The Hoodlum
Brief Description:
Vincent Lubeck is a hardened criminal by his early twenties. His mother begs for him to have a second chance, and against the better judgment of the prison warden, Vincent is paroled. His family does everything they can to set him back on his feet. Will Vincent choose to change, or to return to his crimes?
(possibly written by me, possibly taken from Tubi, IMDb, or Wikipedia and edited by me. I forget)
Date: 1951
Genre: American film noir crime drama
Running time: 1 hour
Cast:
Lawrence Tierney (Vincent Lubeck)
Allene Roberts (Rosa)
Marjorie Riordan (Eileen)
Lisa Golm (Mrs. Lubeck)
Edward Tierney (Johnny Lubeck)
Stuart Randall (Police Lt. Burdick)
Angela Stevens (Christie Lang)
John De Simone (Marty Connell)
Tom Hubbard (Police Sgt. Schmidt)
Eddie Foster (Mickey Sessions)
O.Z. Whitehead (Mr. Breckenridge)
Richard Barron (Eddie Bright)
Rudy Rama (Harry Hill)
Raymond Bond (Old Man)
James Conaty (Parole Officer W.D. Allen)
Bill Coontz (Gang Member)
Russell Custer (Police Officer)
Rudy Germane (Guard)
William H. O'Brien (Morgue Attendant)
Gene Roth (Prison Warden Stevens)
Director: Max Nosseck
Production company: Jack Schwarz Productions
(watched on Tubi, where the CCs are wildly inaccurate, by the way!)
Setting/Aesthetic/Feel: 3/5
I haven’t watched many 1950s New York style crime films, so I enjoyed this one. It was also more domestic and focussed on ex-cons, which was a new setting for me.
Characters: 2/5
The only one I liked was Mama. Poor Mrs. Lubeck! I felt her broken heart. I may or may not have cried during her passionate outburst at the end. Also the Warden. He was very interesting and human.
John was too harsh with Vincent, and he snapped at the end. I liked Rosa, until she went stupid. Eileen, same. And Vincent I HATED. Oh, I rooted so hard for him at the beginning!! But he just utterly destroyed everyone around him. He was selfish and hateful. He was horrid!!!
Plot: 2/5
Like I mentioned above, I appreciated the part that it focussed on ex-cons. I was hoping for a big character showdown where the MC finally triumphed even if he went bad a few times. Nope. Instead he broke his mother’s heart, destroyed his brother, and murdered the woman who carried his baby. Indirectly, perhaps, but still 100% his fault. There was no sad, somber note to carry away. I was just frustrated. To be honest, I’m writing this weeks after watching the film, so I may have forgotten some stuff, but I doubt anything could make me feel different about this.
However, I really liked the themes of the film. Rosa’s and Vincent’s rooftop conversation = food for thought. And it was rife with subtle messages about Vincent and his reasons for being a criminal. Also, Mrs. Lubeck had some great lines, and the scene ranting about the city dump was SO good. And the death scene was epic though. If that had happened sooner, I think Vincent’s life might have been turned around…
Romance: 1/5
I hate romance triangles. I hate how Vincent led on Rosa and Eileen at the same time. I hate how Rosa fell for him. I don’t understand how Eileen fell for him. WHY do girls always chose to give their hearts to red-flag men who carry their red flags like semaphores???
Theme/Message/Topics: 3/5
This was the only part of the film I actually liked.
A) The theme of how hard it is to come back and rebuild your life after prison or conviction. Even if Vincent had tried—which he did, for like 2 days—he was, as he truthfully pointed out, treated badly. He was always suspected, he was spoken of in very unkind ways, he was shunned… He had a point about how unforgiving society was towards him.
B) Very subtle but I appreciated how they showed why Vincent was a criminal. Lack of confidence. Seeking self-assurance. Again circling back to how he was treated.
Also, B.2, it was shown how Rosa’s platitudes were so useless.
C) How Forgiveness must be tempered with Justice. And how you can’t save everyone, and must protect others sometimes from people who prove to be bad over and over until they evidence change.
D) How easy it is to be seduced and drawn into paths of evil.
Content: 1/5
At least one kiss (stolen, by the way), maybe more. Also a scene with at least one woman in a low-necked dress. Can’t remember anything else, but the main problem of the film is that Vincent decides to steal his brother’s fiancée. That’s the stolen kiss. It continues for most of the movie—she fell for him early on—and eventually she gets pregnant and begs him to marry her. He tells her plainly he had no intention to from the beginning and she means nothing to him. She suicides. Also in the end John tries to kill Vincent, although he loses his nerve finally.
Violence: 3/5
I remember a shootout where several officers die, and there’s probably other mild violence.
Overall: 2/5
Stevens: The only extenuating circumstances in Vincent Lubeck’s case is that he has not killed anybody… Yet.
Rosa: Is it so… so difficult to adjust yourself, Vincent?
Vincent: I came out just like I went in, only smarter. I learned a few things.
Rosa: It’s better to forget those things. Start with new plans.
Vincent: Forget what? That I was behind there when I’d get out? Life wouldn’t be planned for me and I’d go walking around just like anybody else? When you get out they won’t let you forget. They’re still pointing a finger at you, ‘something different.’
Rosa: Why don’t you stop yelling, ‘I’m an ex-con, what are you gonna do about it?’? The only finger pointing at you is your own.
Vincent: Don’t hand me that. Make a mistake once and you’re dead. The cops are always after you, people don’t want you around, everybody wants to play warden. ‘Keep them locked up, keep them penned in, don’t let them free!’
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