Movie night!

Wandering the never-daylit streets and alleys of Border City as depicted in Jerry Hopper’s 1954 noir; NAKED ALIBI. No one’s naked and Gene Barry’s flimsy alibi is only honored as long as it takes to get us to Border City in time to see Gloria Grahame awkwardly lip-sync and even more awkwardly wiggle to Cole Porter’s “Ace in the Hole” (not one of Porter’s best).

I’ve now crossed Border City off my bucket list of places to visit. Grahame constituted the entire floor show of the neon-lit, smoke-filled El Perquito and since she took two shots of luger lead in the back and left in a hearse……and, frankly, her star turn in the bar was pedestrian-minus anyway, what tourist attractions were left? Plus, I couldn’t find Border City on Google.

Sterling Hayden is the hero in this flick. For me, he’s the epitome of an ambivalent performer. I remember him most vividly as the crooked cop who gets wasted by Al Pacino in THE GODFATHER after apologizing for frisking Pacino and while thoroughly enjoying his cannoli. In this film…is he nuts…or is Gene Barry? Hard to tell until it’s too late to matter.

Grahame made this film just after THE BIG HEAT. It’s a similar character in many ways, but with a much smaller budget and much, much dowdier wardrobe.

Gene Barry is good. He’s pathetic, and cruel, and has a great death dive from the rooftop to and through the awning of his own shop.

The implausibilities of the plot abound. Tall, strong Hayden can’t walk the alleys of Border City for ten minutes without being beaten to a pulp and robbed, but Grahame can stroll home in her night club performing ensemble through dark streets, past shady watchers (all smoking of course, it being the 1950’s – oh, the good old days when America was great) unconcerned, unhurried, and untouched. Grahame waits faithfully for Barry’s return from mysterious “business trips,” but drops him instantly when a tattered and battered Hayden staggers into town.

Who cares?

It’s dark, and smoky, and has an adequate dose of sleaze. Bullets fly, mickeys are slipped, and punches are generally effective. There’s a rooftop chase of sorts on a church and a bakery, and a hint of potential polygamy. Maybe it’s not a classic recipe for film noir, but it’s an interesting variation.

Did I like it?

Well, maybe if it had been a better Cole Porter song.