Hunt the Man Down (1950)

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Gig Young is a rather bland stand-in for Robert Mitchum in this murky film noir thriller about an attorney on a mission against the clock to track down witnesses to an old crime. The set up is actually a neat one, in which a seemingly innocent man is accused of being the suspect in a 12-year-old murder, leading a chief lawyer to track down witnesses to the crime to get their version of the events and to hopefully prove the man's innocence.This set up turns out to be an excuse for the writer to shine a flashlight into some very murky areas of society, in which various promising characters have fallen by the wayside into the depths of alcoholism and mental illness. It sounds rather more interesting than it is, with pedestrian direction contributing to an overly familiar feel to the whole thing, and the lack of any stand out performances makes it a rather forgotten and forgettable piece too. It's not bad by any means, but it's not one of the classics.

Watching Hunt The Man Down put me in mind of a Law And Order episode where Mandy Patinkin had to be retried again after jumping bail some 20 years after the crime and Sam Waterston's problem was the same as Gig Young's, missing witnesses. Only Young is the public defender.James Anderson after years of hiding foils a robbery at a restaurant/bar where he was a dishwasher. That act of heroism cost him his freedom.Young is appointed to handle his new trial and he prevails on his retired cop father Harry Shannon to locate all the people who were witnesses. On the night in question Anderson fell in with a crowd of young 20 something yuppies as we would call them today. One of them is shot while he's sleeping and Anderson is the one who looks good for it.This group has gone up, down, and sideways on the social scale in the intervening years. One murder, and two attempts on other witnesses convince Young he's got an innocent client. In the end it's an act of kindly deception perpetrated on one of them that's the key to solving the case.Standing out in this film is Willard Parker as the blind veteran, once a rising star in business now a bookbinder. Lynne Roberts who believes in Anderson's innocence and Cleo Moore a brassy blond from the Veda Ann Borg school. Veda must have been busy because Cleo's playing her kind of part and she does well with it.Hunt The Man Down is a well made B film from RKO and it looks like a television pilot. I think that Young and Shannon in a series based on this film would have worked.

Jam Packed Little Movie with Probably more Characters than the Budget or the Short Running Time can Encompass. There is much Cynicism in the Fate of the Many "Witnesses" to the Murder at Hand. Some like Mental Illness, Alcoholism, and Class Elitism are quite at home in the World of Film-Noir.The Movie does its best to keep all the Players in Line but it can be somewhat of a Challenge to keep them all Straight. But it makes up for the Complications with some Sharp Cinematography and Deeply Affected Participants. There is the Wrongly Accused Man trying to Unwind the Events that happened Years before, and Gig Young is the Public Defender trying Desperately to Help.The Film is so Full of Interesting Stuff that it Manages to be Entertaining Despite the Confusion. There is more than one Great Scene and some others that are Lurid B-Movie Delights. In the End it just Needed more Breathing Room to Elaborate on some of the Truly Interesting and Off-Beat Characters. But as it Stands there are some really Intriguing Interludes and doesn't Pull Punches as it Relies on some Stylized Realism for its Portrayal of Pulp Fiction.

This RKO release is typical of the routine second-feature fare that TV would soon replace. It's a pretty pedestrian account of an innocent man (Anderson) being cleared of a murder charge by his Public Defender. There's quite a number of suspects, at the same time, the script muddles them in confusing fashion that takes away the guessing game. Young more or less walks through the undemanding role of attorney-defender, while the usually villainous Anderson gets a rare shot at a sympathetic role. Anderson is a familiar face from that era, especially from the popular Dragnet series. He's one of those unheralded actors with a strong presence that could spice up the dullest screenplay. Catch the early bar scene where he shows his trademark moody snarl, otherwise he's pretty much wasted. There's one scene, the "moment of truth" in the courtroom, where director Archainbaud rises above the script with a dollying shot of the unhinged Rolene (Balenda). It's a sudden, chilling camera move, and Balenda does well with the histrionics. Otherwise, this is the sort law and order melodrama that would soon be done on, say, Mr. District Attorney (1954).