Party Girl (1958)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Nicholas Ray

Writers:

Leo Katcher (story)
George Wells (writer)

Release Date:

28 October 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir

Tagline:

ROUGH AND READY! THE TRUTH ABOUT THE 'MODELS,' 'ACTRESSES' AND 'DANCERS' WHO PLAY WITH FIRE...AND OFTEN GET BURNED! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Lawyer Thomas Farrell has made a career defending crooks in trials. He has never realised that there is a downside to his success...

Plot Keywords:

Trial | Dancer | Beautiful Woman | Cripple | Gangster

Cast

Robert Taylor	...	Thomas 'Tommy' Farrell
Cyd Charisse	...	Vicki Gaye
Lee J. Cobb	...	Rico Angelo
John Ireland	...	Louis Canetto
Kent Smith	...	Jeffrey Stewart
Claire Kelly	...	Genevieve, Farrell's Wife
Corey Allen	...	Cookie La Motte
Lewis Charles	...	Danny Rimett, Golden Rooster Mgr.
David Opatoshu	...	Lou Forbes, Farrell's Assistant
Kem Dibbs	...	Joey Vulner, Rico's Mgr.
Patrick McVey	...	O'Malley, Detective
Barbara Lang	...	Ginger D'Amour, Party Girl
Myrna Hansen	...	Joy Hampton, Party Girl
Betty Utey	...	Cindy Consuelo, Party Girl

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Australia:G (TV rating) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Norway:16 | Finland:K-16

Company:

Euterpe

Trivia:

Director Nicholas Ray was certainly impressed with Robert Taylor's commitment. "He worked for me like a true Method actor," said Ray, who remembered Taylor going to an osteologist, poring over X-rays and asking probing questions so that he would have an understanding of where in his body the pain would be from his character's crippled leg.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Perras callejeras (1985)

Soundtrack:

Party Girl

A Revelation

Interesting movie. Very interesting, though the title is inexcuseably misleading. Nicholas Ray directs and, not surprisingly, makes novel use of shadows, bold colors and wild camera angles. There is a bravura montage of an explosion of mob violence which is sudden and startling. Ray, best known as the director of "Rebel Without a Cause", takes a smart, tough script and; unlike many crime movies which contain similar ingredients but fail to resonate, gives the movie a soul. There's something about its tone and feel, some simmering menace and creeping regret that reminds one of another mob movie which would be released 15 years later: "The Godfather". And as in that classic, the Lawyer/Mob Boss relationship is complex and fascinating.

While much of the credit deservedly goes to Ray's maverick methods and genius, the cast is also very good. Robert Taylor never developed the kind of easily identifiable screen persona of a Bogart or Jimmy Stewart, but he was a sturdy leading man who usually served the material and could be depended upon to anchor a film. He pours his heart into this part, his last as an MGM contract player. Cyd Charisse was never known as a great actress but she is capable in her role as a feisty Show Girl, and she gets a good opportunity to show off perhaps the most eye-popping, perfectly sculpted figure in the history of motion pictures. And of course, nobody was better at playing hot-tempered thugs than the great Lee J. Cobb.

Turner Classic Movies is such a goldmine. It's so satisfying to see movies, such as this one, that know how to introduce plot points and convincingly tie them up and bring things full circle. "Party Girl" may not be quite a great film, but it is very, very good.