Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

edwagreen Excellent film noir where Fred Mac Murray repeats his falling into evil as he did ten years earlier in the memorable "Double Indemnity."In her film debut, Kim Novak already showed problematic acting as the moll of a bank robber who Fred, the cop, falls for and the two plan to get the money that her boyfriend had stolen in a bank robbery.With the exception of "The Eddy Duchin Story," and "Jeanne Eagels," both films where she was terrific, Novak just doesn't put it over in the role of the moll.The role of the moll would have been better suited for Dorothy Malone, who would cop a supporting Oscar two years later in the great "Written on the Wind." Instead, Malone is relegated in playing the nurse next door, who is Mac Murray's ultimate downfall when she keeps meeting him at the most inopportune time for him.We have a real good suspense thriller here as other police begin to piece together what is really going on in discovering that Fred is the real culprit here.

seymourblack-1 Despite being a B-movie that didn't make much money at the time of its initial release, "Pushover" will still appeal strongly to the average film noir fan. Its story about obsession, betrayal and murder contains many familiar elements but remains thoroughly engrossing throughout because it's well paced, frequently suspenseful and has a compelling plot. The atmosphere is claustrophobic and this is reinforced visually by the action being staged mostly in small, often cramped, rooms and dark rainy streets. The shadowy interiors are beautifully photographed and the ways in which the streetlights reflect on wet roads and illuminate raindrops on the cars are just a couple of examples of the superb quality of D.P. Lester White's work.Middle-aged LAPD Detective Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray) makes the acquaintance of an attractive young blonde called Lona McLane (Kim Novak) after she has some problems with her car and the couple quickly become lovers when they spend some time together waiting for the necessary repairs to be carried out. All is not as it appears however, because this apparently random meeting was set up by Paul who'd been assigned to the task by his boss because Lona is suspected of being the girlfriend of a wanted fugitive and Paul has been told to find out whether she knows her fiancé's whereabouts. He soon reports back to Detective Lieutenant Carl Eckstrom (E.G.Marshall) that he's convinced that she is in a relationship with bank robber Harry Wheeler (Paul Richards).Eckstrom feels confident that Wheeler will contact Lona at some point and so arranges for her phone to be tapped and for her apartment to be kept under constant surveillance. Paul and his fellow detective Rick McAllister (Philip Carey) are part of the stakeout team who occupy a room that overlooks Lona's apartment and together they wait for Wheeler to make his move. It's during this period that Lona suspects that Paul is a cop and when she confronts him on the issue, he eventually admits that she's right but assures her that his interest in her is genuine. She remarks that the $200,000 that had been stolen from the bank by Wheeler's gang could set them up nicely for the future if they could get their hands on it when Wheeler is eventually apprehended. Paul wants no part in that kind of scheme and soon returns to his stakeout duties.Rick starts to find his work becomes a little less tedious when he starts watching Lona's attractive neighbour, Ann Stewart (Dorothy Malone) but also one of Paul's colleagues notices that he is steadily becoming more and more agitated. Completely obsessed by Lona, Paul arranges to meet her again and together they agree to carry out her plan. A telephone call that she receives on the following day than sets Paul off in pursuit of the stolen money but the complications that follow soon lead him into desperation, betrayals and murders when things suddenly start to spiral out of control.The sequences in which the detectives spy on the women through binoculars are uncomfortably voyeuristic and very similar to certain scenes in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" which was also released in the same year as this movie. The bank robbery and an episode that takes place in Ann Stewart's apartment are played out without any dialogue and as well as being well directed are also rather Hitchcockian in style.During his childhood, Paul had frequently witnessed his parents arguing about money and this experience led him to believe that without plenty of cash, a successful relationship with a woman would be completely impossible. As a result, he was always more vulnerable than most to being corrupted by anyone with Lona's mindset and greed. Fred MacMurray does well at portraying his character's confident and competent exterior while also giving signs along the way of how he's gradually unravelling. Kim Novak, in her first starring role, is well cast as the seductive femme fatale and Philip Carey and Dorothy Malone also contribute a couple of really good supporting performances.

Cowa Bunga I enjoyed this movie, as I think Fred MacMurray is one of our great actors, with a wide range. Comedy to drama. Happy nerd to hardened cop or lower level establishment man. Clearly he is bored with his mission in life in this film and the great Double Indemnity.Possible Spoilers: OK. why a 7 and not an 8? I felt Paul Sheridan's (MacMurry) disgust with his life and his apparent loneliness could have used more development. He falls too easily for Kim Novak's character, even if she is strikingly beautiful. She too easily goes with him the first night they meet. It would be more believable, and more sensual, if there were two meetings at least, to pulse his desire for her. Now, I don't particularly like films where the male star is a little long in the tooth for his paramour.This was common in the 50s and 60s when Male stars of the 30s and 40s were cast with much younger female leads, presumably because of the men's star power. I put forward Bogart,and Bill Holden with Audrey Hepburn (totally unbelievable) in Sabrina, Bogart being 55 and Hepburn 25.Or Rear Window with an older Jimmy Stewart, age 47, and Grace Kelly, 25.With some suspended belief, this is a very enjoyable movie. I love noir.The story lines of noir are simple and pure and the mood dark. I believe this movie pulls it off though it was the waning period of noir: 1954;

Andy Fish Fred MacMurray knocked it out of the park in Billy Wilder's DOUBLE INDEMNITY as the street smart insurance salesman who gets out-smarted by Barbara Stanwyck's femme fatale in the classic Film Noir (some even say it's the first true film noir). This time around we get to see what a similar plot looks like in the hands of lesser creators.The musical score and the cinematography are pedestrian by comparison, and although this marks the debut of Kim Novak her character is nowhere near as interesting as the multi- dimensional scheming Phyllis of DOUBLE fame. While Wilder mined the chemistry between MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson as his boss in the earlier film-- so much so that MacMurray was able to stay out of the radar of the otherwise sharp Robinson, E.G. Marshall is cardboard as the boss in this entry.A big disappointment at a time when KISS ME DEADLY and THE KILLING were getting film noir right. Something to watch if you come across it but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it.