Dana Andrews leads the cast of "Boomerang!"

Boomerang! (1947) is based on a true crime. A minister is murdered in a small town in Connecticut and John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), a young drifter, is arrested and charged with the crime.

Arthur Kennedy and Dana Andrews

The prosecuting attorney Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews) is under pressure from local politicians to convict Waldron. The evidence points toward Waldron’s guilt, but Harvey has his doubts. Directed in a semidocumentary style by Elia Kazan, the movie features an impressive supporting cast that includes Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Sam Levine.

Elia Kazan (1909 – 2003) was an American director, producer, writer, and actor. He is one of the co-founders of the Actors Studio in 1947 with Robert Lewis and Cheryl Crawford. Kazan is also one of the most celebrated directors of the theater and movies. Kazan won two Best Director Academy Awards-1947 for Gentleman’s Agreement and 1954 for On the Waterfront—a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1998. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) was Kazan’s feature film debut as a director.

Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947), the latter co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Andrews worked a lot on television guest-starring on shows like The Twilight Zone, Checkmate, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, The Love Boat, Ironside, and Falcon Crest. He also starred in the daytime soap opera Bright Promise (1969 - 1971).

Boomerang! trivia

• Boomerang! was Kazan's fourth feature film.
• Ed Begley's film debut.
• After Lee J. Cobb and Arthur Kennedy appeared in Boomerang!, Kazan cast them both in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
• Speaking of Arthur Miller, he has a cameo as one of the men in the police lineup.
• First of four films, Kazan directed Karl Malden.
• Walter Huston, Fredric March, and Joseph Cotten were considered for the role of Henry Harvey. John Payne was also considered for the role at one time.
• First of two films starring Dana Andrews where the plot concerns the murder of a priest. The second is Edge of Doom (1950).

Click HERE to watch the film on the Internet Archive.

Click HERE to join the online discussion on August 26, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join us on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. Did the film shot on location add authenticity to the narrative?
2. What did you think about the politics of the film? Did it seem realistic? 
3. The film has an impressive cast, but the film rests primarily on the shoulders of Dana Andrews's character. Was he successful in the role of Henry Harvey?
4. Why do you think there was a rush to judgment in convicting the Arthur Kennedy character?
5. As mentioned, the supporting cast is impressive; did anyone stand out to you?

 

Richard Conte travels down "Thieves' Highway"

Thieves’ Highway (1949) is an American film noir directed by Jules Dassin and starring Richard Conte, and Valentina Cortese. Lee J. Cobb, and Barbara Lawrence co-star. 

Nico “Nick” Garcos, a returning war veteran arrives home to find his father, a California fruit farmer, who lost his legs in an accident and was forced to sell his truck. Nick discovers that his father was crippled at the hands of Mike Figlia (Cobb), a corrupt produce dealer in San Francisco. Nick vows revenge. 

Nick goes into business with Ed Kinney (Millard Mitchell), hoping to beat Figlia at his own game. Through a series of suspicious circumstances, Nick’s future at hauling and selling produce is jeopardized. Along the way, Nick meets a streetwalker named Rica (Cortese) who Garcos hired to distract Nick so he can undermine his ability to sell his haul. 

Eventually, Nick gets paid $4,000.00 for his haul by Garcos but while he is out one evening with Rica, he is beaten and robbed by two of Garcos’s stooges. 

Will Nick be able to get his money back and win justice for his father?

 

Valentina Cortese and Richard Conte

Jules Dassin (1911 – 2008) was an American film director. He got work as an assistant director at RKO and then moved to M-G-M where he directed short subjects. Dassin directed the film noir classics Brute Force (1947), The Naked City (1948), and Thieves’ Highway (1949). He was blacklisted because of his once being a member of the Communist Party so he left the United States for Europe where remained for the rest of his life. He was married to Greek film actress Melina Mercouri.

Richard Conte (1910 – 1975) was an American actor who came to prominence in the late 1940s under contract to 20th Century-Fox. He co-starred with James Stewart in Call Northside 777 (1948) and had the lead role in Thieves’ Highway (1949) directed by Jules Dassin (Night and the City 1950), and played Gene Tierney’s husband in Otto Preminger’s Whirlpool (1949). Conte worked constantly and had major roles in Ocean’s 11 (1960) and The Godfather (1972).

Valentina Cortese (1923 - 2019) was an Italian actress. She graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome and began her film career in Italian films in 1940. She starred as Fantine and Cosette in an Italian production of Les Miserables (1948). In Europe, she worked with all the top directors including Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, and Francois Truffaut. She signed a contract with 20th Century-Fox and made several American films including Thieves’ Highway (1949), House on Telegraph Hill (1951), and The Barefoot Contessa (1954). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Truffaut’s Day for Night (1973).

Thieves' Highway trivia

• Dana Andrews and Victor Mature were under consideration for the role of Nick.
• Richard Conte was a truck driver before he was "discovered" by Elia Kazan and John Garfield while acting on the stage in 1935.
• The film was filmed in San Francisco's Produce Market.
• Jules Dassin made his film debut as the man in the freight elevator with Figlia.
• Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb, and Kasia Orzazewski all appeared in Call Northside 777.

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

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

Discussion questions

1. Did this film feel realistic to you? 
2. This film is considered a film noir. Do you agree with that classification? 
3. What did you think of the performances? Had you ever seen the Italian actress Valentina Cortese in an American film before? What did you think of her performance?
4. The film had an impressive supporting cast. Did any of the supporting performances impress you more than the others?
5. Do you think the location shooting helped make the film more realistic? 
6. Would you recommend this film to a friend interested in classic movies?

James Stewart decides to “Call Northside 777”

Call Northside 777 (1948) is a docudrama directed by Henry Hathaway and starring James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb, and Helen Walker. The film is based on articles in the Chicago Daily Times.

P.J. McNeal (Stewart), a reporter the Chicago Times reluctantly takes the case of a man convicted of murdering a policeman in 1932 Chicago. Frank Wiecek (Conte) was sentenced to 99 years in prison. 

Wiecek’s mother (Kasia Orzazewski) puts an ad in the newspaper offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who finds the true killers of the police officer since she is convinced her son is innocent. McNeal’s reluctance begins to shift when he thinks Wiecek may be innocent.

Henry Hathaway (1898 – 1985) was an American film director and producer. Hathaway started working in silent films in 1925 as an assistant to established directors like Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg. His first solo directorial effort was Heritage of the Desert (1932) starring Randolph Scott. Hathaway, along with Scott, would be known for western movies. Besides Scott, Hathaway directed Gary Cooper in several films, including The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) which earned him his only Best Director Academy Award nomination. In 1940, Hathaway began working at Fox where he directed Tyrone Power in Johnny Apollo and Brigham Young (both 1940), Gene Tierney in China Girl (1942), Don Ameche and Dana Andrews in Wing and a Prayer (1944), and Call Northside 777 (1948) starring James Stewart and Richard Conte. After leaving Fox, he was one of three directors who worked on the western epic How the West Was Won (1962). He directed Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith (1966), directed John Wayne in True Grit (1968) which won Wayne his one and only Best Actor Academy Award.

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.

Richard Conte (1910 – 1975) was an American actor who came to prominence in the late 1940s under contract to 20th Century-Fox. He co-starred with James Stewart in Call Northside 777 (1948) and had the lead role in Thieve’s Highway (1949) directed by Jules Dassin (Night and the City 1950), and played Gene Tierney’s husband in Otto Preminger’s Whirlpool (1949). Conte worked constantly and had major roles in Ocean’s 11 (1960) and The Godfather (1972).

Call Northside 777 trivia:

• Leonarde Keeler, the man who administers the polygraph test was the inventor of the lie detector machine, played himself.
• This was the first movie to be filmed entirely on location in Chicago.
• Several Chicago landmarks including the Merchandise Mart, Holy Trinity Polish Mission, and the Wrigley Building are seen throughout the movie.
• The Chicago Daily Times merged with the Chicago Sun and became known as the Chicago Sun-Times.
• The beer that Stewart’s character drinks, Nectar Premium Beer of Chicago is no longer in business.
• Henry Fonda was initially announced as the lead.

 

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

Why watch this movie?

• It’s an early example of the docudrama film style that became popular in the late-1940s.
• It’s a time capsule of the Chicago of 1948.
• James Stewart was rebuilding his career after his service in World War II and this was his first box office success. 
• To hear, but not see the voice of Thelma Ritter who had her on-screen performance cut from the film.
• The film features one of the best early roles for Richard Conte who had been under contract to 20the Century-Fox since 1943.

To join the discussion on Monday, September 27, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions:

1. Did you enjoy the documentary film style?
2. What did you think of the performances of the leads?
3. Did any of the supporting characters stand out to you?
4. Were you impressed by the early technology utilized to crack the case?
5. Did the fact that this film was based on a true story impact you in any way?

Screening of "Boomerang!" at Daystar Center October 13

Boomerang! (1947)

Where: Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street, Room 102

When: October 13, 2018

Time: 6:45 p.m

Hosted by Stephen Reginald

Boomerang! (1947) is based on a true crime. A minister is murdered in a small town in Connecticut and John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), a young drifter, is arrested and charged with the crime.

The prosecuting attorney Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews) is under pressure from local politicians to convict Waldron. The evidence points toward Waldrons’ guilt, but Harvey has his doubts. Directed in a semidocumentary-style by Elia Kazan, the movie features an impressive supporting cast that includes Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Sam Levine.

General Admission: $5, Students and Senior Citizens: $3.

Join the Chicago Film club; join the discussion

Twice a month we screen classic films and have a brief discussion afterward. For more information, including how to join (it’s free), click here. The Venue 1550 is easily accessible by the CTA. Please visit Transit Chicago for more information on transportation options.

Stephen Reginald is a freelance writer and editor. He has worked at various positions within the publishing industry for over 25 years. Most recently he was executive editor for McGraw-Hill’s The Learning Group Division. A long-time amateur student of film, Reginald hosts “Chicago Film Club,” a monthly movie event held in the South Loop, for the past two years. Reginald has also taught several adult education film classes at Facets Film School, Chicago.

Chicago Film Club field trip: “On the Waterfront” April 24 at ShowPlace ICON at Roosevelt Road

Where: ShowPlace ICON, 150 W Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL 60605

When: April 24

Time: 2:00 p.m. 
Hosted by Stephen Reginald
Run Time: 2 hours (approximate)

Ticketing: Tickets are available by clicking here. If online ticketing is not available for your location, you can purchase your tickets by visiting the box office at your local participating cinema or check back often as updates are being made daily.

Special Fathom Feature: Go behind the scenes with exclusive commentary from Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz that will illustrate how this movie, which was filmed in only 36 days, made such a long-lasting cultural impact.

“You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.” Watch Marlon Brando deliver those famous lines on the big screen when Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Sony Pictures Entertainment bring On the Waterfront (1954) back to select cinemas nationwide for a special two-day event on Sunday, April 24 and Wednesday, April 27.

Karl Malden, Marlon Brando, and Eva Marie Saint

Marlon Brando stars as Terry Malloy, a washed up prizefighter who, through the influence of his brother, Charley (Rod Steiger), a lawyer for a corrupt waterfront union, is employed as an errand boy for the mob. After luring a fellow dockworker and friend to his death to keep him from testifying against labor boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), the appeals of the dead man's sister (Eva Marie Saint) and a crusading priest (Karl Malden) awaken Terry’s guilty conscience and love prompts Terry to seek redemption.

Do not miss the opportunity to see this classic, winner of eight Academy Awards® including Best Picture in 1954, as it was meant to be seen – on the big screen.

If you come they’ll be stinkin’ badges.