Footsteps in the Night (1957) User Reviews (6)

Farewell to the peaceable man

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 23 August 2014]

With Footsteps In The Night, Wild Bill Elliott said farewell to the silver screen. And the noted cowboy actor did it with his boots off so to speak.

His last film as Detective Lieutenant Andy Doyle of the LA County Sheriff has him investigating the case of Robert Shayne being murdered in his hotel room following a card game with Douglas Dick. Shayne was known as a miserly sort and he yelled loud and long about parting with a nickel. The quarrel was heard and Dick became a prime suspect immediately.

But when Dick is apprehended his story plus other things that didn't add up convince Elliott to look for alternative theories. What he finds I won't say, but it's astonishingly simple.

No doubt Elliott with these modern detective films was fulfilling a contractual obligation to Allied Artists. I've seen a lot of his work over the past couple of years. At one time he was poised to enter the big time as that other cowboy actor John Wayne did.

Again this is a good police drama. But not like anything else that wasn't being seen on the small screen at this time.

You'll be entertained

[markwood272 · 6/10 · 14 September 2018]

Saw via YouTube 9/13/2018. Just about the best-looking print ever seen on YouTube - picture and sound clearer than many a movie done years later.

Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives played by oater icon Bill Elliott and "Asphalt Jungle"'s Don Haggerty right away believe they know who killed Fred Horner (played in flashback by "Superman"'s Robert Shayne). They zero in on Henry Johnson (Douglas Dick), Horner's neighbor who is also a shakily recovering gambler permanently engaged to Mary Raiken (the beautiful Eleanor Tanin).

But Elliott's Lt. Doyle senses they've jumped to a conclusion - they've missed something. And so the plot changes, even if it doesn't quite "thicken" in an entirely convincing way.

Famous for his work in westerns, Elliott's amiably slow, drawling performance as a cop was something that I found very realistic and believable. I think people in his line of work were probably more like him than SFPD's Frank Bullitt or Harry Callahan. Loved the location shots (presented as West Hollywood and maybe they were), the script not quite so much. Still, I spent a very entertaining 62 minutes watching "Footsteps in the Night." I could not have asked for more than that.

Will Bill Elliott goes Calm Bill Elliot in his final movie

[XhcnoirX · 6/10 · 17 October 2016]

When a man is found strangled in the motel apartment of Douglas Dick and hotel occupants overheard them quarreling over a poker game, police detectives Bill Elliott and Don Haggerty immediately set up a manhunt for former gambling addict Dick. But something doesn't sit right with Elliott who thinks the case is too easy. After Dick is apprehended and questioned, Elliott does some additional digging around and comes up a mistaken identity theory. But to test this out-of-the-box hunch, he must put someone's life on the line...

'Wild' Bill Elliott was a popular star in dozens of B/Z Westerns, but he played police lieutenant Andy Doyle in his final 5 movies (Andy Flynn in the 1st movie), this one is the last of those. He gives his character a very laid-back and calm demeanor, which works nicely with Haggerty's ('Cry Vengeance') character's more direct approach. They're decent enough, but as with the rest of the cast, 'adequate' is as far as it goes.

Production values are really low, and it's possible this movie was shot simultaneously with other entries in this movie series to save on production costs even more. Keeping this in mind the movie looks pretty decent and has an above average numbers of sets/locations, even some good on-location shots. Director Jean Yarbrough ('Shed No Tears') and highly prolific cinematographer Harry Neumann (350+ credits of mostly westerns but also a few noirs like 'My Gun Is Quick' and 'A Bullet For Joey') do a nice job of keeping the momentum going in this hour long movie, but visually things are kept pretty plain aside from a few dark nighttime scenes. I wouldn't say I'm eager to check out the other 4 movies in this series, but as a cheap programmer it does deliver. 6/10

It's all in the cut of the cards.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 29 September 2014]

Bill Elliott's Andy Doyle wraps up his five film series with this enjoyable programmer about a man on the run determined to prevent himself from being indicted in a murder he insists that he did not commit. The film opens with jazzy music playing over the opening credits and the accused (Douglas Dick) coming upon the dead man who somehow got murdered during the brief time he was apparently out of the room making a drink. Dick is a troubled self-hating young man who has a gambling problem, and as Elliott investigates the crime, he realizes that there are extenuating circumstances that don't add up to prove Dick of being the killer.

This series had an assortment of mysteries, some fairly decent and some outstanding. This one ranks as good, putting it somewhere in the middle. The psychological study of Dick's character is fascinating to see panned out, and there are some interesting supporting characters as well. By the time the denouncement is made as to the truth behind the mystery, you might want to put a sock in the mouth of the braggart character played by James Flavin who plays the type of character once known as a "blow hard", the overly gregarious, non-stop talking know-it-all, but its very interesting to find him being taken down a level as he realizes the error of his ways. You also don't find any sympathy for the victim of the crime (Robert Shayne) whose pressure on Dick to gamble was as detrimental as somebody putting a bottle of scotch in front of a major alcoholic or a bag of cocaine in front of a junkie. These films really showed the darkness of the human condition and the reminder that all it takes is one person's pressure on another to destroy their soul.

The "Peaceable Man's" Final Film

[Henchman_Number1 · 5/10 · 22 November 2018]

In his last screen appearance Western star Bill Elliott loses the cowboy boots and goes out with his Florshiems on as Los Angeles Homicide Lieutenant Andy Doyle in this contemporary police drama. Doyle and his partner Sgt. Mike Duncan (Don Haggerty) are called to the scene when an apparently well liked retiree (Robert Shayne) is found murdered on the floor of his neighbor Henry Johnson's (Douglas Dick) Hollywood bungalow. Fearing he will be set up for a murder rap, Johnson flees the scene with Doyle and Duncan not far behind.

After the Monogram Pictures unit of Allied Artists was shutdown in 1953, the decision was made to discontinue production of Western films. To fulfill his contractual obligation to the studio Elliott appeared in a series of five crime dramas beginning with 'Dial Red O' in 1955. 'Footsteps in the Night', was helmed by prolific director Jean Yarbrough ( Abbott and Costello, Bowery Boys). Yarbrough was known for bringing films in quickly, competently and on budget, which is exactly what he does with this film. Yarbrough seemed to have a near religious like conviction that no movie should extend beyond 75 minutes.

'Footsteps' is the last entry in the Bill Elliot detective series and a pretty decent B crime flick. Definitely lower budget, it has the feel of an elongated television episode. Complete with campy but cool 1950's jazzy soundtrack and several exterior location shots, it makes this crime quickie worth a look.

Very Average

[recluse2 · 5/10 · 25 September 2018]

Two cornball cops solve a murder. Nothing special about this flick. It felt like a TV show in the Dragnet vein.