City of Fear (1959)

Simply Perfect

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Fantastic!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Jailbreaker Vince Edwards steals a canister of radioactive Cobalt 60 from prison that he mistakenly thinks is several pounds of heroin. He makes his way to LA to meet up with his old contacts to move the stuff. The police bring in all of the known parties that were formerly connected to Edwards for questioning but then fail to put tails on these people to see if he contacts them, which he does. Edwards gets progressively sicker from the radiation throughout the movie but always finds enough strength to keep moving and killing. There isn't enough movie to fill even the short 75 minutes of the film. However, there is some terrific cinematography of late 50's LA and many vintage cars from that era. There is also a good Jerry Goldsmith musical score throughout that helps to make up for the lack of plot. Archer and Talbot make good cops and Patricia Blair is attractive as the loyal girlfriend. Barely okay.

This film begins with a guy breaking out of prison. This man (Vince Edwards) is incredibly ruthless--even for an escaped prisoner. He kills several folks throughout the film--such as a prison guard, an innocent guy in a car and several others. This coldness really was excellent--making the character very compelling.There is a strange (and VERY unbelievable twist). On his way out of prison, he stole what he THOUGHT was heroin from the infirmary--and he plans on selling it and making a fortune. However, it's actually a super-radioactive substance and if it's released from its steel case, it could kill thousands. Now what would heroin or super-radioactive stuff be doing in a prison in the first place?! I have no idea and it IS a huge plot problem. However, because the rest of the film is so good, it's something you can overlook. Taut--with great music and tense moments. The DVD case says it's film noir--and it is definitely noir-ish. Worth seeing.

***SPOILERS*** A lot like the 1955 Mike Hammer film noir classic "Kiss Me Deadly" the movie "City of Fear" has to do with a stolen cylinder of highly toxic and radioactive cobalt-60 in granular form that was histed from the San Quentin infirmary, what it was doing there is never explained, by escaped convicts Vince Ryker and his partner William Dafner. Thinking that the cylinder contains pure heroin Ryker and Dafner, who died from radiation poisoning within hours after his escape, are in for a big surprise once they open it. In not only killing each other but exposing million of people in the L.A Metropolitan area to it's deadly radioactive rays!Not daring to tell the public what their facing the police under the command of Chief Jensen try to capture Ryker before he opens and expose himself as well as the entire city of L.A to the deadly cobalt-60! Ryker not realizing what he's got on him tries to get in touch with shoe salesman Eddie Crown who uses his store as a front for drug trafficking! It's Crown that Ryker wants to fence the drugs and make a cool million from the transaction in splitting the profits with him. While all this is going on everyone that Ryker comes in contact with including his girlfriend June Marlow are exposed to the deadly cobalt-60 and like him are not long for this world.A pre Ben Casey Vince Edwards is eerily effective as escaped hood Vince Ryker who's so obsessed in what he thinks is the heroin canister he has on him that he doesn't seem to realize that it's in fact slowly killing him. On the run through the entire film Ryker starts to sweat and cough as well as suffer internal bleeding from being exposed to the cobalt-60 that he never lets leave his sight. This doesn't stop Ryker from murdering some half dozen people, including Eddie Crown, in his mad dash for freedom, to Mexico or South America, with his by now also dying from radiation poisoning girlfriend June Marlow. ***SPOILERS*** The end comes for Ryker in this greasy spoon diner in downtown L.A as he's running from the police where he staggers in and collapses in his cup of coffee barley being able to get up and stand on his feet! Finally realizing what a jerk he was in actually killing himself, with the cobalt-60, and taking a number of people along with him Ryker crumbles to the street and finally passes away. The irony to all that is that Ryker is by now so contaminated from the effects of the cobalt-60 that no one not the police or even the ambulance staff on the scene would dare lay a hand on him!

A tawdry low budget pot boiler featuring dynamite performances by Vince Edwards and a similarly game supporting cast. I know Edwards is probably most famous for his heroic Ben Casey role, but he sure chewed up a lot of upholstery in movies like this one and MURDER BY CONTRACT the year before. A lot of the charm comes in watching this police procedural unfold. Lots of seedy low lives generally keep up the off color flavor and the suspense builds nicely over the course of time.Some of the discussion of radioactivity is dated, but the cannister makes a great macguffin for the gruff talking' square-jawed Men of Law to pursue. It really wouldn't have taken much to raise this from a guilty pleasure and enjoyable cautionary tale to something along the lines of KISS ME DEADLY, but it's almost more quaint to see this mostly forgotten and obscure b-movie in its under-appreciated present form, if you can find it. The last shot of the movie is quite a hoot! Fine, jazzy musical score by a then-very young Jerry Goldsmith.