Pushover (1954)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

the audience applauded

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Fred MacMurray has an extraordinary way of always appearing stupidly out of place and rather awkward, no matter what he does, like almost a permanent loser, maybe because that's the kind of characters he was best at, like in "Double Indemnity". This is the same story but on a smaller scale, and the lady here is different, Kim Novak in her first appearance, and she makes the film. This is like an introduction and rehearsal for "Vertigo", but this is black and white, and there is some real shooting taking place, which doesn't stop at one murder. The main trouble with the film is that it's impossible to understand how Kim Novak can love Fred. Your bets will rather pile up with Plilip Carey as a much more convincing character - Fred is simply hopeless and almost cooked from the beginning. The other lady Dorothy Malone imports some refreshment by her straight personality, and you follow all her scenes with almost keener interest than Kim Novak's , since Dorothy's character is less predictable, and she ultimately does determine the course of the drama.It's not a bad film, but Fred MacMurray will never become a favourite actor with anyone but rather constantly remain something of a bad joke of a stolid actor.

But it's not as effective as either noir, despite the presence of the former's Fred MacMurray in a similar role, and the voyeuristic titillation of the latter (much peering through binoculars at apartments across the courtyard, and nobody ever draws the blinds). He's a good-cop-turned-bad, seducing a bank robber's girlfriend (Kim Novak in her film debut, voluptuous as all getout but not trying very hard) and falling hard for her. The initial seduction is fun, much like Walter Neff squaring off with Babe Diedrickson (sp?) in "Double Indemnity." But the pair aren't ideally matched--by this time, MacMurray looks paunchy and less than leading-man suave, and his underplaying and her nonplaying leave us not caring that much whether the pair can pull their caper off. Maybe if he and the more vital Philip Carey, as his partner, had switched roles, there would be more heat. Some sharper dialog would help, too. Director Richard Quine shows a fondness for close-up shots of meaningless details, presumably just to throw the audience off. The noir mechanics include harsh black-and-white photography with an emphasis on the black, a pileup of bodies, and, most curiously, constant rain in what should be a sunny Los Angeles setting. A good enough time-waster, and it makes the most of its low budget, but more care could have produced something much better.

"Pushover" was the introductory film for legendary Hollywood actress Kim Novak, who had previously only been on screen for a few seconds between two separate movies. Here she plays a leading role alongside Fred MacMurray, Phil Carrey, E.G. Marshall, and Dorothy Malone in a film which is really nothing special. It's just another one of the early black-and-white crime noir movies that were very popular at that time. Don't misunderstand my critiquing. I am not impugning the movie, I'm just saying that it's about average and I had a good time watching it, so I give it three stars out of four.Novak plays the girlfriend of a mobster who is smitten with an undercover police detective played by Fred MacMurray. Eventually, their secretive romance leads up in the deaths of two men and they must try to figure a way to get out of it along with the two hundred thousand dollars the mobster robbed during a bank holdup after he murdered a police officer. The only trouble is, one of the neighbors (Dorothy Malone) can identify MacMurray's character as the suspect. And the other cops are catching on.Fred MacMurray has always been one of my favorite actors and I often found myself wanting to see him play a villain. I really can't say for sure if I would describe his character in "Pushover" as a villain but if that's what you would consider him, it's not the villain I wanted him to play. Still, he did a fine job as did everybody else. There's really not a whole lot to say about "Pushover" because, again, it's just like the other 50s crime noir films. Nothing special, but certainly an effective and entertaining method of spending one and a half hours.

Enjoyed this great classic film from 1954 starring Fred MacMurray, (Paul Sheridan) who is a detective and gets involved with Lona McLane,(Kim Novak) who is connected with a bank robber and Lona cons Paul to kill her boyfriend so they can take the money for themselves. The only problem is that Paul Sheridan is assigned to watch Lona on a stake out with other detectives and have her apartment watched and her telephone wires tapped. There are many problems that face Paul and Lona and one of Paul's detective friends gets involved with a girl named Ann Stewart, (Dorothy Malone) who lives in the same apartment house as Lona and lives down the hall. This story becomes quite exciting as a crooked cop tries to cover his tracks and makes mistakes after mistakes. Don't miss this Classic it is great with outstanding acting and a great cast of actors. Enjoy.