99 River Street

"99 River Street", a 1953 film noir, tells the story of a frustrated, failed heavyweight boxing contender who still needs to hit. Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) was a punch away from the heavyweight championship. But after an eye injury, he was forced to leave the ring, to hold to his memories while driving a cab, and to contend with his sexy, shrewish wife Pauline (Peggy Castle) who expected something better and who is cuckolding Ernie with a violent jewelry thief. Ernie is drawn into the underworld of crime and murder not through boxing but through the death of his unfaithful wife at the hands of her double-crossing lover. With the help of his friend, an aspiring Broadway actress, Linda James (Evelyn Keyes) who has herself used Ernie to advance her career, Ernie is able to redeem himself and escape the bad guys at last. He is able to stop hitting and settle in to a modest, loving life with Linda as they own and operate a gas station."99 River Street" is a wonderfully gritty, brutal film with classically noir settings of boxing and cab driving on New York streets. It features tough hoodlums, including a sinister fence named Christopher (Jay Adler) who fronts as a pet store owner in Greenwich Village, the cuckolding jewel thief Victor Rawlins (Brad Dexter), and a violent glinty hit man who works for Christopher, Mickey (Jack Lambert). The film also offers sympathetic portrayals of Ernie's friends from cabbing and of his former boxing manager who still cares about him. The two women in the film radiate sexuality and show its indisputable power over men. Pauline the femme fatale is unsympathetic but sexually irresistible as the demanding wife while the budding actress Linda uses her wiles but also brings Ernie love at the end.Phil Carlson directed this low-budget B film and Edward Small produced it. Franz Planer did the highly effective black and white noir cinematography. Although the film received poor reviews upon release, it has come to be highly regarded by lovers of noir film with perceptive analyses by Eddie Muller, the "Czar of Noir" and several others that are readily accessible online. This tough noir film shows the value of moving on with one's life and not being trapped in the past.Robin Friedman

I'm a more-than-casual movie fan, but not a scholar by any stretch. I love black & white movies and actually moved up from a regular DVD player to a Blu-Ray so I could watch incredibly old movies in their most perfect presentation ('Maltese Falcon' and 'Casablanca' were my first two BR purchases).I thought I knew a fair amount about film noir....the films, the stars, the directors...but I was flabbergasted when I finally watched Phil Karlson's 'Kansas City Confidential.' What a premise! What a movie! What a director! It was the most excited I'd been since discovering the work of Anthony Mann and John Alton. I followed 'KCC' with Karlson's 'The Phenix City Story.' I liked it, but not nearly as much and thought that perhaps Mr. Karlson only had one good noir in him. Boy, was I wrong.'99 River Street' is right up there with 'Kansas City Confidential.' It's another great premise, well executed all around. I've never seen John Payne in a better role, Evelyn Keyes is terrific and the supporting cast combines to present one of the finest collections of hard-luck faces this side of 'The Hustler.'I watched '99 River Street' on Netflix (it's in their on-demand library) but I'm here today to buy a copy of my own. Netflix has made such odd decisions in the recent past that I don't think I want to rely on them to have this movie at their (my) disposal for long...and I know I'm going to watch it again and again. First rate stuff....and I'm going to turn over rocks to find all the Phil Karlson noir/crime movie I can so I can catch up with this guy's early work. Those who only know Phil Karlson as the guy who made 'Walk Tall' are missing a great deal of pleasure.(This gets 4 out of 5 stars because the ending was a little cheesy. Somehow, I don't think this was Mr. Karlson's fault. But, still.....)

Amazon has the unfortunate habit of lumping all reviews for a film together, regardless of date of issue or format (VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray).This is especially unfortunate when the newest version is a dramatic improvement over the old versions.This is the case with "99 River Street"The Kino Blu-Ray was released on June 21, 2016.There were already forty reviews of the old MGM DVD-R posted on Amazon.Most of them liked the movie, but had reservations about the print quality and lack of special features.The new Blu-Ray has a beautifully restored HD picture.The new Blu-Ray has trailers for the film, plus three other films noir.The new Blu-Ray has a commentary track with film noir expert Eddie Mueller.Very entertaining commentary track - an example of how it should be done.Mueller points out a lot of things I never noticed before:-- In a tour of 1953 New York City after dark, we are taken to the usual places:1) An all-night saloon2) An all-night drug store with soda fountain (whatever happened to soda fountains?)3) An all-night boxing gym4) An all-night pet store (huh?) where the villains hang out5) An all-night cafe-- The HD picture on Blu-Ray reveals a lot of things that went unnoticed on DVD:1) The ship at the dock in the final scene is an obvious matte shot.2) Villain Brad Dexter is actually wearing eye liner.-- Brad Dexter was a wonderful screen villain in dozens of films in the '40s through the '70s.As the commentary points out, despite being a handsome guy, he never made it as the hero (something weaselly about his smile)Brad Dexter only played the good guy once in his career:He was one of the Magnificent Seven (the one nobody remembers)Great film noir: Imaginative script, camera work, lighting and directing.My only complaint is the lack of subtitles(the DVD didn't have them either)GET THE BLU-RAY, NOT THE DVD.PICTURE 1 = OLD DVD COVERPICTURE 2 = NEW BLU-RAY COVERPICTURE 3 = BRAD DEXTER

Things happen. No hard feelings.

not very good

An enjoyable film, good to see John Payne acting in a more gritty role.

Good quality print and soundtrack, of a film that does not disappoint.

Great movie,with a good storyline,just as they used to make them.Delivered on time,good service!!!

This is a captivating film. Maybe five stars seems excessive, but we greatly enjoyed watching it. At first, Payne's performance seems over the top - he's too much of a hothead to be believed. But as the story progressed, my wife and I were glued to the screen as we wondered, "what else can happen to this guy?", as ever more things happened. It was like a "Snakes and Ladders" game on film. Evelyn Keyes puts in a great performance, including a little gin joint erotica that had us wondering how they got it past the censors. Brad Dexter, who later showed up as one of the Magnificent Seven, puts in a great turn as a very bad guy. As often is the case in a good noir, you have to wonder how some of these characters got hooked up in the first place (with Payne's character's wife, Peggy Castle, it might have been the legs as well as her other physical charms - it sure wasn't her character). A host of other fine crime characters spice up the tale. The film portrays a gritty level of society very convincingly. I'll watch this again, even after I play it again for the Eddie Muller yak track that I haven't yet heard. Several good noir trailers are included, too. And for once (about time, too), a disk has the entire sound track in DTS - we didn't have to hunt for the remote in the dark to turn it back to Dolby for the extras.