Trailer

Johnny O'Clock (1947)

Passed   |    |  Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Johnny O'Clock (1947) Poster

High-class crook gets in trouble with the law.

6.9/10
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  • Ellen Drew in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
  • Ellen Drew and Evelyn Keyes in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
  • Evelyn Keyes and Dick Powell in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
  • Ellen Drew and Dick Powell in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
  • Evelyn Keyes and Dick Powell in Johnny O'Clock (1947)
  • Evelyn Keyes in Johnny O'Clock (1947)

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Cast & Crew

Top Billed Cast

Director:

Robert Rossen

Writers:

Robert Rossen (screen play), Milton Holmes (original story)
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Reviews & Commentary

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User Reviews
25 September 2001 | bmacv
7
| Despite best efforts, Powell, Keyes & Cobb can't quite salvage warmed-over noir
As much as more touted actors such as Bogart and Mitchum, Dick Powell helped form the noir cycle, with his assumption -- the first on film -- of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet. He went on to star in such dark and definitive works as The Pitfall and Conflict (not to mention such lesser offerings as Cry Danger and To The Ends Of The Earth). Here, as title character and mid-level gambler/gangster Johnny O'Clock, he sports the thick shell and sub-zero emotional temperature of the noir protagonist, a type he helped to patent. But given a muddled script with noirish shots, situations and symbols thrown in willy-nilly, he fails to convince. Evelyn Keyes, as the sister of a murdered hat-check girl, has (as always) her moments, as does Ellen Drew, as the soused trophy-wife of big mobster Thomas Gomez. Lee J. Cobb puffs his cigar endlesslly, trying to enforce the law. Johnny O'Clock is not quite a bad movie but it's less memorable than many worse-made movies in the cycle. There's just nothing particularly distinctive about it. You feel you've watched it before, at least in bits and pieces, even though chances are (it remains relatively obscure) you haven't.

Critic Reviews

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Did You Know?

Trivia

When Lee. J. Cobb (Inspector Koch) was called before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1953 and given a chance to clear his name by naming communists he had known, Cobb named Shimen Ruskin who plays the dry-cleaner in this film.

Quotes

Chuck Blayden: You get in my way and I'll kill you.
Johnny O'Clock: You took the words right out of my mouth.

Soundtracks

Little White Lies
(uncredited)
Written by Walter Donaldson
[Played by pianist in casino]

Storyline

Plot Summary

Genres

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Details

Release Date:

3 April 1947

Language

English

Country of Origin

USA

Filming Locations

Hollywood, California, USA

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