Moviecut—Roadblock

source: Roadblock

Roadblock

Joe Peters (Charles McGraw) is a no-nonsense insurance investigator. He unwillingly gets involved with chiseler Diane Morley (Joan Dixon). Later, he's investigating suspect Kendall Webb (Lowell Gilmore) who happens to be Diane's man. He has fallen for her and willingly corrupts his morals. The story is told in a straight and narrow fashion like Joe's initial character. His downward slide is just as straight. There is a coldness to the stiff telling. It does have a car chase through the Los Angeles river bed. I wonder if it's the first or at least one of the first. It's also quite an epic walk off to end the film.

This drama is pretty run of the mill. Only two things make it a standout. One is one of the worst leading ladies of all time: Howard Hughes paramour Joan Dixon. Second is the cool chase scenes through the Los Angeles "River" (big drainage ditch). All six stars are for the chase scene.

This is a slight little B movie that's entertaining nevertheless. Insurance investigator Joe Peters (Charles McGraw) meets hot number Diane (Joan Dixon) and decides he's going to have to do something desperate to keep her in the lifestyle she wants to become accustomed to. Milburn Stone (Gunsmoke's Doc) has a small role as a detective.

This is a typical film noir of the period and , in my opinion, this is no bad thing. It follows all the typical patterns of a hundred other B-movies of a similar type of it's day. Shadowy photography, good man laid low by the femme fatale, a few seedy gangsters thrown in, all the ingredients are there. If you're not a big fan of noir then you might switch off after 30 minutes exclaiming that "I've seen it all before", and you'd be right. Personally I love the genre and thought this was a competently made movie with good performances by the leading actors. McGraw is perfect as the law-abiding detective seduced into lawlessness by the siren of the piece (Dixon). If you like film noir check ROADBLOCK out. If you don't then maybe this movie's not for you.

"Detour" is far more famous. And it's probably better. But this strange little movie moves as inexorably to a terrible end as "Detour" does. Charles McGraw was an excellent actor. He is fine here as "Honest Joe" Peters. He encounters Diane, a woman he never ought to have encountered, on a plane ride. He is a straight-arrow insurance investigator. She is looking for a rich man. She knows he isn't rich and she is not really painted as a villain. Joan Dixon plays Diane in a deadpan manner. She is pretty and has a soft, rather high voice. Maybe she was someone's idea of an Elizabeth Taylor lookalike. There are similarities. Everything is understated. Yet it's a tough movie. And it's powerful, and sad.

Billed as the story of an insurance investigator who goes crooked to please his femme fatale but there the similarity with "Double Indemnity" ends. No twists or turns, no subtleties, this story is told as it is. A plain straightforward account that becomes almost predictable as the plot slowly unwinds from one situation to the next inevitable one. Nevertheless it's good yarn and well worth seeing. Better than your average B film. The outdoor footage gives a good impression of LA circa 1950. Ends with a thrilling police car chase on the LA river(?) and the villain ? ....... we'll you'll have to see it yourself.

Roadblock is the story of PI Charles McGraw who's a clever but honest detective on retainer for an insurance company. Circumstances on a return flight to his home base in Los Angeles throw him together with Joan Dixon who makes no mistake about the fact she's high maintenance. What to do to win her was throw in with well known but untouchable crook Lowell Gilmore to do a heist on a mail train carrying lots of untracealbe currency. No fence means they take it all. Of course as things happen stuff goes wrong and McGraw in the end becomes a hunted man. Situation similar to the Humphrey Bogart faced in High Sierra with the law closing in. McGraw is fine in a role perfectly suited to him. Dixon's somewhat abrupt change of character is the main problem I have with Roadblock. It makes no sense at all. Still some nice action shots and that final chase in the dry Los Angeles River bed is one of the best of its kind on film. Gives Bullitt a run for its money.