Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Ben Hecht (screenplay)
Victor Trivas (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

7 July 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Plot:

Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon wants to be something his old man wasn't: a guy on the right side of the law. But Dixon's vicious nature will get the better of him.

Plot Keywords:

Sucker | New York City | Police Detective | Racketeer | Cover Up

Cast

Dana Andrews	...	Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon (16th Precinct)
Gene Tierney	...	Morgan Taylor(Paine)
Gary Merrill	...	Tommy Scalise
Bert Freed	...	Det. Sgt. Paul Klein (Dixon's partner)
Tom Tully	...	Jiggs Taylor, Morgan's Father
Karl Malden	...	Det. Lt. Thomas (16th Precinct Detectives commander)
Ruth Donnelly	...	Martha, Owner of Martha's Cafe
Craig Stevens	...	Ken Paine
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Herbert Lytton	...	Joe, Scalise Hood (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Germany:12 | UK:12 | USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #14458) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This is the last in a series of films that Otto Preminger made as a director-for-hire for Twentieth Century Fox in the 1940's. The series includes "Laura", which also stars Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, "Whirlpool", and "Fallen Angel"

Goofs:

Continuity: When Andrews is staging the murder scene after Stevens' death, he is gloveless. A few seconds later he suddenly has gloves on both hands.

Quotes:

Morgan Taylor: It's a wonderful day. No job. Everybody against me. My poor dad sitting in a cell... and it's a wonderful day. Isn't that amazing?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Trip to Swadades (2008)

Gritty Noir excellence from Preminger

An excellent opening title sequence starts this gritty Noir off in perfect step with what will follow. The son of a thief who was killed while attempting to shoot himself out of jail, Mark Dixon became a cop in an attempt to atone for the sins of the father, but cannot quite escape the fathers blood surging through his veins every time he strikes out at a hood, and it's his excessive use of force that gets him demoted with the threat of losing his job as detective, the only thing he ever wanted out of life. When he accidentally kills a witness to a murder, panic takes hold of him and he proceeds to cover up the evidence, but fate has a way of meting out cruel justice. Mark will fall in love for his victim's ex, and then her innocent uncle through another freak accident ends up taking the rap for the murder when the body turns up. And now the real moment of truth - atone for his own sins and free an innocent man, but probably lose the girl, or say nothing, keep the girl, but end up being just like his father? A brilliantly executed noir by Preminger and Dana Andrews nails one of the best performances of his career as the tormented detective.