Deadline - U.S.A. (1952)

Humphrey Bogart tries to avert The Day, the paper he is head of, from being sold. The film brings out the importance of competition within newspapers as The Day tries to expose the gangster Rienzi, nicely portrayed by Martin Gabel. Had the latter's part be enlarged, Bogart could have easily played that part.Why did Ethel Barrymore, who plays Mrs. Garrison, the widow of the owner of the paper, change her mind about selling the paper. She had two selfish daughters who only saw the gaining of money in the scheme of things.Rienzi is ruthless and will go to any length to keep his crooked enterprises thriving. This includes murdering his mistress when her own brother turns her in to the mob, and then he makes sure to eliminate the brother. Their poor elderly mother defies this gangster and gets the newspaper to print its final edition with her diary being used by the paper.The picture really brings out the tragedy of when a newspaper is sold and the new owner has the intentions of running it to the ground.We have an excellent cast here supporting Bogart. Kim Hunter is effective as his ex-wife, who still loves him. Ed Begley and Audrey Christie, both of whom would appear together 12 years later in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," are appealing as dedicated staff members, as does Jim Backus and others.

Richard Brooks wrote and directed this amazing film about the death of a quality newspaper. The detail about it's day-to-day workings are fascinating.Besides Bogart, in one of his very best roles, you get to see why Ethel Barrymore was considered one of the greatest actresses of the Twentieth Century. She's marvelous here.The supporting cast is really strong, but I have single out both Ed Begley and Jim Backus. Begley usually played mean types; here he's playing a honest, hardworking assistant to Bogart and he's really good.Most people don't know how good an actor Backus was. His performance here, as well as is in "Pat & Mike" show that he really had the chops to pull off a dramatic role, although both characters have their light side.The only that bogs down the film is Kim Hunter as Bogart's ex-wife and "love interest". She's a great actress, but she way too youthful for this part and after her performance in "Streetcar", this seemed a bit phoned-in. It's not Hunter's fault....it's the part.This is one of the remaining major Bogart films that have not yet come out on DVD, and it would certainly be appropriate for Fox to get with it.

Have you noticed that almost all of Bogie's very BEST and most gritty performances were when he played characters that were dedicated to a noble cause? Rick Blain in CASABLANCA goes without saying... even tho Rick doesn't admit until the end that he IS dedicated to ANY cause.Charlie Allnut in THE African QUEEN once again became dedicated (at the insistence of Kate Hepburn) to the cause of sinking the Louisa.Tho his cause was a twisted one born of psychosis, Lt. Commander Philip Francis Queeg was utterly committed to the cause of making the USS Caine acceptable to his impossible standard of perfection.In his last film THE HARDER THEY FALL we again see the cynical, world weary Bogie who seems to be part of the problem, but who in the end lets his conscience and character win out; he does what he sees as RIGHT, no matter what the personal cost.Even in his most underrated performances in the cheap, throwaway films like BATTLE CIRCUS, Bogie was at his hard boiled best as a dedicated MASH surgeon. Alan Alda probably took a lot of his character Hawkeye from Bogie's performance.Playing the crusading newspaper editor Ed Hutchinson in DEADLINE USA Bogie gives us a tour de force performance, clothed in the utter, incorruptible purity of an honest man who is fighting naked evil in the form of corruption by a gang boss who controls a city's underworld... as well as some of it's most prominent public institutions.In this one I'm strongly reminded of Jimmy Stewart's hard boiled, cynical reporter in CALL NORTHSIDE 777; Stewart was another actor who really got his teeth into a part where he was on a crusade of some sort.Bogie hated phony movie tough guys, but oddly he came off as one in a lot of non-gangster roles; his demeanor was so imposing that without violence he could radiate strength and integrity... along with a world weary cynicism that made him seem all the more powerful. In DEADLINE USA we get it FULL STRENGTH and undiluted as he opposes Tomas Rienzi. Violence directed AT him makes him appear all the stronger; the sequence in Rienzi's car where Bogie gets struck across the face with the newspaper shows it; Hutchinson never even flinches at the blow. He only smiles and sneers "THAT'S the Rienzi I like to see".Bogie's at his BEST in the final scene in the press room... there's BEAUTY in the utterly cynical contempt in his voice as he answers Rienzi's phone call with "Hello Baby..." . We KNOW that Bogie has all the cards in his hand now, and Rienzi's threats are meaningless when Bogie says "That's the PRESS, Baby, the PRESS... and there's NOTHING you can do about it. Nothing". That line makes us want to stand up and CHEER... no matter what may happen to Bogie, he's left us a gift. Right has triumphed.This is one of his BEST films. It's a great example of why Humphrey Bogart is still, 50 years after his death, one of Hollywood's brightest shining stars.

Deadline - U.S.A. has Humphrey Bogart as the editor of a big city newspaper that is in the process of being sold to a Rupert Murdoch like chain that publishes scandal sheets. His paper is in the process at the same time of doing an expose of notorious racketeer Martin Gabel.And if that ain't enough for Bogey his wife Kim Hunter is splitting from him. It's the usual story, she can't stand having him married to her and the paper as well.Growing up in New York in the Fifties we had several newspapers, each vying for a smaller readership. I remember we had the Times, News, Post, Herald Tribune, World-Telegram&Sun, Journal-American, and the Daily Mirror. Some of those you can see are the products of consolidation, there were more in the past. After a printer's strike in the sixties most of them went out of business. The papers were competing for a shrinking share of readership. In the previous generation, radio competed with the print media and I grew up with that new phenomenon of television. Today we are seeing the effects of the Internet as the individual's primary source for news.The gangster part of the plot gets started with the discovery of the body of a Virginia Hill like moll, the former mistress of Martin Gabel. While some of the scandal sheets cover the sensational aspects of the murder of a glamor girl, Bogey's paper does some serious investigative reporting and uncovers a lot of evidence. Their work also has consequences including the maiming of young reporter Warren Stevens.In the meantime the heirs of the newspaper's original founder are looking to sell the paper. Opposing it is their mother, Ethel Barrymore and she has a fine part and is obviously the model for the widow publisher played by Nancy Marchand in Lou Grant. She has one classic scene with Humphrey Bogart where they commiserate over their mutual problems.Deadline - U.S.A. is a realistic look at the life of a big city paper in days gone by. It's a gritty piece of nostalgia, as timely in its day as The Front Page was in the Twenties. Cast members like Paul Stewart, Jim Backus, and Ed Begley look and feel right at home at their jobs.The film is recommended particularly for younger viewers who are glued to their computers and television to see how a newspaper functioned back in the day.