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ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

davidcarniglia Very entertaining film noir. After the staged 'murder' at the beginning to introduce the protagonist, we get something of a romantic comedy interlude. Then Roadblock deftly switches tracks to a deadly crime drama, thanks to the quick-kindling relationship between Joan Dixon's Diane and Charle's McGraw's Joe.Joe's determination to win Diane at any cost--ethically, morally, and legally, by proposing the heist to Webb--and her realization that she wants him just as he is, shows great plotting and pacing. And plenty of irony. Like other reviewers, I would have liked a bit of backstory on Joe and Diane; their simultaneous value reorientations involve too much suspension of disbelief.It is fascinating to see "Honest Joe" skulking around after the heist, his dream of easy money quickly churning into a noir nightmare. His future narrows down to a hopeless attempt to flee, literally walled in by the river bed's concrete embankments. His love for Diane, which propelled him into the underworld, becomes a crude gesture of raw survival, as he tosses her from his targeted car.Webb's an enigma, an interesting, rational, even perceptive character, who just happens to be a sociopathic criminal. It's a measure of the film's dramatic intensity that we can feel disappointed that Joe ends up being used by Webb, after Joe throws away his initial moral superiority.It's one thing to deal with Joe and Diane's sudden transformations, but some of the plot's logic is suspect as well. It should be obvious to Joe that he's going to be under a spotlight after the railroad heist, as Webb couldn't possibly have come up with the plan without insider help. It might've made more sense for Joe, instead of ignoring Diane's plea to call it off, confesses before it takes place. Then he's guilty of plotting a crime, but nothing happens as Webb and his guys are arrested.Still, Roadblock delivers a slick crime story with strong performances from McGraw and Dixon. A cool, long car chase to finish things up; not to mention the earlier scene as Webb's limo approaches the rendevous with Joe in one car, pulls up in another, and wrecks in a third. And that crash isn't in the mountains where the scene starts, but in the desert. Well, the point is that Webb's toast, in fine low-budget B movie style.

Maddyclassicfilms Roadblock is directed by Harold Daniels. The film stars Charles McGraw, Joan Dixon, Louis Jean Heydt and Lowell Gilmore.Honest insurance investigator Joe Peters(Charles McGraw)falls for a no good dame called Diane(Joan Dixon). Diane likes the good things in life from fine clothes to fine food, she wants a rich man and sadly Joe is far from rich. As he falls deeper in love with her he goes to criminal boss Kendall Webb(Lowell Gilmore)to help him with a robbery so he can get some money. Peters partner Harry(Louis Jean Heydt)becomes suspicious. Soon this honest man becomes a wanted man as his desire leads him down a bad road, there's no u-turn possible for him now.McGraw is an actor who's perfect for Noir films, tough and hard with an edge. I think it's a real shame that he didn't become a bigger star.Joan Dixon is an actress who I'm not familiar with and she's really impressive here as the icy gold-digging dame.Her characters change of heart later in the film is a let down, the film would have been better if Joe had turned to crime only for Diane to leave him for someone richer and not care about the trouble he's got himself into.This film has it's moments, the twist opening where you're not sure who Joe is and the scenes between him and Diane are highlights.It's a good film but overall this isn't a Noir that stands out very much, it's a shame because this one had the potential to be a really good one.

blanche-2 Charles McGraw and Joan Dixon face a "Roadblock" in this 1951 film also starring Milburn Stone of "Gunsmoke" fame and Lowell Gilmore. McGraw is Joe Peters, an insurance detective who meets a beautiful, sexy woman, Diane, while traveling home by airplane after a case. The whole airplane thing was interesting in itself - spouses could fly half-price, I guess (as the Dixon character claims she and Joe are married so she can do so - she didn't have to show ID either). And though it still happens, it's less common to board from outdoors today.Joe falls hard for Diane, but she isn't interested - he's not in her league. She wants someone who will spend big money on her. One night, Joe sees her in a club where he's on an investigation, and she's with the biggest mobster in town, Kendall Webb (Gilmore). Eventually, Joe's and Diane's passion get the better of them. Webb warns Joe that Diane's enamored state of being in love with a poor man is just temporary - once the bloom is off, she'll go for the money again. Joe decides to go into partnership with Webb and steal $1.4 million that's scheduled to be on a train.McGraw, who had a big career in television until a few years before his death in 1980, is a solid noir actor - tough and good-looking. The character of Diane, however, is the one to watch. Dixon, helped by the script, gives her many layers and leaves you wondering (though you do know the answer) - was she a big chiseler or did she really care?"Roadblock" is good and interesting if implausible - Joe gets himself in deeper and deeper. It's hard to believe he would turn that dramatically that quickly. It's a minor point in a way because it's still an atmospheric noir.

Tim Evanson This film contains one film's most intriguing ideas: whether an honest man whose life and career are built around law-enforcement would throw away all his principles for love? Unfortunately, this film doesn't quite become good enough to make us care about this question.Joe Peters (played by Charles McGraw) is an insurance investigator. He and his partner Harry Miller (played by redoubtable character actor Louis Jean Heydt) are the best in the business. The film opens with them springing an elaborate but ingenious trap on a bank robber in order to trick the thief into revealing where he hid his stash. It's a well-written, well-acted, surprising opening scene and raises the viewer's expectations for the film.Sadly, these expectations are not met. Peters is detailed to get the money back to Los Angeles (although why they simply would not deposit the cash in a bank and have the funds wired to L.A. seems not to have occurred to the men). On the way, Peters runs into a woman, Diane (played with a sort of bored iciness by Joan Dixon), who pretends to be Peters' wife in order to con the airline into giving her a half-price ticket to L.A.One of the most important obstacles to overcome in a film like this is the viewer's disinclination to believe that the insurance investigator is as honest, principled and dedicated as he must be in order for his later moral fall to be believable and interesting. Unfortunately, "Roadblock" never tries to overcome this hurdle. Poor Peters immediately falls for the greedy, icy, selfish Diane -- although why is never made clear (Dixon's portrayal makes Diane completely unsympathetic, which in turns leads the viewer to be suspicious of Peters' sudden love for her). It is completely out of character. Had the film set up Peters' character better -- perhaps by giving us glimpses of how emotionally empty he was feeling, or perhaps by having him confront his loneliness -- "Roadblock" would have been a better picture.From this point on, however, "Roadblock" is simply a standard crime film. It cannot really be considered film noir, as it does not try to explore any of the seediness of the criminal world or give us insight into the "reality" of crime. In fact, the main criminal -- Kendall Webb, played by Lowell Gilmore as if he were sleepwalking through the role -- is a playboy with a wife in a penthouse in Vegas.Once Peters makes the decision to try to woo Diane (who refuses to marry for love, only money) by helping Webb knock over a bank and escape the clutches of the law (which, by the way, is seemingly non-existent in the world created by "Roadblock's" writers) and the insurance company (one wonders why the FDIC is never mentioned, although it existed at the time this film was made), the only thing worth paying attention to is the actual plotting and crime itself. I have to admit that this is a tightly-written little crime drama, with a believable heist that is well executed by the thieves and which unravels (as it must) due to solid detective work rather than chance and coincidence (as in so many lesser films).But the heart of the film -- Peters' moral collapse, the effect this has on his personality (he becomes angry at work, which is a plot element stolen from "Double Indemnity") and marriage to Diane, and the lengths to which he goes to keep his ill-gotten gains (and hence Diane) -- are not nearly as well-written or acted. Charles McGraw (who had a long and fairly illustrious career as a character actor) turns in a good performance as Peters. His desperation and agony over the though of losing Diane is palpable and subtlely acted, and he has a terrific way of acting with his face (check out the scene where he stages Webb's murder and has to watch the body burn) that really helps lift the film from C-grad to B-grade. But it's not enough to overcome the stolid acting by Dixon and Gilmore.The film's terribly predictable ending -- the bad guys get their comeuppance, the woman abandons her greed and falls in love, the best friend is betrayed, etc. -- doesn't help, either. There's nothing special about Nicholas Musuraca's cinematography, except for the obsessiveness with medium shots -- and it is nowhere near as inspired as his work on "The Magnificent Ambersons," "Deadline at Dawn," or "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer." Another 45 minutes of character development at the front of the film would have helped set up Peters much better and given us more interest in the character of Diane.