source: Samuel Fuller's Street of No Return

Street of No Return

A popular actor/musician who like many genuine rock stars can't keep it inside his trousers, crosses the wrong person and ends up with his throat slit, an injury intended to punish and ruin his career rather than kill. After refusing to name his attacker, he gets up from his hospital bed, and heads for skid row where after an indeterminate time he is framed more or less by accident for the murder of a police officer. Escaping from custody in a unique fashion he somehow stumbles upon his assailant, who just happens to be involved in a plot to take over the city if not the world, and by a serendipitously circuitous route, justice is served. There is quite a bit more to it than that, none of it any more believable, but it shouldn't take the viewer long to realise this film was never intended to be taken seriously.

An unkempt bum (Keith Carradine) after witnessing a riot and getting hit in the process, wonders through the streets where he thinks back to his life when he was somebody. When he was a successful singer and bedded Celia (Valentina Vargas, who didn't need to speak to make her part in "The Name of the Rose" to make it highly memorable), a nightclub dancer with a mobster boyfriend. Samuel Fuller's swansong, is interesting, despite Carradine's horrid songs.Not the best Fuller film by a long shot, but still watchable. My Grade: C- DVD Extras: commentary with Keith Carridine; a 32 minute Behind the scenes featurette; Text interview; and Theatrical Trailer Eye Candy: Valentina Vargas shows it all