Wizard-8
The premise of "The Threat" - an escaped criminal seeking revenge on the cop and the district attorney that sent him to jail - is an irresistible one. It's leanly made (less than seventy minutes in length), with no real unnecessary scenes. The acting is pretty good as well, and there are a few genuinely tense moments.All the same, I thought the movie could have been better. There is one big part of the movie that could have been improved, and that is with the depiction of the cop and the district attorney. Once they are kidnapped, they are given almost NOTHING to do for the remainder of the picture. I was hoping for some kind of brewing psychological battle between them and the criminal who kidnapped them. The movie is still worth a look, but you'll see some great potential that simply wasn't realized.
Michael_Elliott
Threat, The (1949) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A man (Charles McGraw) escapes from prison after swearing to seek vengeance on those he feels got him there in the first place. The guilty man kidnaps the detective and D.A. who landed him in prison with hopes of killing them slowly. I really enjoyed the story, the direction and the music score but the supporting performances are so incredibly dull that I couldn't wait for the film to be over. McGraw is very good in his role but his supporting cast doesn't offer any help so their story is never interesting nor did I ever care if they were killed or not. With a different cast this thing could have been a classic.
ccthemovieman-1
Charles McGraw was one of the all-time best at playing tough guy roles in Hollywood. He was never anything but totally convincing in those roles, either. It has to be his distinctive gravel voice, along with his manly facial features and mannerisms, but also the fact he seemed to always play these kind of characters. All of this stamped him as a rough thug, no matter what side of the law he was on and the older he got, the more chiseled his face and rougher the voice. By 1950, he - along with big Sterling Hayden - were the two best males in the film noir genre, in my opinion. Both men were always interesting and both hit peaks in the very early '50s.In this film, McGraw is the main criminal, "Red Kluger," a man who has just busted out of Folsom Prison. He immediately goes after the two guys most responsible for putting him behind bars, captures then and then goes on the lam with a stolen truck, a couple of other thugs and the kidnapped driver of the big truck.At only 65 minutes, this moves by pretty fast, although there is a lull halfway through until things start to get tense as the cops get closer and closer. The "Inspector," by the way, is Robert Shayne, who played "Inspector Henderson" on the Superman TV show in the 1950s. The only difference was that he had a mustache in this movie.One credibility problem: the truck driver, "Joe," could have escaped a few times, especially with his riding partner up front got out of the cab to talk to a cop! What a perfect chance to slip out his side and run for it...but he stays in the driver's seat (with nobody looking at him?) Oh, well; no film is perfect.The climax was fine, offering some tense moments and a surprise finish regarding the hostages and crooks. Overall, a pretty solid film noir and one that, hopefully, will be available on DVD.
MARIO GAUCI
This little-known 'B' noir tightly-paced and efficiently handled by journeyman Feist provides Charles McGraw with one of his best roles as a vicious escaped criminal out to get the three people responsible for his conviction; clearly resourceful, he manages to kidnap all of them within the space of a few hours from his freedom (with the help of two other associates)! The film makes great use of confined spaces: in their attempt to escape detection on the way to crossing the border into Mexico, the gang exchanges their hide-out a number of times a house, a moving van (conveniently concealing a police car inside it which, apart from carrying the hostages, allows McGraw to know the pursuing force's every move!) and finally a cabin in the desert.As with other post-war examples of the genre, the violence is more pronounced in particular the stunning sequence in which McGraw pins the hero to the floor (by stepping on the latter's outstretched arms) and breaks a chair over his face! The hero, however, is rather colorless and it's the young van driver (himself an unwilling captive) who offers the most resistance to McGraw and gang though, in their final confrontation, the criminal is able to disarm him in the blink of an eye! Ultimately, this proves to be yet another title which has so far been curiously overlooked for DVD release indeed, it would make an ideal choice for the next instalment of Warners' much-anticipated "Film Noir Collection"...
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