QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM KARLOVY VARY
Nick Robey sets pout to rob a bank, but his plans go terribly awry. He ends up fatally shooting a policeman and running away. He escapes with U$10,000 by frantically jostling through the large New York crowds. He enters a public swimming pool and hides underwater. This is where he first bumps into charming and innocent Peg Dobbs (Shelley Winters), so clueless that she doesn’t even know how to swim.
The young lady becomes immediately infatuated with the tough attitude and the perfectly chiselled-face of the stranger, who invites himself to visit her apartment. At first, she hesitates to accept the self-invite. But surely she’s playing hard to get. This is a time when man would not take “no” from a woman. And the up-for-grabs lady wouldn’t dare to miss opportunity. Peg seems well aware of Nick’s “romantic” intentions, and pretty excited about them, too. This is a female representation from the 1950s, and as such there is little concern for empowerment. In fact, Peg is a little too submissive even for the standards of the time. While blonde, there is nothing fatale about her. The expectation that this might change with the final twist of this relatively short noir film, and that Peg might do justice with her own hands keeps the tension simmering for most of the movie’s runtime of 77 minutes.
A large chunk the story takes place inside Peg’s apartment, which she shares with her father, her mother and her little brother. The fleeing criminal makes the entire family hostage, making sure that at least one of them stays the whole time at home, within a short distance of his loaded weapon. Dad and Nick wage a battle for Peg’s ownership. Who’s the gal gonna listen to? Her overprotective father or the irresistible baddy? The mother is even more helpless than her daughter, fainting due to a minor needle accident.
There is nothing honourable about Nick’s behaviour: he’s self-serving, manipulative, arrogant, trigger-happy and deceitful. He isn’t a rogue hero. He has no working class aspirations. He is simply the impersonation of toxic masculinity. That does not stop Peg from becoming attracted to him. The male is well aware of this. He uses his seduction skills in order to control the poor woman, and to find a way out of the city into a remote place where he can enjoy the money stolen.
The very strange resolution offers a partial prospect of female liberation. One that comes at a very expensive price. Modern audiences won’t be impressed. Feminists might get a little shirty. John Garfield’s swan song boasts a riveting script, fines performance and a rich depiction of New York. Just don’t expect a revolutionary movie – aesthetically, narratively or socially.
He Ran All The Way shows in the 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as part of a John Garfield tribute. Garfield was an American actor best remembered for his attractive manly looks, his overt communist sympathies as well as his rebellious, working-class and often unscrupulous characters. This was the actor’s final role, before he passed away to heart problems at the age of just 39. There is speculation thatpolitical pressures may have contributed to his death
