XhcnoirX Freelance trucker driver Steve Brodie accepts an evening job, despite also celebrating a 4-month engagement with his girl Audrey Long, because it pays so well and they can use the money. What Brodie doesn't realize until it's too late is that the job is for moving a load of stolen furs and is paid for by an old friend, now crook, Raymond Burr. Before he can refuse, a police officer is shot, and in the chaos Brodie drives off in a panic, while Burr's kid brother is arrested. Brodie doesn't get far however and Burr has him roughed up, wanting him to be the fall guy, clearing his kid brother. But when Brodie's name and photo ends up in the newspapers, he decides to run away with Long. They head out west to Long's aunt. Burr hires shady private dick Douglas Fowley to track down Brodie. Brodie eventually tries to turn himself in and give his side of the story, but police inspector Jason Robards Sr. lets him go, using him as bait to get to the rest of the gang. And sure enough, Fowley has no problem finding Brodie...A tense noir/thriller that wastes little time from start to finish. It was the last noir of director Anthony Mann ('T-Men', 'Raw Deal') before starting a partnership with DoP John Alton. However, the cinematographer on this movie, George E. Diskant ('The Narrow Margin', 'On Dangerous Ground') is no slouch either. The movie is beautiful to watch with some great noir photography.Brodie ('Out of The Past', 'Armored Car Robbery') is quite good as an innocent man on the run, but Long ('Born To Kill') is a bit too wholesome here for my taste. Burr ('Raw Deal', 'Pitfall') was born to play noir heavies, he is as menacing here as ever. Fowley ('Behind Locked Doors', 'Edge Of Doom') is his usual slimy self, I feel even as a character actor he never really escaped the B's, which is a shame, he had the necessary talent in my opinion.There is very little noir ambiguity in this movie, the good guys are great and friendly and the bad guys are mean and conniving. It's a minor complaint however, for an otherwise highly entertaining movie that keeps the suspense level pretty high throughout, with a great build-up to an exciting climax inside a 4-story stairwell. Highly recommended! 8/10

Spikeopath Desperate is directed by Anthony Mann who also collectively writes the story and screenplay with Harry Essex, Martin Rackin and Dorothy Atlas. It stars Steve Brodie, Raymond Burr, Audrey Long, Douglas Fowley, William Challee and Jason Robards Senior. Music is by Paul Sawtell and cinematography by George E. Diskant.After innocently being roped into a robbery that goes wrong, Steve Randall (Brodie) and his lover, Anne (Long), are forced to go on the run when a vengeful gangster seeks an eye for a eye retribution.One of Anthony Mann's first forays into film noir, Desperate is a lovers on the run drama instilled with impressive noir touches. Short sharp shock in running time parlance, film takes the form of innocents thrust into a perilous fight to survive. The middle section is a bit too airy and draggy, with a wedding sequence still further pushing the picture away from the brilliant dark tone set up earlier, and for sure the Randall couple are a bit too precious at times, but when it's trawling the alleyways of film noir it's a classy piece of film.The first third features a quite excellent "beating" sequence that showcases the skills of Messrs Mann and Diskant. Filmed in a darkly lit room, the scene plays out in the fluctuating shadows of a swinging overhead light. This is menacing enough but Mann also introduces some potent close up shots of a fist and a broken bottle to really emphasise grim tones. Then the final third comes back into noir territory where we are indulged in a ticking clock countdown that leads to a finale played out on four stories of shadowy stair wells. With Burr offering up a considerable turn of hulking villainy, there's much to recommend here, where were it not for the middle section then this would be up with the best of Mann's noirs. Still, it's very much one for Mann and film noir fans to seek out. 7/10

Robert J. Maxwell Not a bad movie. It has its moments. One occurs while villainous Raymond Burr is holding hero Steve Brodie at gunpoint with the intention of shooting him at the exact moment Burr's brother is scheduled to die in the electric chair. Burr blames Brodie for the capture of Burr's brother and is going to take revenge. Burr sets the alarm clock at twelve minutes to midnight and the seconds tick by without the hands of the clock seeming to move. Sweat trickles down everyone's face and the silence hangs like a shroud over the tableau.Another good scene is the climactic shoot out in which Brodie pursues Burr slowly and carefully up half a dozen creaking flights of stairs in a rooming house. Burr waits, gun in hand, until Brodie appears on the landing below, takes aim, shoots -- and misses. Four times. Brodie fires only once, on the top floor. There is one of those open spaces between the many flights of stairs. Does anyone need to explain what happens to Burr's body when the bullet finds its mark? Neat touch: As the slow-motion chase moves roofward, some apartment doors open, the occupants peer out, curious about the gunplay, then abruptly close the doors and disappear.The script is pedestrian. Brodie, an ex-GI with a pregnant wife, is tricked into taking part in a robbery engineered by Burr's gang but he manages to signal the police and the robbery is aborted. Thereafter Burr and his gang track down Brodie, threaten to mutilate his wife, Audrey Long, and otherwise cause Brodie some considerable measure of distress.Brodie and wife escape to the farm of his in-laws and we get the contrast between the happy, ritualized life of rural peasants (immigrant Czechs this time) and the corrupt, cynical, and brutal life of the city. Those provincials certainly know how to eat and dance. The guys from the city are likely to offer you only "some milk, a loaf of bread, and some tired meat." Brodie isn't a terrible actor but his face is bland, the way a container of plain yogurt is bland. Burr is the most interesting performer. He has large, dark eyes and an insinuating baritone voice. And he's plump. A good heavy. Audrey Long -- well, what can you say? She's mighty pretty in a conventional way, with long blond hair and attractive features, and she doesn't turn in a poor performance.On the whole, though, there's not that much to recommend this movie. It's a routine thriller that was made on a modest budget with second-tier actors, an offhanded script, and little sense of location. It's not bad. It's just not much more than routine.

dbdumonteil ...Anthony Mann made remarkable film noirs."Desperate" is not your average "gangsters movie" .It's valid drama,and Mann's heroes are the boy-next-door and his wife.The gangsters ,most of the time,work behind the stage,and Mann makes us feel all Steve's trials ,fleeing both the Police and a gangster out for revenge (the relationship between the two brothers is only sketched ,and it's the only flaw of an excellent screenplay).Steve is a good guy,a victim,not unlike William Irish's (aka Cornell Woolrich's) characters ,and the audience sides with him all along the way.Remakable scenes: -The arrival at the aunt's farm and the wedding.-Steve's last meal and the insistent ticking of a clock.Like this? try these...."You only live once" Fritz Lang ,1936 "They live by night" Nicholas Ray ,1948 "Tomorrow is another day" Felix Feist ,1952