The Good Die Young (1955)

Memorable, crazy movie

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Blistering performances.

"The Good Die Young" is a slog of a movie with an excess of plot development and a lack of action. Much of it is told in flashback dealing with how the disparate group of robbers was assembled. They are Harvey, Basehart, Ireland and Baker. Never have more time and words been spent in establishing motive and circumstance than in this talk-a-thon of a picture.On the distaff side of the cast are Gloria Grahame (trampy wife), Joan Collins (stalwart wife), and Margaret Leighton(worldly older wife). All acquit themselves very well and acting on both sides may be the only reason to stick this one out. The story itself is not bad, it just takes too long to get underway and by that time one's patience has been severely tried.I had a slight problem with the artificial denouement. I found the coincidental meeting of principals too far-fetched and defying the element of time, but at that point I just wanted it to end.

All About Eve has a lot to answer for, not least the idea - which wasn't exactly new but Mank gave it a great new coat of paint - of starting the action in the present then letting a voice-over narration introduce the principals. The difference, of course, is that 'Eve' was scripted by a pro, Mank, whose name on the credits assured the viewer that Wit and Style would follow, whilst The Good Die Young was scripted by a couple of hacks I won't embarrass by naming. Seldom has a more disparate and incongruous cast been assembled in one movie. Top billing went to Mr. Mahogony aka Laurence Harvey and in an effort to give him some class the script had him married to Margaret Leighton, the only person remotely resembling an actor in the cast; the fifties was a time when Hollywood actors on the skids came to England in an attempt to revive flagging careers and three of them were wheeled out for this caper movie in the shape of John Ireland, Richard Basehart and Gloria Graham. There's also a nice touch of irony at work in the fact that Joan Collins and Graham share the same screen though never meet. Collins aims for demure though in her case it's more like demure the merrier while Graham, who was born sleazy and shop-soiled, took the kind of role (sluttish wife) that Collins would eventually make her own. Other imitators have proved that the flashback technique with voice-over narrator can and does work but usually the back stories are not warmed over clichés as here, in fact a good alternate title would be Four Losers In Search Of A Cliché.

Four men are in a car. They are all from different walks of life and a short time ago none of them were nothing more than drinking buddies – now they are on their way somewhere with a box full of guns. A washed up boxer, a man trying to win his wife back from a controlling mother, an RAF officer with a cheating wife and a "gentleman" with no means of his own. Only a few weeks ago, "gentleman" Miles finds himself out of luck with his women and his money pit in-laws and, needing money so, when he meets the other three men, he sees a chance to take advance of their various needs.For a while back in the fifties, British cinema seemed to have enough grit and clout to it to almost be able to compete with the American market in regards crime thrillers (if not quite noirs); The Good Die Young is one of those that has a good try and is a pretty enjoyable piece even if it lacks the grit and tension of similar American products. The film opens with an intriguing set up but then jumps back to establish the story and characters and it is here where it becomes weak. The back stories are rather melodramatic and it doesn't fit well with what was meant to be a bit tougher and gripping; they are interesting enough to do the job but I must admit to feeling that they were a bit dragged out and unnecessarily long. However, if you make it through this main body of the film you'll get to an ending that is just what the film should have been throughout. I won't spoil it but it is enjoyably brutal, downbeat and gripping – "about time" was my thought when I realised that the film had gotten going.The cast do their best with the melodrama but the material isn't there for them and they are mixed. Harvey and Baker stand out with strong performances; Basehart is good but Ireland feels like he is just making up the numbers. Naturally Collins stands out today, and she is quite good but the melodrama is made better by Grahame, Ray and, to a lesser extent, Leighton. Of course the men are all much better in the proper crime side of the film and this is partly due to better and more atmospheric direction from writer/director Gilbert, who also injects the pace when it is required.Overall this is an average film mainly because the back story takes up far too much of the film, is too melodramatic and doesn't sit well with the tough tension promised in the first scene and delivered at the end. With the main trunk being rather plodding, the ending does feel a lot better mainly because you're grateful that the film has gotten going. Could have been great but is merely reasonably good; worth seeing for genre and period fans but will not impress a wider audience.

Coming to this with neutral expectations, and fresh from seeing Harvey in 'Room at the Top' for the umpteenth time, I was quite surprised to find it watchable, with lots of interesting facets and a cast who complement each other well. Baker (an actor whose work seems to be undergoing some appraisal at film festivals lately) gives some dignity to the down-on-his-luck prizefighter; Harvey convincingly plays an upper-class slimeball alternatively charming and terrorising his wife (interesting played by Margaret Leighton, who would become Mrs Harvey in real life), sparring with the father who despises him, and poisoning his 'friends' lives like a devious snake. Ireland, as the bitter GI with a film star wife flaunting her infidelities each time he comes home from leave, is effective, while Basehart, with a weedy wife and an overbearing mother-in-law, puts across his frustations nicely. So much for characterisation. The film is mainly taken up with a series of flashbacks, showing how the four men find themselves in the situation we see them in at the start. Once it moves back into the present, it feels rushed and the final moralistic voiceover almost kills it. Amongst the other players, Joan Collins as Basehart's wife doesn't do much besides pout and look pretty, while Gloria Grahame as the film actress manages to be simply irritating. All things considered, the film isn't a total success but has enough going on to keep you there with it.