Raw Deal (1948)

Raymond Burr is most famous as the invincible Perry Mason, but in Rear Window we saw him as the villain. In this movie, he has a much bigger villain part, as Rick, and makes much more impression as such. His towering presence is well used, and we hear him presenting his evil plan in a very elegant manner, packaging his plan in the most perfect "nice" expressions.Burr makes my favorite quote from the movie, landed with perfect timing:"He was screaming he wanted out. When a man screams, I don't like it. Especially a friend. He might scream loud enough for the D.A. to hear. I don't want to hurt the D.A's ears.... He's sensitive."On top of this, we have the overall gray and "noir" mood of the picture, about a man with very bad odds (Joe Sullivan/O'Keefe), and two women, one of them his loyal accomplice Pat (Claire Trevor), who is also narrator of the story, and Ann (Marsha Hunt) who is forced to join them. Joe's feelings for the two is the constant worry of Pat, hopelessly in love with Joe. All three do their parts well.A weakness of the movie, showing its age, is that the action scenes are pretty primitive. We have to live with that for movies this old.

Joe Sullivan is itching to get out of prison. He has taken the rap for Rick, who owes him $50 Grand. Rick sets up an escape for Joe, knowing that Joe will be caught escaping and be shot or locked away forever. But with the help of his love-struck girl Pat and his sympathetic legal caseworker Ann, Joe gets further than he's supposed to, and we are posed with two very important questions: Is Joe really the cold and heartless criminal he appears to be, or is there a heart of gold under that gritty exterior? Typically I like gangster movies or film noir, but this one just did not hold my interest. At all. Strange, considering it came from Anthony Mann, who is no slouch. I cannot explain it.

Joseph Emmett "Joe" Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) is in the State Prison for taken the blame for the gangster Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr) that owes him US$ 50,000.00. Joe is visited by the young Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt) that works at the law firm that is defending him and she tells that after three years, Joe will certainly be on probation. However his lover Pat Cameron (Claire Trevor) also visits him and tells that Rick has plotted an escape for him during the night. What they do not know is that the sadistic Rick wants to get rid off Joe and expects that Joe will be murdered or caught during the prison break. Joe is well-succeeded in the escape and Pat drives the runaway car. However the car is shot in the tank by the police officers and they run out fuel. Joe brings Pat to Ann's house expecting to have a hideout for a couple of days, but Ann calls the police believing that she would help Joe. They escape in Ann's car and head to Crescent City, where Joe expects to meet Rick to receive his money and travel to South America with Pat. But Rick sends a hit-man to kill Joe while Pat feels that she is losing Joe to Ann that has fallen in love with him. Will Pat and Joe have the chance to travel together to South America? "Raw Deal" is a film-noir with a triangle of love between an ambiguous criminal that wants to be a good man, his experienced lover and a naive young woman that also falls in love for him. Raymond Burr performs a scary gangster. The plot is full of action and has an unusual narration in off by Pat Cameron. The cinematography in black and white is very beautiful and the conclusion is dark. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Entre Dois Fogos" ("Between Two Fires")

"Raw Deal" is primarily a low budget crime drama but thanks to the inclusion of some interesting characters, excellent performances and sensational cinematography has also become recognised as a very memorable high quality film noir thriller. The whole movie is heavily steeped in an atmosphere which is bleak and fatalistic and the action takes place in an environment which looks perpetually dark and threatening.The look of the movie is attributable to the fine work of cinematographer John Alton whose single source lighting and heavily shadowed interiors create a claustrophobic ambiance which is symbolic of the extremely limited amount of freedom which can be enjoyed by the story's central character and his two travelling companions as they try to evade a massive police dragnet. The use of interesting camera angles, deep focus photography and swirling areas of fog also contribute strongly to the generally unsettling and rather ominous mood of the piece.Whilst serving a prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit, Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) is visited by two women. Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt) is a legal assistant who tells him that with good behaviour he could possibly get released in 2 or 3 years time and his girlfriend Pat Regan (Claire Trevor) informs him that arrangements have been made for him to escape. The escape plan had been devised by gang boss Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr) who owes Joe $50,000 from a crime that they'd previously carried out together. Rick has calculated that Joe's chances of surviving an attempted breakout are minute and so confidently expects to be able to avoid having to part with Joe's money.Joe escapes and Pat drives the getaway car but they soon have to abandon the vehicle because of a large number of bullet holes in the fuel tank. They then go on to Ann's apartment where they kidnap her and use her car to continue their journey to meet Rick and collect Joe's money before heading for freedom in South America. This unusual threesome successfully evades the police and an attack by one of Rick's henchmen before Joe and Rick finally meet and a violent confrontation follows.Joe's resourcefulness enabled him to successfully negotiate the perils of being on the run but he was also preoccupied by the complications which developed in relation to his feelings for Pat and Ann. Pat was loyal and totally supportive but was also very much a part of the difficult lifestyle that he'd always known. When Ann and he became attracted to each other, she seemed to embody the possibility of a different and better life in the future. This situation led to some tensions as Pat became jealous and eventually resigned to Joe ending up in Ann's arms.Dennis O'Keefe and Marsha Hunt are both very good in their roles and Claire Trevor poignantly portrays the profound emotional pain suffered by Pat as she realises that Joe has never told her that he loves her and then also sees him steadily becoming more and more attracted to Ann. Raymond Burr is outstanding as Rick who is a vile and sadistic psychopath with a penchant for pyromania.The score by Paul Sawtell features the spooky sound of a theremin and this together with the tone of Claire Trevor's narration brilliantly reinforces the grim atmosphere of this film which doesn't end well for any of the main characters. Appropriately, from the visual standpoint, this movie is probably one of the blackest ever made.