I Walk Alone Reviews

(OK) Great cast and director, the coolest trio Douglas/Lancaster/Lizabeth and even Corey is moving, and I spotted a small handsome character Mickey Knox; but the scritp is too self conscious, Scott and Lancaster have too many lines, the sequencue of the books explanation and the entire last part are a bit foolish (the clise of the frontpage with Lancaster's phot is too much)...

Film noir is dependent upon a palpable sense of atmosphere, of a world going to rot, covered in grim and thick with smoke. There’s a sense of erotic energy and danger, often intertwined, and everyone seems morally pliable, if not bankrupt or seeking salvation. What separates the best from the merely competent is how these various pieces are deployed and the heightened dialog enveloping them.

 

I Walk Alone has a rudimentary plot, one that occasionally gets bogged down with incident that feels improbable, and conventional payoff. Byron Haskin smartly populates the film with a stellar ensemble of actors, future legends on the cusp of superstardom or genre-defining actors doing their thing, but it is obvious that he’s spent time away and only recently comeback as a director. There’s something perpetually ‘off’ as if all the pieces are there but can’t seem to put together correctly.

 

The plot concerns two former bootleggers (Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas) who reunite after one of them does a jail stint and the other starts a successful nightclub. They made a bargain years before that they would hold half the profits for the other should this exact scenario happen, which is the first instance where the plot starts to strain credulity. Why would a professed criminal keep his word to his fall guy buddy?

 

Lancaster is cast as the tough brute while Douglas is the silken tongue mastermind. It’s interesting but I wonder if their screen presences would’ve been better suited in swapping roles. Douglas isn’t bad as the gentlemanly gangster, yet he was best when allowed to simmer and explode. He never explodes here. Lancaster’s gentlemanly side was something that largely went underdeveloped. He was so often cast as brutes, con men, or soulful criminals that a change of pace would’ve been nice to see. They’re both fine with what they’ve been given but there was room for more.

 

Anyway, there’s also Lizabeth Scott as the woman stuck in-between the two men. Her role is a canned kept woman who falls for the guy she’s supposed to be scamming, but Scott invests a certain vulnerability and tremulous warmth that salvages the part. Her tough sensuality, not unlike that of Lauren Bacall, tips I Walk Alone into a less paint-by-noir experience.