in her murder.

Inspector Koch (Lee J. Cobb) dogs both men and will not leave them alone until he solves the case. Harriet's sister comes into town and falls hard for Johnny. Nancy (Evelyn Keyes) suspects Blayden, but cannot prove it. Johnny offers to help, but while this is going on, Johnny becomes the potential victim of a mob hit because Guido's brother thinks he is having an affair with his wife named Nelle (Ellen Drew).

This is a pretty tight film and all of the characters are brought to life and seem real thanks to the fine cast and expert direction by Robert Rossen.

This is another film I hadn't seen in many, many years and finally caught up to it on TUBI. It is just a good as I remember it, and Dick Powell is at the top of his game here. Ellen Drew looks beautiful as always.

The final resolution is downbeat, of course, but one gets the feeling that things will eventually be ok with the characters, those that survive anyway.

Film noir fans should really check this out.

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