Richard Basehart and Scott Brady star in “He Walked by Night”

He Walked by Night (1948) is an American film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann. The film stars Richard Basehart and Scott Brady. Others in the cast include Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James Cardwell, Dorothy Adams, and Jack Webb. The cinematography is by the legendary John Alton.

Set in Los Angeles, California, the film is based on the real-life crime spree by Edwin “Machine-Gun” Walker. Walker, a former police department employee and World War II veteran committed a series of burglaries, robberies, and shootouts in the Los Angeles area between 1945 and 1946.

Office Rob Rawlings (John McGuire), a Los Angeles patrolman, on his way home, stops a man whom he thinks might be a burglar. Roy Morgan/Martin (Basehart) shoots the patrolman and mortally wounds him. Thus begins the cat and mouse game between Morgan and Sgt. Marty Brennan (Brady) and Captain Breen (Roberts).

How many lives will be in danger while Roy walks by night?

Richard Basehart

Albert L. Werker (1896 – 1975) was an American film director who got his start during the silent era. He continued working into the sound era, mostly directing B-pictures. Two A-pictures he directed include The House of Rothschild (1934) and Kidnapped (1938) starring Warner Baxter and Freddie Bartholomew. In the late-1940s, Werker signed on with Eagle-Lion Films where he directed Repeat Performance (1947) starring Louis Hayward, Joan Leslie, and Richard Basehart.

Richard Basehart (1914 - 1984) was an American actor who worked steadily in film and television. Basehart starred in several films noirs of the late 1940s and early 1950s. He also had a lead role in director Federico Fellini’s La Strada (1954). Other film roles include Moby Dick (1956), Decision Before Dawn (1951), The Brothers Karamazov (1958). Baby Boomers would remember Basehart as Admiral Harriman Nelson on Irwin Allen’s science fiction television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 -1968).

Scott Brady (1924 – 1985) was an American film and television actor who achieved fame in a series of movie westerns. Brady followed his older brother Lawrence Tierney to Hollywood. He studied acting at The Beverly Hills Dramatic School under the G.I. Bill of Rights. Brady made his movie debut in 1948 and worked steadily in film until his death. His last film role was in Gremlins (1984). Other films featuring Brady include Johnny Guitar opposite Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), co-starring Jeanne Crain and Jane Russell, Marooned (1969), Doctor’s Wives (1971), and The China Syndrome (1979). Brady guest starred on many television shows starting in the 1950s to the mid-80s. He was offered the role of Archie Bunker in All in the Family but turned it down! He appeared on the show as Joe Foley for four episodes. He also guest starred on Laverne & Shirley as Shirley Feeney’s father.

 

He Walked by Night trivia

• During the filming, Jack Webb became acquainted with the movie’s technical advisor, Sgt. Marty Wynn. It was from this relationship that Dragnet was born.
• This was the first film to use the Los Angeles underground sewer and storm-drain system and its canals and tunnels as a backdrop.
• The film featured Jack Webb’s first credited screen appearance.
• Part of the film was directed by Anthony Mann who was uncredited.
• Both Webb and Scott Brady would become popular TV cops. Webb in Dragnet and Brady who played a retired officer and bar owner on Police Story.

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

 

Click HERE to join the online discussion on April 8, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. What did you think of the procedural style of the film?
2. Did you enjoy seeing what Los Angeles looked like in 1948? Did anything surprise you?
3. The performances of the actors were praised when the film was released, especially that of Richard Basehart as Roy Morgan/Martin. What did you think of Basehart’s performance? Did any other performances impress you?
4. During the late-1940s, procedural crime dramas were popular. Did this film remind you of other procedural films you’ve seen?

James Stewart searches for “Winchester ‘73”

Winchester ’73 (1950) is an American Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, and Stephen McNally. Others in the cast include Millard Mitchell, Charles Drake, John McIntire, Will Geer, and Jay C. Flippen. The film also includes early screen appearances by Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis, credited as Anthony Curtis.

At the beginning of the film, Lin McAdam (Stewart) is searching for Dutch Henry Brown (McNally). The two have a score to settle.

In Dodge City, Kansas, Lin enters a shooting contest and wins a Winchester 1873 rifle. At the boarding house where Lin is packing, he is ambushed by Dutch who steals the rifle. Dutch rides away with two other men, making Lin’s anger toward Dutch burns even brighter. Lin’s quest to settle his score with Dutch becomes even more urgent than before.

James Stewart and Millard Mitchell

Anthony Mann (1906 – 1967) was an American director. Mann got his start in film working as a talent scout for David O. Selznick. He later became an assistant director, assisting Preston Sturges on Sullivan’s Travels (1941). Mann went on to direct a variety of low-budget, but successful films at Republic, RKO, and Eagle-Lion studios. The Furies was Mann’s first A picture. After The Furies, Mann went on to direct many successful westerns including Winchester ’73 (1950), Devil’s Doorway (1950), Bend of the River (1952), and The Naked Spur (1953).

James Stewart (1908 - 1997) was an American actor whose career spanned almost five decades and 80 films. Stewart often portrayed the ideal of the average American who was decent and honest. Stewart signed a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer where he appeared in a variety of supporting roles in B and A pictures. It wasn’t until he was loaned out to Columbia Pictures to costar in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You (1938) that his home studio began to take notice. Still, his best roles were on loan to other studios including Mr. Smith Goes to Washinton (1939) at Columbia again and Destry Rides Again (1939) at Universal. M-G-M eventually cast him in The Philadelphia Story (1940) where he won the Academy Award for Best Actor which cemented his reputation as a leading man and star. From there he went on to make The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and The Mortal Storm (1940). After serving in the United States Army from 1941 - 1945, Stewart returned to Hollywood where he continued as a popular leading man. During the 1950s, Steward made two films with director Alfred Hitchcock which are considered two of the director’s best films: Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958). Vertigo was voted the greatest film ever made by Sight & Sound in 2012.

Shelley Winters (1920 - 2006) was an American actress whose career in film began in 1943 and continued into the 2000s. Some of Winters’s film roles include A Double Life (1947), The Great Gatsby (1948), Winchester 73 (1950), and A Place in the Sun (1951) for which she was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. Winters was in demand throughout the 1950s having four films in release in 1955 including Night of the Hunter. She won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). She won her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in A Patch of Blue (1965). Besides her film work, Winters starred on Broadway and was a frequent guest star on popular television series and made-for-TV movies.

Dan Duryea (1907 – 1968) was an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for his character roles as villains, but he had a long career that included a variety of lead and second lead roles. Duryea graduated from Cornell University in 1928. In his senior year, he was the president of the college drama society. Duryea went to Hollywood in 1940 to Leo Hubbard in The Little Foxes, a role he created on Broadway. He established himself in films noir costarring in classics like Scarlet Street (1945), Criss Cross (1948), and Too Late for Tears (1949).

Stephen McNally (1911 - 1994) was an American film, stage,  and television actor. He is mostly remembered for his roles in westerns. McNally often played the bad guy like his portrayal of Locky McCormick in Johnny Belinda (1948). McNally earned a law degree from Fordham University Law School. During the 1950s, he started working in television starring in popular series like Wagon Train, Riverboat, Rawhide, 77 Sunset Strip, The Virginian, Fantasy Island, Starsky & Hutch, Charlie’s Angels, The Rockford File, and  Police Story.

Winchester ’73 trivia

• This film is credited with reigniting James Stewart’s career after a series of unsuccessful films after returning from World War II.
• James Steward received a percentage of the film’s profits instead of a set salary. He’s the first actor to have negotiated this kind of deal which is now quite common.
• This was the first pairing of director Anthony Mann and James Stewart. They went on to make seven more films together.
• James Stewart spent a lot of time practicing a lot with the rifle so he would look like an authentic westerner.
• As part of film’s promotion, Universal Studios conducted a contest to find rare Winchester 1873 rifles. The contest helped create an interest in antique gun collecting.

 

To watch the movie on YouTube, click on the link below.

 

To join the discussion on June 19, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

Discussion questions

1. Some people consider this film one of the best Westerns of all time. Would you agree with that assessment?
2. In 1950, this was a James Stewart the public had never seen before. Did his performance surprise you? What do you think audiences were thinking in 1950 when they saw this film?
3. When the relationship between Lin and Dutch was revealed were you surprised?
4. Shelly Winters felt her character could have been left out of the movie and nobody would have noticed (or cared). Do you agree?
5. Stewart and Mann really worked hard to capture the authenticity of the old West. Do you think they were successful?

“The Furies,” the first western from legendary director Anthony Mann

The Furies (1950) is an American western directed by Anthony Mann, produced by Hal Wallis, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, and Walter Huston in his final film performance.

Director Anthony Mann got his start directing films noir and The Furies, his first western, has its noir moments. The stark desert landscape is brought to life by the beautiful cinematography of Victor Milner, a ten-time Academy Award nominee. He won his only Oscar for his work on Cleopatra (1934).

The plot centers around T. C. (Walter Huston) and Vance Jeffords (Barbara Stanwyck), widowed father and daughter respectively who clash over how to run their vast cattle ranch empire. Like Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven (1945), Stanwyck’s character has some daddy issues. T. C. wants to leave the cattle ranch to Vance who has a better head for business than his son his Clay (John Bromfield) under the condition that he approves of the man she is to marry. Vance is in love with Juan Herrera (Gilbert Roland), but she knows her father will never approve that relationship. Vance eventually falls in love with businessman Rip Darrow, but her father disapproves and buys Rip off. The trouble really begins when T. C. declares that he is to marry Flo Burnett (Judith Anderson) and Vance sees her place in the eyes of her father diminishing.

Will father and daughter be able to resolve their differences or will their bitterness destroy them both?

Anthony Mann (1906 – 1967) was an American director. Mann got his start in film working as a talent scout for David O. Selznick. He later became an assistant director, assisting Preston Sturges on Sullivan’s Travels (1941). Mann went on to direct a variety of low-budget, but successful films at Republic, RKO, and Eagle-Lion studios. The Furies was Mann’s first A picture. After The Furies, Mann went on to direct many successful westerns including Winchester ’73 (1950), Devil’s Doorway (1950), Bend of the River (1952), and The Naked Spur (1953).

Victor Milner (1893 – 1972) was an American cinematographer. He was nominated for ten cinematography Academy Awards. He worked for all the major studios like M-G-M, Universal, and Paramount. He was nominated for his work on The Furies. Milner photographed Stanwyck in Union Pacific (1939), The Lady Eve (1941), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), The Other Love (1947), The Furies (1950), and Jeopardy (1952).

Below is the link to the movie on YouTube. Please use this link; there are several prints uploaded to the channel, but this one is from Criterion and the quality is excellent.




Join us on Zoom for a discussion of this film on June 23, 2020, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Check below for meeting links.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "The Furies"
Time: Jun 23, 2020, 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71307260342?pwd=R3lIb2tkeWl4RWNkS3U2ZnhOQlVmQT09

Meeting ID: 713 0726 0342
Password: 2KaXpb

Questions for discussion:
1. Is this film more noir than western or a mixture of both or something else completely?
2. What did you make of the father-daughter relationship between Huston and Stanwyck’s characters?
3. Were you surprised by the relationship between Stanwyck and Juan Herrera (Gilbert Roland)?
4. Some critics have noted that the film has allusions to Greek tragedy. Do you see those allusions?
5. Did you like the ending? Was it a surprise or expected?