#7 THEY LIVE BY NIGHT
“I marry people because there’s a little hope they’ll be happy. In a way I’m a thief just the way you are, but I won’t sell you hope, when there is none.
They Live By Night, takes us into the noir world of cynicism and criminality where blood is not thicker than water and every shady deal every rip-off is rationalized with, ‘they’re thieves just like us.' Nicholas Ray lets us know from the opening : “This boy and this girl were never properly introduced to the world we live in to tell their story” that the two young lovers share a predestined fate of doom.
The film is an adaptation of the Edward Anderson's novel Thieves Like Us, Three convicts Bowie, (Farley Granger) along with T-Dub (Jay C. Flippen) and Chickamaw (Howard Da Silva) break out of prison. Bowie is twenty three (same age as Granger) and has been doing hard time since he was sixteen. The film begins with the three speeding down a country road with a car they commandeered. Ray was the first director to film from a helicopter and the shots effectively show the barrenness of the countryside. The car blows a tire and swerves off the road. T-Dub stops Chickamaw from killing the driver and instead bludgeons him to the ground. Bowie has twisted an ankle and waits for a ride beneath a road sign. The others hike to Chickamaw’s older brother Mobley's (Will Wright) filling station. A little later Keechie (Cathy O’Donnell) Mobley's daughter picks up Bowie.
It turns out to be a family reunion for it's not long before T-Dub’s sister-in-law Mattie (Helen Craig) joins the group. She will help them but only if she can get money to get her husband, T-Dub’s brother, out of jail. To do that they need to rob banks and to rob banks they need a car. Mobley sells them a used car for $1,500. Bowie exclaims it’s worse than robbing a bank. T-Dub explains, “They're thieves just like us.” It won't be the last time we hear that line.
Bowie and Keechie strike up a conversation. Their youngish looks and pleasant appearances are in stark contrast to the rest of gang. Bowie carries with him a newspaper clipping of a sixteen year old who like himself was tried, judged and sentenced the same day. He explains to Keechie that The Supreme Court overturned the conviction for lack of due process. The only reason he's going along with the others is to get money to contact a Tulsa lawyer to take his case.
Keechie says it’s better if he turns himself in: “They don’t want to keep people there (prison) who don’t belong there,” she says. Yep. This boy and this girl were never properly introduced to the world we live in…”
The film is an adaptation of the Edward Anderson's novel Thieves Like Us, Three convicts Bowie, (Farley Granger) along with T-Dub (Jay C. Flippen) and Chickamaw (Howard Da Silva) break out of prison. Bowie is twenty three (same age as Granger) and has been doing hard time since he was sixteen. The film begins with the three speeding down a country road with a car they commandeered. Ray was the first director to film from a helicopter and the shots effectively show the barrenness of the countryside. The car blows a tire and swerves off the road. T-Dub stops Chickamaw from killing the driver and instead bludgeons him to the ground. Bowie has twisted an ankle and waits for a ride beneath a road sign. The others hike to Chickamaw’s older brother Mobley's (Will Wright) filling station. A little later Keechie (Cathy O’Donnell) Mobley's daughter picks up Bowie.
It turns out to be a family reunion for it's not long before T-Dub’s sister-in-law Mattie (Helen Craig) joins the group. She will help them but only if she can get money to get her husband, T-Dub’s brother, out of jail. To do that they need to rob banks and to rob banks they need a car. Mobley sells them a used car for $1,500. Bowie exclaims it’s worse than robbing a bank. T-Dub explains, “They're thieves just like us.” It won't be the last time we hear that line.
Bowie and Keechie strike up a conversation. Their youngish looks and pleasant appearances are in stark contrast to the rest of gang. Bowie carries with him a newspaper clipping of a sixteen year old who like himself was tried, judged and sentenced the same day. He explains to Keechie that The Supreme Court overturned the conviction for lack of due process. The only reason he's going along with the others is to get money to contact a Tulsa lawyer to take his case.
Keechie says it’s better if he turns himself in: “They don’t want to keep people there (prison) who don’t belong there,” she says. Yep. This boy and this girl were never properly introduced to the world we live in…”
A day prior to the robbery they case out a bank a little west of Ft. Worth. On the spur of the moment Bowie buys a watch at a jewelers. This impromptu gift for Keechie will lead to a series of events that eventually result in tragedy for the young lovers.
Bowie is the getaway driver and waits as they rob the bank. He is recognized by the jeweler who stops to make small talk. When the man won't leave he shoves him to the ground and he hits his head on what looks to be the side of a mail box. Then follows a short getaway scene shot from the back seat of the car that precursors the longer and famed getaway scene from Gun Crazy.
The gang splits up. T-Dub leaves to hook up with Mattie. Bowie and Chickamaw will drive to a new location and all three will rendezvous in a week or two. Bowie t-bones a car and is injured. A policeman intervenes to take Bowie to the hospital. Chickamaw shoots him then takes Bowie back to the filling station and leaves him with Keechie.
Bowie is the getaway driver and waits as they rob the bank. He is recognized by the jeweler who stops to make small talk. When the man won't leave he shoves him to the ground and he hits his head on what looks to be the side of a mail box. Then follows a short getaway scene shot from the back seat of the car that precursors the longer and famed getaway scene from Gun Crazy.
The gang splits up. T-Dub leaves to hook up with Mattie. Bowie and Chickamaw will drive to a new location and all three will rendezvous in a week or two. Bowie t-bones a car and is injured. A policeman intervenes to take Bowie to the hospital. Chickamaw shoots him then takes Bowie back to the filling station and leaves him with Keechie.
While Bowie sleeps Keechie pretties herself up. She likes the person she sees in the mirror. As she rubs his back he asks her if it's true she's never had a fellow, even one to go to church? When he starts talking about the money he has and how they could run away she backs away from him. She's grown up in an environment where the men talk big, dream big and wind up with little to show for it. She tells him:
"I'd do as much (tending to him) as I would for a dog,"
and then,
"are you saying I should have a boy friend and that it should be you?
Neither has had any interaction with the opposite sex. The only men Keechie has known have been her drunken father, who treats her like a servant, her creepy Uncle Chickamaw and assorted low-lives. This scene where Keechie tends to Bowie's injury is similar to a young boy and girl courting on a first date. It culminates when Bowie offers the watch to her. She tentatively takes it only after asking if he really wants to give it to her. Keechie's life has been so bereft of attention and love (we later learn she has had only one photograph taken of herself) that his offer of a watch is beyond anything she might have dreamed.
Both are in search of a family and a sense of belonging. In Bowie's case it's a clash of contradictory values. For Bowie to live in his imagined real world, with real people, he must distance and rid himself of the world he has known all of his life. A sobering thought is that prison, criminals and criminality is his real world.
Mobley has gone to getting drunk. They run off together, the watch might just as well have been an engagement ring, and the film's focus is now entirely on Bowie and Keechie's quest to live in the real world.
"I'd do as much (tending to him) as I would for a dog,"
and then,
"are you saying I should have a boy friend and that it should be you?
Neither has had any interaction with the opposite sex. The only men Keechie has known have been her drunken father, who treats her like a servant, her creepy Uncle Chickamaw and assorted low-lives. This scene where Keechie tends to Bowie's injury is similar to a young boy and girl courting on a first date. It culminates when Bowie offers the watch to her. She tentatively takes it only after asking if he really wants to give it to her. Keechie's life has been so bereft of attention and love (we later learn she has had only one photograph taken of herself) that his offer of a watch is beyond anything she might have dreamed.
Both are in search of a family and a sense of belonging. In Bowie's case it's a clash of contradictory values. For Bowie to live in his imagined real world, with real people, he must distance and rid himself of the world he has known all of his life. A sobering thought is that prison, criminals and criminality is his real world.
Mobley has gone to getting drunk. They run off together, the watch might just as well have been an engagement ring, and the film's focus is now entirely on Bowie and Keechie's quest to live in the real world.
"Their bus stops at a diner where across the street a Justice of the Peace advertises marriages for twenty dollars. Bowie wants to do the right thing. He wants to do everything real people do in the real world. He hesitatingly asks, “Keechie, would you marry me?” “If you want me to,” she says. The tone of her voice, her look of uncertainty gives testimony of a young person who in her short sweet life has learned that it's best not to want or expect anything for the answer will usually be no.
I found that in almost every of my top26 there is always one supporting actor who makes an indelible mark on the film and Ian Wolfe is that actor. His initial attitude toward the young lovers is personable, amiable, and fatherly. He's married moonstruck sweethearts by the truckload. His demeanor changes when Bowie questions the need for witnesses. Hawkins sizes them up and knows they are on the run from something. This gentle sweet man is more than willing to skirt the law for a price. |
He overcharges them on a car and suggests they honeymoon in Mexico. He's spent a lot of time there he says, and he's met a lot of good friends who could help them.
Ian Wolfe is but one more thief like the rest of them and it takes one to know one. They get married, get a car and it's off to their honeymoon. "Look at that. Twenty dollar weddings.
What a way to get married." "Yeah." "Keechie, will you marry me?"
"If you want me to." "I want you to ..." "Then yes I would." |
There is a moment when they're driving to the cabin where she rests her head on his shoulder and says, “I like you so much.” Everything they do; their affection and devotion for each other shout out 'love' so it's interesting as to why 'like' was used? In fact neither of them have said they love another. It's only at the fateful ending does Bowie make it a point to correct that omission. And Keechie?
'Love' is probably a word neither have heard or been the recipient of from anyone in their lives. Their impromptu marriage was the socially correct perfunctory process that they know is the path to respectability and acceptability in the 'real world.' (Linda Darnell's Stella in Fallen Angel expresses this sentiment to rebuff Dana Andrews' advances). Keechie's Mom ran off when she was young. When asked if she likes her old man, she tells Bowie, "Not much." She doesn't give details and her blase is like saying, 'he could drop off the face of the earth for all I'm concerned.'
This is a young girl, who has never known love, never been told she’s been loved and "I like you so much" is all that her life experiences will allow her to say. At this point in their relationship it is a safe word for her. Her admission to liking Bowie is the gateway to her loving him and the evidence will be their joint acceptance of their unborn child. For now Bowie is nice to herhe's very nice to her and 'like' is a good enough precursor for love.
While 'like' is but one step up the ladder to her being in love for the first time it is also an acceptable replacement for a woman who has experienced love and does not hope or expect to experience it again. In Pitfall, Liz Scott’s character, Mona Stevens explains to Dick Powell about her relationship with her boyfriend, (Byron Barr) by saying, “...he was nice to me. Very few men are.” Her boyfriend may love her, we know he's insanely jealous of her which is more obsession than love, but the best Mona can offer in return is that she likes him and at that point in her life 'like' is good enough. We can only hope that Keechie never reaches that point of Mona's desperation.
They rent a cabin in the Missouri Hills and fix up their cabin as they would a home. It is what both have wanted; a home just like real people.
'Love' is probably a word neither have heard or been the recipient of from anyone in their lives. Their impromptu marriage was the socially correct perfunctory process that they know is the path to respectability and acceptability in the 'real world.' (Linda Darnell's Stella in Fallen Angel expresses this sentiment to rebuff Dana Andrews' advances). Keechie's Mom ran off when she was young. When asked if she likes her old man, she tells Bowie, "Not much." She doesn't give details and her blase is like saying, 'he could drop off the face of the earth for all I'm concerned.'
This is a young girl, who has never known love, never been told she’s been loved and "I like you so much" is all that her life experiences will allow her to say. At this point in their relationship it is a safe word for her. Her admission to liking Bowie is the gateway to her loving him and the evidence will be their joint acceptance of their unborn child. For now Bowie is nice to herhe's very nice to her and 'like' is a good enough precursor for love.
While 'like' is but one step up the ladder to her being in love for the first time it is also an acceptable replacement for a woman who has experienced love and does not hope or expect to experience it again. In Pitfall, Liz Scott’s character, Mona Stevens explains to Dick Powell about her relationship with her boyfriend, (Byron Barr) by saying, “...he was nice to me. Very few men are.” Her boyfriend may love her, we know he's insanely jealous of her which is more obsession than love, but the best Mona can offer in return is that she likes him and at that point in her life 'like' is good enough. We can only hope that Keechie never reaches that point of Mona's desperation.
They rent a cabin in the Missouri Hills and fix up their cabin as they would a home. It is what both have wanted; a home just like real people.
If Director Ray was looking for two actors to evoke empathy he could not have not done better than Mr. Granger and Ms. O'Donnell. Granger has the same cute puppy dog look as in The Purple Heart, and The North Star. What's often forgotten is that Bowie is a criminal and he's not shy about resorting to violence and adhering to the coude of 'thieves like us.' The papers call him The Bowie Kid much to the chagrin of Chickamaw who is jealous of Bowie's notoriety and bristles when he's constantly refered to as "One-Eye". Granger also played a killer in his prior movie Rope. Granger who exemplified idealism, and innocence in his first two movies, subtly portrayed villainy in those same films. By the end of the movie Granger has wonderfully transformed himself into a hardened outlaw, while he still maintained the tender charm ithat was evident in the beginnng of the film.
Keechie's rationale for Bowie to turn himself in and explain his case was that the law would not want to see an innocent man in jail. Can her naivete be predicated on a belief that those in places of responsibility are different than those she's known in her life? She has had an insular upbringing. Until she met Bowie a life away from the filling station was as much a fairy tale as Cinderella and Prince Charming. The same might be said of a young Ann Steely(Cathy O'Donnell) reading movie magazines and dreaming of Hollywood. While we who have been introduced, if not welcomed, to the world we live in and shake our heads in benign disbelief at her rationale, she's not all that different from Bowie who lives a life of crime yet still thinks he can fit in with the outside world populated by 'real people.' His 'real people' juxtaposes with the 'thieves like us" creed that Bowie has accepted to be an integral part of his life. Both lovers are hopelessly naïve with a romantic idealized vision of what life is outside their own world. |
Cathy O’Donnell was born and raised in Siluria, Alabama a small cotton mill town midway between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.
Ms. O'Donnell addresses what for me is a minor fault in that is a lack of regionalism in the movie. When Ms. O'Donnell signed with MGM she reportedly had a ‘thick Southern accent.’ Although it was "corrected' it is still pronounced and adds to the total effectiveness of the movie. Her accent is a nice contrast to the carefully enunciated neutral General American accent of Farley Granger. The book and the 1974 remake take place in Mississippi. This film seems to be set in the Dallas Ft. Worth area of Texas. Directors have tried to capture the idiosyncrasies of the deep South and its rural population. This provincialism has best been exemplifed by authors William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. Two stories that immediately come to mind are Barn Burning and Wash by Faulker and Ms. O'Connor's Good Country People and Wise Blood. Ms. O'Donnell's soft country dialect and life experience bring an honesty and a tangible feel of reality to the film.
I've been remiss in not mentioning Director Nicholas Ray. It's been said that laws are like sausages; it's best not to see how they are made. That's not a bad addage to remember whenever we see the finished product of anything. This is not the case when it comes seeing how films are made, especially by young inexperienced directors with a small budget. Nicholas Ray's use of darkness in his closed sets further accentuates Keechie's impoverished upbringing. Sam Fuller employed these same techniques to show us the poverty stricken underworld in Pickup On South Street. Think of Richard Widmark's place on the river, the scene with the bodies being transported to Potter's Field, the subway scene, Widmark and Ritter at a diner and the locals watching the construction of a building. In all of those scenes the claustrophobic, dark setting more than made up for the lack of actual Manhattan locations.
Ray does the same in They Live By Night. Keechie picks up Bowie at night, the gang make their plans at night, and it's all done in the confined area of Mobley's filling station. You can literally smell the grease and gasoline. The creative use of the sets and Keechie's persona effectively places the audience in the South. Ray's minimalist approach is excellent for this fairy tale romance/noir and in my opinion exceeds the overt, trying too hard attempts by Robert Altman in Thieves Like Us. Not withstanding Ray's direction and creativity however it is Cathy O'Donnell's performance that makes the film work. More than likely she had known people like those including Keechie, back home is Siluria, Alabama. (Click link for some pics of old time Siluria.
Ms. O'Donnell addresses what for me is a minor fault in that is a lack of regionalism in the movie. When Ms. O'Donnell signed with MGM she reportedly had a ‘thick Southern accent.’ Although it was "corrected' it is still pronounced and adds to the total effectiveness of the movie. Her accent is a nice contrast to the carefully enunciated neutral General American accent of Farley Granger. The book and the 1974 remake take place in Mississippi. This film seems to be set in the Dallas Ft. Worth area of Texas. Directors have tried to capture the idiosyncrasies of the deep South and its rural population. This provincialism has best been exemplifed by authors William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. Two stories that immediately come to mind are Barn Burning and Wash by Faulker and Ms. O'Connor's Good Country People and Wise Blood. Ms. O'Donnell's soft country dialect and life experience bring an honesty and a tangible feel of reality to the film.
I've been remiss in not mentioning Director Nicholas Ray. It's been said that laws are like sausages; it's best not to see how they are made. That's not a bad addage to remember whenever we see the finished product of anything. This is not the case when it comes seeing how films are made, especially by young inexperienced directors with a small budget. Nicholas Ray's use of darkness in his closed sets further accentuates Keechie's impoverished upbringing. Sam Fuller employed these same techniques to show us the poverty stricken underworld in Pickup On South Street. Think of Richard Widmark's place on the river, the scene with the bodies being transported to Potter's Field, the subway scene, Widmark and Ritter at a diner and the locals watching the construction of a building. In all of those scenes the claustrophobic, dark setting more than made up for the lack of actual Manhattan locations.
Ray does the same in They Live By Night. Keechie picks up Bowie at night, the gang make their plans at night, and it's all done in the confined area of Mobley's filling station. You can literally smell the grease and gasoline. The creative use of the sets and Keechie's persona effectively places the audience in the South. Ray's minimalist approach is excellent for this fairy tale romance/noir and in my opinion exceeds the overt, trying too hard attempts by Robert Altman in Thieves Like Us. Not withstanding Ray's direction and creativity however it is Cathy O'Donnell's performance that makes the film work. More than likely she had known people like those including Keechie, back home is Siluria, Alabama. (Click link for some pics of old time Siluria.
Ms. O'Donnell was Homer Parrish's faithful girl friend Wilma Cameron in The Best Years of Our Lives. She did an excellent job and certainly held her own in that classic that starred some of Hollywood's all time great talents. That was followed by Bury Me Dead where she played the younger sister of June Lockhart. She was also the younger sister of Lyn Bari in what might be cinematographer John Alton's masterpiece The Amazing Mr. X. After They Live By Night came Side Street where she was reunited with Farley Granger. That is a nice run of five quality appearances in five consecutive movies. She had a nice comedic touch in several films, that should have been fully developed and utilizied, and she would have made a ideal second lead in romantic/comedy roles .
After that however she seemed miscast as the romantic lead in The Man from Laramie, and was not impressive in Never Trust A Gambler, but was effective as (drum roll) a caring supportive wife to a guy with problems in Detective Story. the supportive suffering wife in Detective Story. The best of her post Side Street appearances I've seen were in two episodes of the Rebel (Johnny Yuma). Fans of Ms. O'Donnell should check them out. In keeping with the deep South, Southern Gothic themes of Faulkner she would have been perfect as Emily in Faulkner's A Rose For Emily and the haughty yet gullible girl in O'Connor's Good Country People.
She died much too soon at the age of forty-six due to cancer. Solace should be taken that she died with a firm belief in the Lord. She left a small filmography but was quite effective in the films I mentioned, and of course there will always be Keechie in They Live By Night. Her performance is text-book effective minimalism.
After that however she seemed miscast as the romantic lead in The Man from Laramie, and was not impressive in Never Trust A Gambler, but was effective as (drum roll) a caring supportive wife to a guy with problems in Detective Story. the supportive suffering wife in Detective Story. The best of her post Side Street appearances I've seen were in two episodes of the Rebel (Johnny Yuma). Fans of Ms. O'Donnell should check them out. In keeping with the deep South, Southern Gothic themes of Faulkner she would have been perfect as Emily in Faulkner's A Rose For Emily and the haughty yet gullible girl in O'Connor's Good Country People.
She died much too soon at the age of forty-six due to cancer. Solace should be taken that she died with a firm belief in the Lord. She left a small filmography but was quite effective in the films I mentioned, and of course there will always be Keechie in They Live By Night. Her performance is text-book effective minimalism.
There are a couple of what ifs regarding casting. Jane Greer wanted the part. She would have been good, but we all know Cathy O'Donnell was perfect. The other is Robert Mitchum wanted to play Chickamaw; and now we're talking. From IMDB: Robert Mitchum ...told Nicholas Ray that he was very familiar with bank robbers and chain gangs, and even cut and dyed his hair black (in the original treatment Chicamaw was an Indian)...
Unfortunately for Bob and film fans, the studio felt a supporting role would be unworthy for a star who had received an Oscar nomination for the classic The Story of G.I. Joe. What would a Robert Mitchum Chickamaw have brought to the movie? The villainy, sexuality and down right evil he brought to Cape Fear and The Night of The Hunter would have brought additional depth to the movie.
Not to take anything away from DaSilva who did a good job. There is a great scene when he crushes a glass Christmas tree ornament in his hand. This gesture of intimidations lets Bowie know there'll be no happy family for him until he does this last job with them.
DaSilva was fine. Chickamaw was a stone killer. He shows no remorse nor hesitancy when it comes to killing. I'm only saying Mitchum would have been better and kicked the movie up a notch or two.
Unfortunately for Bob and film fans, the studio felt a supporting role would be unworthy for a star who had received an Oscar nomination for the classic The Story of G.I. Joe. What would a Robert Mitchum Chickamaw have brought to the movie? The villainy, sexuality and down right evil he brought to Cape Fear and The Night of The Hunter would have brought additional depth to the movie.
Not to take anything away from DaSilva who did a good job. There is a great scene when he crushes a glass Christmas tree ornament in his hand. This gesture of intimidations lets Bowie know there'll be no happy family for him until he does this last job with them.
DaSilva was fine. Chickamaw was a stone killer. He shows no remorse nor hesitancy when it comes to killing. I'm only saying Mitchum would have been better and kicked the movie up a notch or two.
But just as there was no escaping the past for Jeff Bailey in Out of The Past or Steve Thompson in Criss Cross or Swede in The Killers neither is there escaping the past for Bowie. Chickamaw finds him at the cabin and lets him know he and T-Dub need him for another bank robbery. Bowie tells Keechie he's going to tell them he's through with them and offers them a large part of his money They're not having anything to do with it. They need three for a bank job and he's the third. His protestations are met with physical intimidation and he's coerced into one more job. Bowie's present is a continual struggle between a future 'real world' with Keechie and the family who took care of him in prison. In this case, in a matter of most importance it's his 'real world' of the past that wins out.
The bank robbery ends badly. T-Dub is killed at the bank. Bowie forces Chickamaw out of his car as they escape and the next day Chickamaw is shot robbing a filling station. Bowie returns to a flooded cabin and confronts Keechie. It is at this point we see a lesser known quality of film noir and that is a covert comment on societal norms. Bowie is not happy.
"You said you weren't here when the pipes busted Where were you?"
"I went to a doctor."
"About what?"
"About the baby we're going to have."
"That's fine. That's all I need."
Keechie looks up at him, and firmly tells him;
"You don't see me knitting anything do you?"
Abortion is addressed without fanfare or preaching. That it comes from cute as a button Cathy O'Donnell and not a femme fatale, a gold digger or a B-girl adds even more gravitas to the issue of abortion. Keechie was a young girl of average looks from a far less than ideal home life hoping to starting new life already riddled with obstacles is faced with another. "You don't see me knitting anything do you?" is one of my favorite lines in noir.
The plumber finds them out, ironically by noticing the watch box that Bowie bought as a gift for Keechie before the Zelton bank heist. They leave and head East. In true noir fashion almost every decision Bowie has made has been wrong. An exception is when he proposes to Keechie. For the most part Keechie has left everything up to Bowie. To his offer of the watch she asked if he wanted her t take it, and to his offer of marriage it was, "If you want to." This time the decision is hers and as they near the Mississippi River, she lets him know:
, "I'm gonna have our baby no matter what."
Bowie agrees:
" That's right. Just have to take his chances just like us," and his streak of bad decisions is broken. They are no longer confined to the cabin or the area. It is for them their first look at true freedom since they left Mobley's. At one time Bowie told Keechie, “I wish we could take a chance and go to town to see a movie together. I’ve always wanted to hold a girl’s hand at a movie.” Movies are for kids. They're on the way to a real nightclub with real people.
There is little geographic feel for the area (we all have pet peeves and this is one of mine, so what?) We know Zelton is little West of Ft. Worth. (there is a Belton, Texas north of Waco) Chickamaw is not surprised that Bowie would head out for the Missouri hills and Alvin, the cabin owner's son, regales them with a North Texas bromide about cold weather.
Bowie always wanted to go to New Orleans ever since Chickamaw told Bowie a big city is the place to go since people don't big-eye you (strange use of words from a one-eyed man) so it's off to The Big Easy for a real honeymoon. It is a sign of the period that crossing the Mississippi (in either direction) still held something akin to entering a new world. Truth be told I felt a sense of awe in crossing the Mississippi from Vicksburg into Louisiana. There are many reasons for the development of this country and to be blessed with a river of over 2,300 miles starting from a small stream in Minnesota and ending in the Gulf of Mexico may be the most important of those reasons. Enough of the digression back to the movie.
They are both happy. They are married, he will be a father, they visit the big city just like real people do. They take a walk in the park, they go to a night club and the audience is treated to an great rendition of Anita O'Day's Your Red Wagon by Marie Bryant. Ray addresses another social issue in what is one of the best scenes in the film. Six years before Nat King Cole in The Blue Gardenia we have a black entertainer fronting an all-black band. The music is not some rocket fueled uptempo jazz music like we see in Phantom Lady and D.O.A. but your usual night club music. I liked it that she went out in the crowd and sang from table to table and customers tipped her. I can't remember seeing this in any movie where in all likelihood was de riguer for the chanteuse. It was a nice touch and in a way reminded me of how protocols in the dime a dance halls were explained in Tomorrow Is Another Day.
Bowie always wanted to go to New Orleans ever since Chickamaw told Bowie a big city is the place to go since people don't big-eye you (strange use of words from a one-eyed man) so it's off to The Big Easy for a real honeymoon. It is a sign of the period that crossing the Mississippi (in either direction) still held something akin to entering a new world. Truth be told I felt a sense of awe in crossing the Mississippi from Vicksburg into Louisiana. There are many reasons for the development of this country and to be blessed with a river of over 2,300 miles starting from a small stream in Minnesota and ending in the Gulf of Mexico may be the most important of those reasons. Enough of the digression back to the movie.
They are both happy. They are married, he will be a father, they visit the big city just like real people do. They take a walk in the park, they go to a night club and the audience is treated to an great rendition of Anita O'Day's Your Red Wagon by Marie Bryant. Ray addresses another social issue in what is one of the best scenes in the film. Six years before Nat King Cole in The Blue Gardenia we have a black entertainer fronting an all-black band. The music is not some rocket fueled uptempo jazz music like we see in Phantom Lady and D.O.A. but your usual night club music. I liked it that she went out in the crowd and sang from table to table and customers tipped her. I can't remember seeing this in any movie where in all likelihood was de riguer for the chanteuse. It was a nice touch and in a way reminded me of how protocols in the dime a dance halls were explained in Tomorrow Is Another Day.
Their romantic interlude of being in the real world and doing the things real people do does not last long. When recognized by the club owner, Bowie's immediate reaction is to reach for the gun, just as his first reaction when bumped by a drunk customer was to rise and cock his fist. The owner takes the gun and tells him to leave the club and the city.
They cross the Big Muddy once again. Keechie takes ill. Bowie drives to the motel that Mattie runs. Mattie doesn't want any part of them. They argue. Bowie slaps her a few times. He finds a doctor then heads back to the Justice who married them. In the meantime Mattie has left to negotiate her husband's release by ratting out Bowie. When her husband, who has been silent during the proceeding learns the conditions of his release he is disgusted and walks past her without a look.
Bowie brings a brief case of money for the Judge to set him up in Mexico. Unfortunately that ship has sailed. Ian Wolfe won’t do it. He won’t take the sizable amount of cash Bowie placed on the counter. He tells him, “I marry people because there’s a little hope they’ll be happy. In a way I’m a thief just the way you are, but I won’t sell you hope, when there is none.” Bowie has no choice. He returns to the motel where he plans to leave Keechie and come for her at a later time. Bowie has no idea of Mattie's double cross, but she's not done yet; not by a long shot. 'Thieves like us' does not apply to her.
They cross the Big Muddy once again. Keechie takes ill. Bowie drives to the motel that Mattie runs. Mattie doesn't want any part of them. They argue. Bowie slaps her a few times. He finds a doctor then heads back to the Justice who married them. In the meantime Mattie has left to negotiate her husband's release by ratting out Bowie. When her husband, who has been silent during the proceeding learns the conditions of his release he is disgusted and walks past her without a look.
Bowie brings a brief case of money for the Judge to set him up in Mexico. Unfortunately that ship has sailed. Ian Wolfe won’t do it. He won’t take the sizable amount of cash Bowie placed on the counter. He tells him, “I marry people because there’s a little hope they’ll be happy. In a way I’m a thief just the way you are, but I won’t sell you hope, when there is none.” Bowie has no choice. He returns to the motel where he plans to leave Keechie and come for her at a later time. Bowie has no idea of Mattie's double cross, but she's not done yet; not by a long shot. 'Thieves like us' does not apply to her.
The film was Helen Craig's first screen appearance and her Mattie is a vicious, mean-spirited, vitriolic woman. She makes no bones about her dislike for Bowie. Neither does she have any time for Keechie or Chickamaw. She is an equal opportunity hater. In a genre where despicable deeds of double-crosses and betrayal of trust perpetrated by the fairer se are standard fare, Mattie's contribution is very high on the list. She does however live, as Bowie remarked, in a real house and, as an honest businesswoman, associate with real people.
The ending is as noir as can be. Bowie tells Mattie to give Keechie the money and he'll come back for her. He also gives her a note to give to Keechie. There is something he's never told her and he doesn't want to leave without her knowing how he feels. Mattie tells him to see her one more time and give it to her himself. It's something, she says, a woman would understand. It's something he's never told her before. She’d like that, Mattie says, women like things like that. Her real reason is that the police are waiting in ambush for him. Bowie apologizes for slapping Mattie, but she should have understood that she had to help them for after all, "You're a thief just like me."
He peers through the cabin window and sees Keechie asleep. Before he can enter the police come out of hiding and tell him to stop. Bowie reaches for his gun and is shot to death.
There are love stories in the world of noir,. There are scenes that linger with us. We know this couple is doomed from the start. It is like watching passengers waving from the deck of the Titanic as they leave the port of Liverpool; that we know their fate does not lessen our sorrow for them. This is true for the story of Keechie and Bowie.
Keechie holds Bowie and looks up at the representatives of the very people she felt would not want an innocent man in prison.
She reads the note and holds it to her chest. He has told her how much he loves her.
The ending is as noir as can be. Bowie tells Mattie to give Keechie the money and he'll come back for her. He also gives her a note to give to Keechie. There is something he's never told her and he doesn't want to leave without her knowing how he feels. Mattie tells him to see her one more time and give it to her himself. It's something, she says, a woman would understand. It's something he's never told her before. She’d like that, Mattie says, women like things like that. Her real reason is that the police are waiting in ambush for him. Bowie apologizes for slapping Mattie, but she should have understood that she had to help them for after all, "You're a thief just like me."
He peers through the cabin window and sees Keechie asleep. Before he can enter the police come out of hiding and tell him to stop. Bowie reaches for his gun and is shot to death.
There are love stories in the world of noir,. There are scenes that linger with us. We know this couple is doomed from the start. It is like watching passengers waving from the deck of the Titanic as they leave the port of Liverpool; that we know their fate does not lessen our sorrow for them. This is true for the story of Keechie and Bowie.
Keechie holds Bowie and looks up at the representatives of the very people she felt would not want an innocent man in prison.
She reads the note and holds it to her chest. He has told her how much he loves her.
I end with a music clip. In the best Wolfman Jack voice I can muster: I dedicate this song to all the young lovers out there who believe have found that special true love; the one you were meant to be with for all of time, the one who understands and loves you; not for what you might be but for who you are and neither would change anything about the other. Enjoy life, the stars shine brightly for you. And especially you Bowie and Keechie; two young lovers who were never properly introduced to the world in which we live.
They say for every boy and girl
There's just one love in this whole world And I know I've found mine The heavenly touch of your embrace Tells me no one could take your place Ever in my heart Young love (young love), first love (first love) Filled with true devotion Young love (young love), our love (our love) We share with deep emotion |
Just one kiss from your sweet lips
Will tell me that your love is real And I can feel that it's true We will vow to one another There will never be another Love for you or for me Young love (young love), first love (first love) Filled with true devotion Young love (young love), our love (first love) We share with deep emotion Song by: Rick Cartey and Carole Joyner |