Son of the 100 Best Movies You've Never Seen by Richard Crouse

Author:Richard Crouse
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: PER004040
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2008-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Jim Thompson, the boozy author of blood-splattered crime stories such as The Getaway and The Grifters, had a knack for dialogue. Dubbed the “Dimestore Dostoevsky” his nihilistic novels really captured the vernacular of the street.

When Stanley Kubrick was in pre-production for his adaptation of the Lionel White novel Clean Break, he knew he needed someone with Thompson’s unique ability to capture the rhythms of the underworld in words. Thompson had never written for the screen but jumped at the chance to make $1,000 and have Kubrick look at his novella Lunatic at Large, which he hoped to one day see on the big screen.

Checking into a seedy Manhattan hotel, Thompson pounded out a script that fleshed out Kubrick’s ideas. His alcoholism made his work habits erratic, but there’s no denying he delivered some classic hard-bitten dialogue. “It’s not fair,” says the wife of one of the characters, “I never had anybody but you, not a real husband, just a bad joke without a punchline.” It’s archetypal Thompson, an over-the-top toxic cocktail of cynicism and coarseness that oozes sarcasm.

Thompson, working in tandem with Kubrick and producer James B. Harris, fine-tuned the story of Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) a career criminal with one last job in mind.

Newly released from prison Clay has elaborate plans for a big score — $2 million in a race track heist — before he goes straight. His team is hand-picked, each possessing a special skill crucial to the plan’s success. The inside guys — cashier George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.), bar tender Mike O’Reilly (Joe Sawyer) and Randy Kennan (Ted de Corsia), a policeman who will patrol the track area — are all clean and have no criminal records. Two shadier characters, wrestler Maurice Oboukhoff (Kola Kwariani) and sharpshooter Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey), complete the team.

On the day of the theft the plan goes smoothly. During the seventh race of the day Maurice causes a diversion by starting a brawl in the bar while Nikki adds to the chaos by shooting the winning horse. During the ensuing melee George lets Johnny into the staff area where he picks up a gun left for him by Mike. He then disguises himself with a mask, steals the bet money from the till, completing the transaction by dropping the money down to Randy who, still dressed as a cop, takes the loot to a secret drop-off point, freeing up Johnny to leave the track unnoticed.

All accomplices resurface unscathed except Nikki, the sociopath who gleefully shot the horse. He is killed while trying to escape. At the rendezvous point, however, the situation turns ugly. While Johnny is en route with the money, the lover of Nikki’s wife shows up and demands cash. Tempers flare, and a bloody shootout wipes out the whole gang.

Johnny, sensing that something is amiss bypasses the rendezvous and heads for the airport with his girlfriend Fay (Coleen Gray). He’s committed the perfect crime. There are no witnesses or accomplices left, so he’s scot-free. Or is he?

The movie more or less follows the script Thompson wrote between swigs of bourbon in his hotel in New York.

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