Robert Joyner
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
zardoz-13
"Johnny One-Eye" director Robert Florey's crime thriller "The Crooked Way," starring John Payne and Sonny Tufts, qualifies as an above-average example of film noir, distinguished in part by "He Walked by Night" lenser John Alton and his atmospheric black & white cinematography. Alton endows this tense, but derivative law and order saga with an ominous sense of foreboding. Ostensibly based on Robert Monroe's radio play "No Blade Too Sharp," "Back to Bataan" scenarist Richard H. Landau has taken the narrative convention about a protagonist that suffers from amnesia to the next level. Most films about amnesiacs allow them to recover their memory long before fade-out. For example, co-writer & director Joseph L. Mankiewicz earlier made "Somewhere in the Night," about a GI with amnesia who comes home and finds himself tangled up in a plot to recover Nazi gold. To my knowledge, I don't think Hollywood has made another movie roughly like Florey's "The Crooked Way." The biggest problem with this movie is that the hero remains passive for far too long. Meanwhile, his chief nemesis is well played by Sonny Turfs. The action transpires in bars, night clubs, the back rooms of gambling joints, and occasionally in a warehouse. The cops believe the worst about our hero and he finds himself predictably up to his neck in trouble. One thing different about the hero is his ability to shoot at and generally hit and kill his adversaries. As one thug observes after Eddie Rice has plugged a henchman: "He shot him for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." The character that heroic John Payne portrays differs from the usual amnesiac. Most amnesiacs struggle with psychological amnesia. Meaning, they will eventually recover their memories. Eddie Rice (John Payne of "Kansas City Confidential"), a.k.a. Eddie Riccardi, marched off to join the ranks for the Army in World War II and then spent five years in a psychiatric hospital because he had been wounded and had forgotten just about everything about himself. During combat, Eddie survived a devastating shrapnel wound. Army doctors removed most of the fragments, but they left one behind. Per the doctors, an operation to eliminate the last piece of shrapnel might place Eddie's life in jeopardy. You see, that piece of shrapnel in Eddie's head had generated thick scar tissue around it. Reluctantly, they allowed Eddie to leave the hospital and go back to his hometown of Los Angeles. The problem is that Eddie knows very little about himself, and Army Intelligence has not been able to dig up much more beyond what they know. No sooner has Eddie arrived in his old stomping ground of Los Angeles than a tenacious cop, Police Lieutenant Joe Williams (Rhys Williams of "The Sons of Katie Elder"), hauls our hero into headquarters and gives him the third degree. Eddie looks at a rap sheet and sees that his real name is Eddie Riccardi, but this knowledge doesn't change anything for him. Indeed, he is incredulous that he was a criminal. Williams is dubious about Eddie's claim that he received a Silver Star and has been hospitalized for war wounds. Lieutenant Williams recommends that Eddie leave town. Our hero, however, doesn't have a chance to get out of town before a homicidal mobster, Vince Alexander (Sonny Tufts of "The Seven Year Itch"), learns about his presence and pays him an unpleasant visit. It seems that Vince and Eddie had once been partners, and Eddie blew town and Vince wound up taking the rap and spend some time behind bars. Detective Williams visits Vince after one of the lieutenant's stooge pigeons, Kelly (John Harmon), turns up murdered. Williams grilles Vince, and Vince shoots him. When the villains locate Eddie, they slug him unconscious and put his fingerprints all over the pistol that Vince used to kill Eddie. Eddie has just enough time to get out of the car parked on the side of the road and contains Detective Williams. He hitches a ride in an undertaker's van, and the police track him down to a warehouse where Eddie has knocked off two of Vince's henchmen and is facing down Vince. The police arrive and riddle Vince with a wave of gunfire.John Payne delivers an appropriately tight-lipped performance as the sympathetic but strong protagonist. The problem is that he is a passive rather than an active hero. The authorities and criminals keep pushing him around until he takes charge in the last quarter hour of the action. One thing that is done extremely well is Eddie Rice's superb marksmanship. He doesn't miss his targets. Williams is perfect as a driven police detective who thinks everything about Eddie stinks. Sonny Tufts is good as Eddie's chief nemesis. One of Vince's flaws is that he uses a drug to control nervousness that gives him away as the real dastard. Although the premise is good, the plot is straight-forward and predictable, but director Florey handles the action with competence.
utgard14
Amnesiac war hero Eddie Rice (John Payne) searches Los Angeles for clues to who he is. He quickly discovers he is, or was, a not-so-nice guy. Sonny Tufts plays his former friend, a rough & tough crime boss. He's probably the most memorable performance in the movie, though nothing groundbreaking. Ellen Drew is the embittered ex-wife. Rhys Williams is a suspicious cop. The plot's a little similar to the superior Somewhere In the Night. Robert Florey's direction is nice. Ditto for John Alton's cinematography. Script could've used some punching up. It's not classic but it's a good time-killer for noir fans.
Michael_Elliott
Crooked Way, The (1949) ** (out of 4) Weak film noir about war vet Eddie Rice (John Payne) who is suffering from amnesia after going through shell shock. His doctor recommends he go back to his old stomping grounds to see if perhaps someone will notice him and tell him who he really is. This doesn't take long to happen but unfortunately for Eddie he learns that he's in bad with several gangsters. THE CROOKED WAYS features a few interesting ideas as well as some terrific cinematography but in the end the story is just way too loose and the direction downright flat. There are a few interesting ideas here including using a war vet who was a lousy crook only to discover bravery during the war. I think this aspect could have been focused on more and the film would have benefited. Another good aspect is simply the amnesia touch as this is a very simple but often effective gimmick used in various noirs and other dramas. I think this story line is something very hard to mess up but sadly Florey does just that. There isn't an ounce of energy to be found anywhere in this picture. The film is downright flat from the opening scenes all the way to the closing and it really appears that no one got the message that they needed suspense and tension in a film like this. The mystery involving who this guy is never comes off nor does anything doing with his ex-wife who is still with the gangsters. I think the twists and turns in the screenplay were all obvious ones that never really paid off. I also wasn't too impressed with any of the performances including Payne who seemed too bored here. I'm not sure what the reasons for but there wasn't any passion or energy in his performance. The same is true for Ellen Drew as the ex-wife. Rhys Williams is pretty good as the Lieutenant and Sonny Tufts isn't too bad as the gangster. Future Oscar-winner John Alton does a terrific job with the cinematography as he gives the film a unique and original look. As you'd expect there's a lot of darkness and shadows but the cinematography really makes the atmosphere something interesting and the look alone almost makes this film worth sitting through. With that said, overall this is 90-minutes worth of boredom without enough energy to keep it going through the end. Considering the talent you have to strike this one up as a disappointment.
bkoganbing
The Crooked Way an independent production released by United Artists finds John Payne in the role of an amnesiac who makes his way to Los Angeles with a different name and no memories of what he did before the war injuries. He got a silver star for service, but that tells him nothing of his past before World War II.It turns out that he was a gangster who doublecrossed a confederate played by Sonny Tufts who took a prison rap for a couple of years in which time Payne left Los Angeles. Payne also finds the woman he was married to, Ellen Drew who pretty much repudiates him and who he was and now is. Of course that changes over the course of the film.This film was Payne's introduction to the noir genre and it's all right, though not as good as later films like Kansas City Confidential and The Boss. Payne's career paralleled that of Dick Powell who had given up musicals for noir and action films a bit earlier.The real revelation in The Crooked Way was Sonny Tufts who at Paramount in the Forties played leads that exuded a kind of goofy charm to them. He was outstanding in his part as the villain of The Crooked Way. He might have overacted a bit, but the part did call for it. He should have reinvented himself with this film, but his career would be petering out gradually during the Fifties.The story has things wrapping up just a tad too neatly for Payne in the end, still Payne definitely showed he had a career in noir with The Crooked Way.
