Slattery's Hurricane (1949)

"Slattery's Hurricane" is not a particularly good film and is a rare career misfire for a young Richard Widmark. Oddly, the bizarre and unlikable plot was from a story by Herman Wouk--a very accomplished writer. Perhaps the screenplay completely botched his story...perhaps he just had a misfire.Slattery (Widmark) is flying into a hurricane when the film begins. He then has a series of flashbacks that take up most of the rest of the film. It seems that after leaving active duty in the Navy, Slattery's made money flying charters. While he might be working for drug dealers, the money is good and Slattery asks no questions. Additionally, while he has a long-suffering girlfriend (Veronica Lake), he completely ignores her and begins chasing after a friend's wife!! All in all, he's a total jerk and only later, when receiving the Navy Cross (awarded for service during WWII--it was given to Slattery while he was in the Naval Reserves) does he start to reassess his life. But who cares?!The film has many problems--the biggest of which is the blandness of most of the characters. Darnell cheats on her husband...but you know nothing more about her. Lake is a doormat and nothing more. And Slattery's 'friend' (John Russell) is also quite bland--which is odd considering he often had a commanding presence in films. Add to that that Slattery is thoroughly despicable, you really wonder why you're even watching this film in the first place!

"Hurricane." An interesting word with curious features, borrowed and mangled by the Spanish from the Arawak Indians of the Caribbean who, in turn, had borrowed it from the Mayan god of storms, Huracán. He must have been even meaner than Yahweh, who was at least more discriminating in his deployment of destruction.Richard Widmark is Slattery, the pilot who flies his Grumman Goose into the storm and muses about his life course. He's pretty mean too. The film open with Widmark preparing to take the seaplane out and beating hell out of the well-meaning guy who tries to stop him.Another guy who gets belted, John Russell, is an old friend of Widmark's from their days as naval aviators during the war. Russell is still in the service while Widmark has become a civilian pilot for a Florida magnate who imports and exports "chocolate". (Read "drugs".) Widmark's girl friend, Veronica Lake, works as the magnate's secretary. Both of them live on the estate. Something just occurs to me -- what is a "magnate" anyway? The plot is a little twisted at this point, and gets moreso. When Russell and Widmark first bump into one another in Florida, Russell introduces his wife, Linda Darnell. We discover, while Russell and Lake are dancing, that Widmark and Darnell had been lovers in San Diego. The expository dialog is painfully deadening. "We didn't just split up -- you walked out on me." "I left YOU? How do you think I felt?" Neither Russell nor Lake know about this earlier liaison. Widmark is so mean that, old friendship notwithstanding, he puts moves on Darnell and succeeds.The noirish interior monologue by Widmark lacks any poetry. Mostly, he rebukes himself abundantly. "Oh, brother, you got just what you asked for, didn't you. Well, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" At any rate, we get to like John Russell, a typical standard Navy officer, cheerful, competent, uncomprehending of women. And there's an adrenalin thrill when Widmark takes Russell up for a check flight in that Grumman Goose. Widmark shuts off one engine and flies it around in a steep bank, while Russell checks out the manifold pressure and so forth. The two of them are grinning like kids. Russell flies a Privateer for the Navy, a modified B-24. I flew in one too, in the Coast Guard, and the pilot also shut down an engine over the Pacific. I didn't care for the flight.It's a complex role for Widmark. He's neither the unmitigated sadist of "Kiss of Death" nor the tireless promoter of the public weal, as in "Panic in the Streets." He must be strong in the wrong ways and weak in the good ways until he develops a moral spine. It must be difficult to play a drunk in the movies because Widmark is a competent actor but he can't handle a drunk scene believably. I was a magnificent drunk in two scenes in the much underrated art house classic, "Too Young The Hero." Lee Marvin does a good drunk too. Not Widmark. And Richard Egan and Doris Day were embarrassing to watch when they had drunk scenes.Veronica Lake is not the diminutive femme of ten years earlier. Her features are slightly more pronounced and they look ready to express some subtle emotion but they never get around to it. Linda Darnell looks fine.It's not a bad film. The romantic drama turns the story more sluggish than it ought to be, but, as in Herman Wouk's "The Caine Mutiny," the romance merely reflects the development of the protagonist's character. The business of flying and dealing with storms is fun.

Richard Widmark flies into what becomes known as "Slattery's Hurricane" as he looks back on his life in this 1949 film. Directed by Andre de Toth, the film also stars Linda Darnell, John Russell and DeToth's wife, Veronica Lake.Widmark plays Slattery, a former Navy man who, with his girlfriend Delores (Lake), works for drug smugglers. Slattery is unaware of this, though subconsciously he probably knows, but Delores, an addict, knows everything. (Delores' addiction is only hinted at.) When Slattery meets an old Navy friend, Hobbie (John Russell), he finds out that Hobbie married his former love, Aggie (Darnell). Though Delores is in love with Slattery, Slattery is still in love with Aggie and goes after her, not caring about Delores' feelings or Hobbie's marriage. When a hurricane hits, Hobbie is called in for pilot duty so he can get the hurricane coordinates, but he's too drunk to fly. Slattery takes his place, and while flying through the storm, looks at his mess of a life.This isn't a particularly good film, but Richard Widmark does a great job, creating a fully fleshed-out character. It's impossible to believe that Lake, her signature haircut gone, was only 27 when this film was made. I would have guessed she was 40. Even with her husband directing the movie, she's not well photographed. It's a shame, because the petite actress was perfect for films, radiant, beautiful, with a great presence; no matter the role, she projected an intelligence and femininity. She just doesn't register here. The gorgeous Darnell has very little to do.All in all, mediocre, but worth it for Widmark.

Slattery's Hurricane (1949) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Mildly entertaining melodrama benefits from some nice performances by the leads. Pilot Slattery (Richard Widmark) takes off in a plane, flying through a hurricane where he looks back on his life. Most of this flashback centers on him running into a friend (John Russell) who he eventually stabs in the back and tries to steal his wife (Linda Darnell) while his own girlfriend (Veronica Lake) begins to lose control. While Slattery tries to steal the wife he has even more trouble from the men he works with who just happen to be involved in narcotics. At just 80-minutes this thing flies by pretty fast thanks in large part to the performances but in the end it's just way too predictable and full of too much melodrama to really work. I think the best aspect is the performance by Widmark who gets to act tough, as usual, but also manages to be very believable as the man simply struggling with his attitude and look on life. Widmark takes what could have been a simple tough guy role and adds some soul to it by really delivering a full character and one we can't help but feel as if we know. The cruelness that the character has towards anyone but himself is perfectly brought to life by the actor. Darnell doesn't get too much to do but she's certainly easy on the eyes. Russell's role is pretty thankless as well but I enjoyed all of his scenes with Widmark as the two certainly had a nice chemistry. Lake, who was married to the director at the time, doesn't come off nearly as good. I'm not sure what it was but just watch any scene she's in and it appears as if there's something really bothering her as she's constantly looking around and can't seem to keep her eyes still. Her role really wasn't written all that well but I still wasn't too impressed with her performance. The special effects of flying inside the hurricane were pretty good and it should be noted that Ray Kelloogg, director of classic drive-in fluff like THE KILLER SHREWS and THE GIANT GILA MONSTER, did the visual effects. I think the well-known cast will make people check this film out but the end results are rather mixed. There's some nice scenes and a couple decent performances but in the end you can't help but feel as if you're going through the motions and that you've seen this countless times before.