Pushover

source: Pushover

Tight, driven little piece of "film noir" with MacMurray as a good cop driven to distraction (and murder) by the ganster moll (Novak, in her film debut) he's been assigned to spy on. Malone fills in for a charming bit as the girl-next-door who MacMurray's sidekick falls for (she should have been allowed to steal the movie from the inadequate Novak, as well). Typically, a mistake is made by the criminals, and they WILL pay for it, but they're having fun along the way. Some confusion in the script seems to have resulted in Novak's character turning sympathetic (to the audience) towards the end, sounding a disingenuous note (this kind of thing always smacks of studio interference when it concerns a new "star"). Still, good solid bit of film.

This was a pleasant surprise. I'd never heard of this film and gave it a try. It's the classic noir set-up of a plan that goes awry due to unforeseen variables. There are flashes of DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944), as Fred MacMurray and a beautiful woman (this time Kim Novak, in her breakout role) plot to get their hands on some money that isn't theirs, but only if they act their parts right. The movie centers around an all-night police stakeout of Novak's apartment, after her boyfriend robs a bank and takes it on the lam. MacMurray is a cop and figures his inside knowledge of both sides of the investigation should allow him to pull off the proverbial "perfect crime": lifting the loot while delivering the crook. There's some great suspense as things unravel and the 1950s black & white photography is great. There are hints of REAR WINDOW (1954) as the police watch the apartment during the stakeout. Dorothy Malone is adorable as Novak's next-door neighbor, who catches the eye of one of the cops through his binoculars. (It's a sweet romantic plot, not a creepy one.) E.G. Marshall heads a solid supporting cast. A very enjoyable film noir that may go under the radar. Check it out.

Fred MacMurray knocked it out of the park in Billy Wilder's DOUBLE INDEMNITY as the street smart insurance salesman who gets out-smarted by Barbara Stanwyck's femme fatale in the classic Film Noir (some even say it's the first true film noir). This time around we get to see what a similar plot looks like in the hands of lesser creators. The musical score and the cinematography are pedestrian by comparison, and although this marks the debut of Kim Novak her character is nowhere near as interesting as the multi- dimensional scheming Phyllis of DOUBLE fame. While Wilder mined the chemistry between MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson as his boss in the earlier film-- so much so that MacMurray was able to stay out of the radar of the otherwise sharp Robinson, E.G. Marshall is cardboard as the boss in this entry. A big disappointment at a time when KISS ME DEADLY and THE KILLING were getting film noir right. Something to watch if you come across it but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it.

Pushover (1954) An early widescreen black and white film noir gem. It comes late in the noir cycle but it crackles with precision and sharp acting. Though the details of the plot differ, it is an obvious echo of "Double Indemnity" with the leading man, played again by Fred MacMurray, sucked into a risky plot for big money and alluring love. And of course things don't go as planned. MacMurray is an interesting choice in both films, because he really is more of an everyman than a noir type. Noir types are variable, I know, but you can range from Mitchum to Bogart to Dana Andrews to a whole bunch of minor actors who all have a kind of coolness or hardness to them, and you never see a regular fellow like MacMurray (the closest might be Mickey Rooney, of all people, in a neglected oddball noir, the 1950 "Quicksand"). MacMurray would later find his true calling as the dad in "My Three Sons" but when you see him in these early film roles there is something wrong and some perfect about his presence. I don't mean to neglect the femme fatale here, a young Kim Novak, in her first full role. She's terrific, really, a bit cool (which was her style) but more convincing, to me, than her more famous appearance across from Sinatra in "Man with the Golden Arm." Maybe it's partly how well matched she is as an actress to MacMurray, though if there is a flaw to the film , it might be the unlikeness of these two falling in love, even with $210,000 to persuade them. But love is love and who's to say? The two of them, often playing in separate scenes (talking on the phone, or MacMurray watching her through binoculars), make this a full blooded drama as well as a crime noir. The pace and editing of this movie, and the script and story, are perfect. It's easily the kind of film you could study for its structure, and for the writing, which isn't filled with noir doozies but with believable fast lines between two people looking to get through a growing debacle. It's a conventional structure, but its precision is comparable (for its precision) to "The Killing," that famous Stanley Kubrick film from 1956. And if it isn't as inventive, and if it lacks that amazing ending, "Pushover" is resilient because it is so reasonable. It could very well happen, and these relatively ordinary types (Novak being admired for her looks, but there are lots of lookers like her out there, especially gangster's girls) make it all the more compelling. The filming is great, Lester White not known in particular in the cinematography world but shot a whole slew of decent and unamazing westerns (as well as the Ida Lupino "Women's Prison" which has it moments). Little known director Richard Quine made lots of lightweight and comic fare (he worked a bit with both Blake Edwards and Mickey Rooney, then later with Jack Lemmon) and this might be his most serious 1950s film, in tone. It's certainly the kind that you can't look away for a second because it clips along without a lull for an hour and a half.

Uneven director Richard Quine helmed this combination crime-noir and character portrait, which made a lasting impression as the debut feature for a new smoky beauty, the alluring Kim Novak. Fred MacMurray (miscast but not-bad) stars as a conflicted cop who decides to step into the gutter after being assigned to meet and stake out a beautiful gangster's girl. Intriguingly set in and around a Los Angeles apartment complex, "Pushover" isn't quite the pulpy thriller it was advertised as, yet it does work as an intriguing study of various people teetering on the edge of morality. Especially worth-seeing for Novak's star-making performance, as well as for Dorothy Malone's engaging spunk playing Kim's neighbor. MacMurray continues to look like a Basset Hound with constipation, but his final scene provides terrific movie justice. *** from ****

A film noir ,at its best (when filmed by Dassin,Wise or Walsh) features deeply detailed characters.Here we have cardboard ones:the crooked cop,the good one who finds love,the old one wisely waiting for a really earned retirement,the femme fatale and the good girl(a nurse).But instead of a film noir,we have a good suspense film ,some lite Hitchcock.It was filmed the same year as "rear window" so it cannot be looked upon as a rip-off(the windows play a prominent part in both movies!) The two actresses are cast against type:Kim Novak is the vilainess whereas Dorothy Malone,the traitor in "Colorado territory" and the future bad gal of "written on the wind" ,is an earnest nurse. Entertaining.

I couldn't help but think that this movie was an attempt to cash in on Fred MacMurray's earlier success in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, as PUSHOVER is in so many ways a reworking of this story. Instead of Fred being an insurance investigator who falls for a hot dame and agrees to turn his back on the law, this time he's an FBI agent--but once again there's a hot dame (Kim Novak) and she wants him to kill her boyfriend who has a fortune in stolen bank money. Hmmm...sure sounds familiar, huh?! Well, despite being a completely unoriginal acting role for Fred, it is still a pretty good film but I can't help thinking that I wouldn't have seen the many, many parallels to the other film had it starred someone else. For decent dialog, excitement and pacing, it should merit at least a 7 but I've got to deduct a point for the lack of originality. PS--While Ms. Novak was lovely, Fred was a decade older than he was in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, so I felt his "loverboy" role was awfully hard to believe.

In Pushover Fred MacMurray dusts off his acclaimed portrayal of Walter Neff the luckless insurance agent from Double Indemnity and gives him a badge as an easily corruptible cop. The temptation in his path is another dame, in this case Kim Novak being 'introduced' in this film as Columbia's answer to Marilyn Monroe. MacMurray's a cop who is assigned to get close to gangster Paul Richards's moll Novak. Richards and his mob have pulled off a bank heist and if they had any sense, they'd be out of the country and fleeing. But police captain E.G. Marshall reasons that Richards ain't going nowhere without Novak. Of course what he doesn't figure on MacMurray's libido as well as Richards. Novak's one cool ice princess in this one, she's willing to spend the loot with one crook as another and one with a badge sounds pretty good to her. There's a side romance going as well with Novak's neighbor, nurse Dorothy Malone and fellow officer Philip Carey. Malone gets innocently caught up in the intrigue. Carey while doing surveillance on Novak's apartment gets to peeping in on Malone next door. His little Rear Window act pays off in the end. Pushover is a fine noir drama and highly recommended for those who like myself know full well that Fred MacMurray is capable of a lot more than Disney films and My Three Sons which I think most know him for today. Novak makes a stunning debut as the ultimately luckless moll and the rest of the cast backs them up with a splendid ensemble effort.

Tight, driven little peice of "film noir" with MacMurray as a good cop driven to distraction (and murder) by the gangester moll (Novak, in her film debut, somewhat more effective than usual) he's been assigned to spy on. Malone fills in for a charming bit as the girl-next-door who MacMurray's sidekick falls for. Typically, a mistake is made by the criminals, and they will pay for it, but they're having fun along the way. Some confusion in the script seems to have resulted in Novak's character turning somewhat sympathetic towards the ending, sounding a disingenuous note. Still, good solid bit of film.