Spikeopath The Last Mile is directed by Howard W. Koch and adapted to screenplay by Milton Subotsky and Seton I. Miller from the play of the same name by John Wexley. It stars Mickey Rooney, Frank Overton, Michael Constantine and John Vari. Music is by Van Alexander and cinematography by Joseph Brun.The Death House is the cell block where nine inmates await their dates with the electric chair. Some of the guards delight in tormenting the condemned men, one of whom is Killer John Mears (Rooney), and he's had enough...Already made in 1932 with Preston Foster in the starring role, Howard Koch's 59 version of The Last Mile taps into the film noir zeitgeist of the time and unleashes a film of great power.Essentially played out on one set, there was a danger that this could have been too stage bound as a production, but not a bit of it, the tight confines of the shoot are just perfect for the thematics of the story. Pic begins with imposing title credits, an animated drawing of "Old Sparky" accompanied by shards of Van Alexander's Jazz "N" Blues musical score. We are then locked up with the convicts of "The Death House", sharing their fears, their anger and their regrets, the constant glances towards "The Door" at the end of the block akin to catching a glimpse of "The Grim Reaper" spying on you.For the first two thirds of the piece the makers ask for our patience as they build characters and atmosphere, gently ratcheting up the tension with every claustrophobic frame. Prison stories were ready made for film noir purveyors, offering great opportunities for the cinematographers to utilise the steel bars for psychologically shadowed impact, and Joseph Brun does that excellently here, even managing to extend the cell shadows over the smug guards, the inference is that they too are locked up in this place of abject misery.The air of fatalism mixes with the sweat of the men and drips down the cell walls, we are left in no doubt that this powder keg is about to be ignited, and when it comes it comes with the thunder, producing a last third of kinetic cinema of throat grabbing proportions. To which Koch and his team deliver a film noir coup de grace. Rooney leads the way with his performance of a seething John Mears, it's not over acting as some critics of the time suggested, it's a full on commitment to the portrayal of the incarcerated male who literally has nothing to lose and has had enough of being taunted. The other actors around him inevitably pale into his shadow, but they also put much emotion into their respective roles, very much so.An under seen and under valued prison noir, The Last Mile should be sought out by anyone with a bent for such films. 8.5/10

Michael_Elliott The Last Mile (1959) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Prison drama takes place on the Death Row floor as one man (Clifford David) finally accepts the fact that he's going to die later that night. Before that can happen, the most violent man (Mickey Rooney) in the joint manages to break free and release the other inmates and soon they're holding hostages. THE LAST MILE isn't the greatest prison flick you're going to see but I think it has enough interesting moments to make it worth sitting through once. Low budget master Howard W. Koch does a pretty good job at bringing the material to life and you've got to give him even more credit because the actual material isn't all that good to begin with. Koch at least brings a nice atmosphere to the film and I was also impressed with the visual style that he brought it. This is especially noticeable during the sequence where the David character is confessing to a Priest (Frank Overton) and the use of shadows was very impressive. I also thought he managed to bring some good tension towards the end of the film but it's too bad the screenplay didn't give him more chances at this early on. Perhaps I've seen too many "cute" Mickey Rooney roles but I always have a hard time believing him in some of his more adult things. He's playing a mad dog killer here and while I thought he did a fine job in regards to the performance, I still can't see him as much of a threat. I thought Overton was also good in the role of the Priest but the rest of the cast were very hit and miss. The screenplay was clearly the weakest aspect of the film as we never really get to know any of the characters and we don't even get to know why they're on Death Row. I thought the film didn't know if it wasn't to be a straight crime flick or if it wanted to send some sort of political message about killing people. The film even tries to make us "like" these men but not for a second did I want to see any of them succeed.

John Seal This one came right out of left field. I tuned in because I like Mickey Rooney and crime pictures in equal measure, but ended up getting a lot more than I bargained for. The Last Mile is one of the bleakest American films I've ever seen, a no holds barred depiction of life (so to speak) on Death Row. The tone is decidedly European; if Ingmar Bergman had ever made a prison flick, this would have been it. This is all the more surprising considering Howard Koch served as director and future Amicus honchos Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg produced! The cast is uniformly excellent, with especial kudos to Rooney as Killer Mears, Ford Rainey as Red Kirby (whose 30 day stay comes into play during the film's second act), and Leon Janney as sadistic prison guard Callahan (a role I can also imagine James Craig essaying with equal relish). Van Alexander contributes a fantastic, jazz-inflected score, Joseph Brun's black and white cinematography is frequently stunning, and the whole thing reminded me of Jacques Becker's Le Trou, which in my opinion is very high praise indeed!

bkoganbing This remake of The Last Mile has been updated nicely with a nice jazz score and the inmates and prison officials definitely fit the Fifties as opposed to the Twenties when it first appeared on Broadway. But the impact of this searing prison drama hasn't changed and Mickey Rooney stretches his considerable talent to the limit playing the lead of Killer Mears who leads the uprising of the death row inmates.Mickey has some fast company among the people who've done this part. Spencer Tracy did it on Broadway and his performance there led to his original film contract with Fox. Clark Gable after doing some bit parts and extra work in silent films was spotted doing this in a touring company in Los Angeles which led to his MGM contract. And Preston Foster did it in the original screen version. Rooney's performance stands up to any of their's.It's a simple plot, but the characters run deep. Before the big attempted breakout we get a character study of each of the inmates on Death Row. It takes a good actor to get himself noticed here though because the character of Killer Mears so dominates the film and the other inmates. These are men with nothing at all to lose, a lot like the inmates shown in The Green Mile. But of course they don't have a character like Mears to whip them in a frenzy when a guard slips and Mears gets the upper hand.Being that the film is only on one set for 95% of the time, it's a small budget affair, hardly like Ben-Hur which came out the same year. Still Rooney's incredible performance should have merited Oscar consideration. He was nominated for films and performances not half as good as this.Try to see both the Preston Foster and Mickey Rooney versions together. Too bad we can't see Spencer Tracy or Clark Gable in how they did the role. The Last Mile is timeless as long as we have capital punishment. I can see Russell Crowe doing Killer Mears easily in a 21st Century version.