The Naked Street (1955) User Reviews (29)

Very solid, with Quinn remarkable--a very good low key noir

[secondtake · 7/10 · 21 December 2010]

The Naked Street (1955)

A hidden gem. It's too straight forward to be some kind of memorable classic, and it has too many of the earmarks of many movies that came earlier to be original in any way. But this is a really well made, slightly lower budget, crime and romance film with a great cast. Anthony Quinn in particular shows several sides to his personality as a nice big brother who is also controlling and blind to his little sister, a full grown Ann Bancroft, who is radiant in the working class apartment she lives in with her mother. And Farley Granger is a good echo of the slightly idealistic but misled innocent he played in "Strangers on a Train," though here he is not so innocent.

Expect a fast progression, some good solid filming, and acting that holds its own. The director, Maxwell Shane, is really more of a screenwriter, and so it figures the writing here is pretty good (he co-wrote, too). He has only a handful of other films he directed in this period, all reasonably good (the first, "Fear in the Night," the most forgettable, and the best, "The Glass Wall" stars Gloria Grahame), and all fairly formula stuff. This one rises up because of its tight construction and good, very good, acting. Give it a chance.

Anthony Quinn Film

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 6 August 2008]

Enjoyed this film from the 1950's with Anthony Quinn playing the role as Phil Regal, mobster in a section of New York City. Nicky Bradna, (Farley Granger) was a young guy trying to go straight after getting out of prison and his girl friend is Rosalie Regalzyk, (Anne Bancroft. Rosalie just so happens to be the sister to Phil and so he managed to get Nicky out of jail. There is a horrible event which happens to Nicky and Rosalie Bradna, and Nick goes wild and gets himself deep into the world of crime which takes the entire film in a different direction. Anthony Quinn put his heart and soul into this role as being a mean and cruel and hateful mobster. If you like Anthony Quinn, don't miss this film, you will greatly enjoy viewing it.

Bancroft, Quinn and Granger chief attractions in crime drama plus sociology lesson

[bmacv · 6/10 · 31 January 2003]

Maxwell Shane's The Naked Street opens with a `torch' murder under the low-rent end of the Brooklyn Bridge; it's a hit ordered by mob boss Anthony Quinn. Quinn finds family problems vying for his attention, however. His kid sister, Ann Bancroft, has been left pregnant by a murderer on death row (Farley Granger, who here could double for Eddie Fisher at about the same time). Quinn intimidates the original witnesses and secures Granger's release in order for him to make an honest woman out of Bancroft.

Investigative reporter Peter Graves, meanwhile, is working on an exposé of Quinn's underworld empire. He gets nowhere, however, until Quinn's quick fix of his sister's dilemma starts to unravel. Her baby is still-born (probably due to all the sherry her groom bought her to brighten her confinement), leading Granger to start to womanize and brush up his criminal skills. This only provokes Quinn, who tries to undo his earlier meddling by meddling some more....

The Naked Street blows in some high-minded social commentary in an attempt to supply moral uplift to an otherwise gritty crime drama. In that, it keeps step with the fads of the mid- to late-fifties, with many reminders of the `tenement' origins of criminals (despite the fact that, as here, these monsters' mothers are invariably old-country saints). And the plot's ironies, though obvious, hold interest.

But Shane, who six years earlier had done the more authentic City Across The River along similar lines, can be a clumsy director. He lets too much of the story get told through Grave's voice-over narration rather than telling it himself, on film. And there are nagging little lapses: there's a phony hijack in which a car runs a truck five times its size off the road; at an illegal all-night poker game in the back room of an ice-cream shop, the neon sign blazes `Millie's' to beckon every cop in the five boroughs. Still, Quinn does well in one of his last `heavy' roles, and early Bancroft offers glimpses of the fame to come. But the puzzle is, what was there in this role tempting enough to lure Granger back from Europe?

A Quinn Showcase

[dougdoepke · 29 May 2014]

The acting makes the movie, especially gang boss Regal (Quinn) and his naive sister Rosalie (Bancroft). Regal may be a ruthless racketeer outside his family, but inside, he's a protective pussycat. That is, until cheap Lothario Bradna (Granger) first knocks-up Rosalie and then philanders after Regal forces him to marry her. And that's after Regal gets him off a murder-one rap so the irresponsible kid can do the right thing. Now, feeling betrayed, Regal's really angry, so we know Bradna's in for even worse trouble.

The movie's got some twists and turns, not all being very plausible. But that's okay because Quinn delivers a scary and riveting performance. The actor's just back from Italy where he starred in the powerful classic La Strada (1954). So maybe he was trying to show Hollywood a thing or two since he delivers a lot more than the role requires. Then there's Bancroft, already a magnetic personality, and on her way to an Oscar-studded career. Looks to me like the producers spent their money on the cast and not on the visuals that are pretty bland and bare-bones. But then the supporting cast is full of familiar faces, especially up-and-comers like Van Cleef and Graves, along with great vets like Bissell and Flavin.

Five-years earlier and I expect the film would have been straight noir, without the moralizing voice-over. But this is the McCarthy Cold War period, so there can't be any lingering ambiguity. Still, it's a fairly gritty little film with a compelling central performance that deserves better than near- total Hollywood obscurity, despite the titillating title.

decent noir with a good cast

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 1 May 2015]

Anthony Quinn stars in "The Naked Street," a 1955 film with Farley Granger, Anne Bancroft, and Peter Graves.

Quinn plays a gangster, Phil Regal, whose sister Rosalie (Bancroft) is pregnant and unmarried. Nowadays, this would be a cause for celebration. Back then, it was a scandal. The father is Nicky Bradna (Granger) who is at the moment on death row for killing a liquor store owner while he was stealing his money.

Regal is a wonderful son to his mother (Else Baeck) and a protective brother, but he's basically involved in lots of illegal activities.

Phil wants Nicky to marry Rosalie, so he drops bundles of cash in the right places. Suddenly the witnesses have second thoughts about what they saw and the DA is willing to give him another trial. Soon he's out, married to Rosalie, and driving a truck, which is not what he wanted to do. But big brother insisted.

It doesn't take Nicky long to start acting up - he and Rosalie suffer a tragedy, he doesn't like his job, and Regal wants him out of the way.

Pretty good noir, and Anthony Quinn does a wonderful job showing us the human being beneath the tough gangster. Anne Bancroft is very young, but excellent in her part, and Farley Granger does well as the loser husband.

"The Naked Street" is a derivative story, so it's not particularly special, but it is worth a look.

Typical 50s Tony Quinn

[artzau · 6/10 · 4 February 2003]

This film is a film noir wannabe and just doesn't quite make it. The plot, a mobster (Quinn) who holds his family as a icon of decency, discovers his sister (Bancroft) is "jammed up" by a local neighborhood playboy (Granger) who is on death row for murder. Bringing his influence to bear, the gangster gets the playboy a new trail and his freedom so he can marry his sister. But, the playboy can't stand it and gets caught by the hood stepping out on his wife. So, the gangster sets his roving brother-in-law up to be framed for murder. But, as his playboy son-in-law tells him, "I didn't kill this guy but I did kill the first one..." and the cops use him to chase the hood to his death while his mother is bringing him a bottle of seltzer water to have with his weekly dinner with her.

Film buffs will enjoy seeing the younger Quinn in scowling action as well as Granger and Bancroft in their younger days. The acting is solid, the storyline somewhat pedestrian and there's no video or DVD. You'll have to catch on the late show.

Just to make Anne Bancroft an honest woman

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 15 January 2018]

The Naked Street is narrated in flashback from the point of view of investigative reporter Peter Graves who gets both the story and the girl in the end. The story is that of Anthony Quinn one tough and ruthless gangster who like Paul Muni in Scarface is slightly overprotective of his sister. The sister is Anne Bancroft and she's gotten herself knocked up.

The doer is Farley Granger a local punk who is now on death row for killing someone. Quinn who has striven mightily to keep his gangster life away from his sister goes to some extraordinary and illegal lengths to get Granger sprung. But once the shotgun wedding has been concluded he treats Granger the way Sonny Corleone treated Carlo Rizzi his new brother-in-law. Granger actually tries at one point to go straight, but Quinn just hates him with a passion. It ends bad for both Quinn and Granger.

Anthony Quinn who in his career was one of those chameleon like players who could do just about anything is dominant in the story in whatever scene he's in. The hatred of Quinn for Granger is what drives the whole story.

As for Granger he recycled the part he did in Edge Of Doom where he plays the killer of a priest and another priest Dana Andrews brings him to accountability. It's like the fates were truly against him and due to Quinn's machinations comes to a truly ironic ending.

Others to note are James Flavin as a noted criminal defense attorney who Quinn hires for Granger and Lee Van Cleef who is unbilled and who becomes an unwitting pawn in Quinn's plans for Granger. Bancroft is showing a bit of acting chops herself, there's a glimmer of the talent that got her that Oscar for The Miracle Worker.

The Naked Street didn't have any great production design touches, but the talented cast keeps you interested.

Only a Shadow of Pure Film-Noir Not Bad but Implausible

[LeonLouisRicci · 6/10 · 3 May 2015]

There are some Fight Scenes that Lend a bit of Roughness to the Proceedings and a few Scenes that have an Edge, but this is another Example of just how the Fifties Filtered and Weakened Film-Noir.

Elements Remain from the Golden Age of the Genre but its Decline is Evident as Things became Glossy, Obvious, and Preachy. One Thing this one does Bring to the Table is the Out of Wedlock Pregnancy that is Dealt with Head-On.

However, the Voice Over Narration No Longer is Ominous or Layered with Defeatism. Now it is just Matter of Fact Police Procedural or in this Film a Journalist just Stating the Facts.

Some Strong Acting is Evident from Anthony Quinn and Anne Bancroft with some Good Turns by Supporting Players, but Peter Graves and Farley Granger seem Miscast. Overall, Worth a Watch to See the Decline of Film-Noir and for an Interesting but mostly Implausible Story about the Underworld.

Gangster's revenge

[nickenchuggets · 7/10 · 14 October 2022]

Although Anthony Quinn isn't really on my list of favorite actors, he was considered an excellent actor for a reason. This little known (and contemporarily disliked) film from the 1950s shows this to great effect. In it, Quinn portrays Phil Regal, a criminal who uses his racketeering skills in order to secure the release of a murderer whom he wants his sister to be married to. He does this because Phil has convinced his sister Rosalie (Anne Bancroft) that the killer, Nicky (Farley Granger), is innocent. It's already known that Rosalie is about to have Nicky's child, but he was arrested and sentenced to the chair shortly afterwards. We see how Nicky stabs the salesman of a liquor store to death after he doesn't give him a large amount of money. An Italian business owner named Cardini, as well as another witness, are blackmailed into saying they didn't see Nicky run off after stabbing the person. Thanks to Phil's actions, Nicky gets out of prison and is not executed. At first, Rosalie is really happy to see Nicky again, but when the time comes for her to birth her son, everyone gets some devastating news. The baby has apparently been choked by his umbilical cord. Phil flies into a rage and starts going off on Nicky, saying how he only got him out of jail to make Rosalie satisfied, and that he hoped at least one good thing would come from his return, but now all that's gone because his son is dead. Nick, tired of getting pushed around by Phil, plots his revenge. He starts dating Phil's sister, which Phil definitely isn't happy about. Using his influence, he gets a murder case to be connected to Nicky, and he gets sent back to death row. There isn't anyone to save him this time. A reporter visits Nicky in prison, and Nicky tells him to print a story about how he's the one who killed the store owner, and how Phil threatened people not to talk about it. The story is published, but Nicky is fried anyway. Still, Rosalie reads the story and gets angry at her brother about how he lied to her and said Nicky wasn't a criminal, and thus would have made a fine husband. Phil tries shooting the reporter, but the cops show up to arrest him. In one last act of defiance, he tries to jump over a gap separating the roofs of two apartment buildings, but misses his jump and falls to his death. I'm not sure about anyone else, but I was a little let down by how anticlimactic this film was. Quinn gives an explosive and energetic performance as Phil, but movies typically depend on the performances of multiple actors to succeed and not just one. I didn't care for Nicky as a person. He really deserves to die for what he did, and after Phil secures his release, he isn't even thankful. This made me glad when he eventually is punished, even if the movie doesn't actually show the execution. Bancroft was alright, but didn't really have anything interesting to say or do. I did at least like the ending, since the movie wasn't afraid to leave off on a really depressing note. We just see Rosalie crying after her brother just fell off the building, and that's it. Overall, out of all the noir movies I've seen lately, this is one of the weaker ones. I didn't really find the story that convincing or intriguing, and the actors aside from Quinn just didn't do it for me. Compared to noirs such as Quicksand or The Hitchhiker, this just doesn't have the same fulfillment. If Quinn wasn't in this, I'd probably rate this much lower.

Quinn's good, Granger's not

[zetes · 6/10 · 3 April 2011]

A rather silly, though not exactly unentertaining, noir. Anthony Quinn stars as a big-time gangster who discovers his sister (Anne Bancroft) is pregnant. The catch? The guy who did it (Farley Granger) is now on death row. Quinn won't let his sister's kid be born a bastard, so he's goes about intimidating the witnesses to Granger's crime and gets him a retrial. It works (the justice system was even more screwed up back then than it is now, apparently), but, even though he's now married to Bancroft and should be uber-grateful to Quinn for springing him, Granger is still kind of a douchebag, treating poor Bancroft like crap, smacking her around and cheating on her and stuff. This, of course, does not please Quinn whatsoever. Peter Graves also co-stars as a newspaper man who also has a thing for Bancroft. Quinn is really good in the film, but it's not one that plays to Granger's strengths. He's best as a nervous type, like in Rope, Strangers on a Train and Edge of Doom. He's not a good tough guy. This can also be found on Netflix Instant.

good try, no cigar....Quinn good

[arthur_tafero · 5/10 · 2 October 2018]

The only naked in the film Naked Street is Anthony Quinn's chest (in two scenes). That really didnt do it for me. The film is uneven and Farley Granger is a B actor. Worth viewing only for Quinn. The hood in the hood has been done a 1000 times, and several dozen times better than this. Save your time.

A noir movie well worth seeing...

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 20 March 2011]

Anthony Quinn plays a tough mobster named 'Phil Regal'--a guy who has managed to balance his family life and his job. His family really doesn't know exactly what sort of guy he is. All his mother and sister know is that he's the man of the family and his job is to take care of them and be their protector. When his sister (Anne Bancroft) becomes pregnant, Quinn insists on fixing things--which is tough, as the father is a young punk on death row (Farley Granger). Using lots of money and muscle, Quinn manages to get the guy sprung. The only problem is that once Granger marries into the family, he can't keep from screwing up his life--cheating on his lovely wife and getting involved in penny-ante crimes. Now considering what a tough customer Granger's brother-in-law is, Granger obviously is a total moron...and sooner of later Quinn is going to fix this problem...permanently.

In addition to this family, another major character in the film is a young Peter Graves. He plays a reporter who went to school with Bancroft and he is investigating Quinn's 'business activities'--and you know sooner or later this will come to a head.

This film was far better than I'd expected since it wasn't a very famous example of film noir. Yet, the film is original and very exciting to watch--it's also a nice showcase for Graves, who at this time was a complete unknown in Hollywood. Well scripted and acted, this menacing little film is a treat for anyone who loves the genre.

Fairly entertaining

[BILLYBOY-10 · 6/10 · 24 October 2010]

Anthony Quinn is a mob boss, his sister Anne Bancroft is pregnant by her cheap thug boyfriend Farley Granger who is on death row for killing a liquor store owner, she lives a home with their sweet mom. When Quinn finds out Granger is Bancroft's father he arranges to get Granger sprung and free by strong-arming and intimidation. So Granger and Bancroft get married but the baby dies at birth and Granger snaps and starts fooling around and resents Quinn. Quinn decides Granger is no longer necessary so he has him set-up and framed for the murder of Lee Van Cleef. Granger is now on death row again so he confesses to the first murder of the liquor store guy so the D.A. will prosecute Quinn for getting him off in the first place. Pretty soon things get tense and the cops come for Quinn. He runs to the roof of his old building and tries to jump the 8 feet between buildings, he makes the jump but teeters and grabs a TV antenna to right himself. The whole time, Peter Graves is the crusading newspaper reporter weaving in and out of the story and narrating the flick. This is a so-so crime drama with everything including the chubby short foreign accent mother cooking Sunday dinner, Quinn's goons working people over, floozy girl friends, street wise upbringing stories and pigeons on the roof. Not really formula but not spectacular. Entertaining enough for an hour and a half.

Cast can't cover for Naked Street

[st-shot · 3/10 · 16 November 2018]

Careers are in flux in this formulaic mobster drama that pays little attention to detail in its simplistic telling. Farley Granger was ebbing, Tony Quinn was moving into leads and Anne Bancroft was two decades away from Mrs. Robinson playing a knocked up teen in this slap dash dud where none of them acquit themselves well.

Thug Phil Regal (Quinn) does not shy away from violence or any other crimes to get what he wants. He only softens around ma and his kid sister (Bancroft) who finds out she is in a family way with a suave local punk Nicky Bradna (Granger). After botching a liquor store robbery an murdering the owner he gets sentenced to the chair but the bullheaded Regal makes sure he's sprung to save his sister and family from shame. Bradna ends up returning to his old ways so Phil re-frames him.

Maxwell Stone's direction comes across AWOL as he pays little attention to ambiance or getting his actors to jell with each other." Granger continues to whine in self pity dating back to his They Drive by Night Days in 48, Quinn rages moodily without the exuberance of Zorba or intimidation of Zampano and Bancroft as a gum chewing Laverne and Shirley lays the accent on heavy. There's a moment in the film that intimates incestuous feelings of bro but that is probably more to Quinn's acting style than Stone's transparent direction that allows the film to stumble along to its pat conclusion.

Light Story but the Actors Are Great

[Michael_Elliott · 17 August 2012]

The Naked Street (1955)

*** (out of 4)

Gangster Phil Regal (Anthony Quinn) finds out that his younger sister Rosalie (Anne Bancroft) is pregnant by criminal Nicky Bradna (Farley Granger) who just happens to be at Sing Sing and on death row. Regal manages to scare the witnesses who change their testimony and Nicky is released but soon the gangster regrets what he did. THE NAKED STREET seems to have mostly negative reviews and while I can admit that the film has some major flaws, the cast is simply so great that it's impossible not to get caught up in everything going on and in the end I really enjoyed the picture. There's no question that the story itself is pretty far-fetched in the way the gangster is able to pull a man off death row and it's even more far-fetched when you come to the climax of everything. I won't spoil what happens but the logic behind it is set at a zero. Another problem is that the sister character was really poorly written and her dumbness really gets annoying after a while. I mean, her brother is a big time gangster yet she never realized how he gave her everything with having a "real" job? The morals of her character also goes back and forth as the film moves along, which is another problem. Outside of those things I thought the film was entertaining. Quinn is wonderful as the tough gangster who isn't afraid to push people around to get what he wants. For 1955 his performance is pretty raw and rough and it really reminded me of the stuff we used to see from the pre-code Warner gangster pics of the early 1930s. Granger is also very believable as the lover boy who simply got caught up in a bad crime. Even though her character is weak, Bancroft at least delivers a fine performance as does Peter Graves who plays a reporter. I also really liked how the Quinn character worries about his sister being pregnant, unmarried and what this would make her look like. The moral worries of a gangster was an interesting touch and it's handled in a rather raw fashion, which certainly wasn't normal for this era. THE NAKED STREET has some issues but for the most part it's worth watching.

Great noir classic

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 22 May 2018]

If you've never seen an Anthony Quinn movie, The Naked Street is the perfect one to start with. He's handsome, angry, warm, loyal, frightening, and passionate. He plays the powerful gangster brother to Anne Bancroft, and when she gets herself in the family way, he takes matters into his own hands. . .

My mother and I aren't the only people in the world who thought Anthony Quinn should have played the title character in The Godfather; later in his career he continually played Italian mob bosses, as if to make it up to his fans who were disappointed in Marlon Brando's ridiculous performance. The Naked Street is what started it all. Tony is so perfectly Italian, it's hard to believe he actually wasn't! To my fellow Italians out there, what would you do if your younger sister got herself in trouble by a no-good criminal? Plan to bust him out of jail, of course! The real punishment would be to force him to marry her-and what Catholic wouldn't want a legitimate baby from his sister?

The Naked Street is intense and gritty, for the time it was made. Film noir fans will find a gem in this largely forgotten film. Anthony Quinn gives a great performance and sufficiently scares the pants off of Farley Granger, as well as the audience! A young Anne Bancroft balances out her need for rescue with the rebellious streak that got her into the mess in the first place. For a great noir weekend, rent The Naked Street and Pickup on South Street.

The naked truth.

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 21 July 2020]

A story told by a journalist (Peter Graves) , this is a dark film noir, well played by the mighty Quinn as a cynical racketeer who would do everything for his sister Rosalie 's happiness , Farley Granger as a young hoodlum ,who got the girl pregnant and is sentenced to death :he's extraordinary when it comes to playing weak characters ,dominated by strong personalities (Quinn ,here, John Dall in "rope" ) ; and a young Anne Bancroft (whose perfomance in "the miracle worker'" is one of my all-time favorites) ,who does not realize , till the last scenes ,which man his dear brother is.

The turning point of the movie is the death of the baby, strangled by the cord ;before ,Regal (what a name!) felt contempt for his brother-in law .It turns into hate afterwards ;tragedy awaits around the corner .Extremely well directed final scenes.

Early precursor of "The Sopranos" features strong Quinn performance, an offbeat plot but predictable moralistic denouement

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 22 September 2022]

"The Naked Street" is a "B" noir with an impressive cast, featuring Anthony Quinn, Anne Bancroft, and Farley Granger. What sets it apart from other films of the genre is its unconventional plot.

Gangster Phil Regal (Quinn) discovers that his sister Rosalie (Bancroft) is pregnant by small-time hood Nicky Bradna (Granger). Phil's solution is to have Rosalie marry Nicky to preserve her "honor." However, there's a major hurdle: Nicky is imprisoned and sentenced to death in the electric chair for killing a liquor store owner.

While it's not uncommon for criminals to intimidate witnesses to change their testimony before a trial, the idea of witnesses changing their minds after the trial seems far-fetched. It raises questions about Phil's ability to obtain a new trial for Nicky by using his thugs to intimidate and threaten the witnesses. While it may strain credibility, one can suspend disbelief and see if the rest of the narrative holds up.

As the story unfolds, Phil orchestrates Nicky's marriage to Rosalie and secures him a job as a truck driver, much to Nicky's displeasure upon his release. When Rosalie loses her baby, Phil impulsively blames Nicky for the tragedy and frames him for the murder of a bookie.

Peter Graves portrays Joe McFarland, a journalist from the NY Chronicle who attempts to expose Phil in his column. Phil threatens Joe's life, but his henchmen only give him a severe beating, leaving the reason for sparing his life unclear. Unfortunately, Graves's role as the film's narrator feels unnecessary and detracts from the overall drama.

Inevitably, the villains face their reckoning, with Nicky ultimately facing the electric chair after a second trial, and Phil meeting his demise by falling off the roof of his apartment building while being pursued by the police.

Anthony Quinn delivers a standout performance as Phil Regal, a character reminiscent of Tony Soprano, displaying charm and unwavering loyalty to his family. Although Quinn, of Mexican heritage, portrays a gangster of Italian descent, the film doesn't explicitly emphasize his ethnicity.

The role of Nicky was originally intended for Richard Widmark, who perhaps would have been a better fit than Granger. Playing against type, Granger struggles to fully convince as the "punk" involved in murder.

Bancroft, while talented, comes across as a bit too sophisticated for her role as Phil's college dropout sister. Additionally, it would have been preferable for Phil's mother to be portrayed by an actress of Italian descent, rather than Else Neft, who sounds German.

Given the film's offbeat plot and Quinn's standout performance, "The Naked Street" can be worth watching on a rainy Saturday, despite its predictable and moralistic conclusion.

good noir

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 18 September 2022]

Phil Regal (Anthony Quinn) is a ruthless racketeer who specializes in intimidating witnesses. His gang runs a protection racket. His pregnant sister Rosalie Regalzyk (Anne Bancroft) is desperate to marry her loser boyfriend Nicky Bradna (Farley Granger) who is on death row. Phil uses his violent skills to overturn the conviction. Reporter Joe McFarland (Peter Graves) writes about Phil and comes from the neighborhood. It's a good B-movie. It's film-noir. Anthony Quinn is good as a gangster. Bancroft is playing the innocent. It's a simple story and it's a joy to see some of these familiar faces.

Abundance of Riches

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 30 March 2023]

For such a low-budget, unknown film, "The Naked Street" has an abundance of riches in the casting department. Ok, so maybe Anne Bancroft wasn't well known, but Farley Granger certainly was. And Anthony Quinn had already won an Oscar, for pete's sake!

Quinn is the best thing about this movie, playing a gangster who manipulates the system to spring a death-row inmate out of prison. Why? Because he knocked up Quinn's sister (that would be Bancroft) and Quinn doesn't want his nephew being born out of wedlock. Whew, racy stuff for 1955. So Granger and Bancroft marry, he makes a lousy husband (no surprise there), and the baby dies in childbirth. Now there's no conceivable reason for Granger and Bancroft to stay married, so Quinn frames Granger for murder so that he'll be put back on death row, since he never liked the punk in the first place.

This is pretty hilarious on paper, and could have made for a juicy movie. But it mostly falls flat. It's mildly diverting, but it doesn't come near its potential given the out-there premise.

Peter Graves also stars as a journalist who has it in for Quinn and the hots for Bancroft.

Grade: B.

A DISH BEST SERVED HOT

[stusviews · 6/10 · 20 September 2022]

Anthony Quinn plays a Brooklyn mobster, Anne Bancroft his pregnant kid sister, and Farley Granger her two-bit punk boyfriend (and later, thanks to Quinn's rather formidable powers of persuasion, her husband), in this revenge-filled gangster flick that's post-Cagney and Edward G., pre-"Godfather", and all Quinn. The plot is a bit creaky, but the dialogue rings true, the acting is fine, and A. Q. himself has a soft spot for his mom, lots of tough, big-bro love for his sister, and a lump of coal in his heart for everyone else; he is utterly compelling and dominates every scene he's in. With a very young Anne Bancroft as the sister and--in a real departure --Farley Granger as her small-time gangster beau. (The producers had to hire a dialect coach to teach Granger the Brooklyn accent.) Not a great crime drama but certainly a good one--even if they did film it on a Hollywood sound stage, and not in the Borough of Kings itself. Also with a pre-"Mission Impossible" Peter Graves as a newspaper reporter. Entertaining and fast-paced; director Maxwell Shane never lingers on one scene for too long. Well worth a look.

Solid film noir hampered by impish narration.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 10 May 2013]

I had to really think things through in listening to an almost unrecognizable Peter Graves narrate this crime saga of a punk and a mobster tied together through fate and both on opposite sides of the law in spite of an obvious detestment of each other. Solid performances by all four leads (Anthony Quinn as a powerful racketeer, Farley Granger as a death row inmate, Anne Bancroft as Quinn's tough sister impregnated by Granger, as well as the aforementioned Graves) guide the story of Quinn's decision o get Granger's conviction for murder overturned so he can marry Bancroft. But these two amoral men are doomed to be in conflict, and it is Graves' job to expose both of their corruptions.

The narration, quite weakly presented, seems so immaturely written in spite of the adult situations. By 1955, this type of structure was almost a cliché for film noir, and while it may have worked had it been written better, it could have been even better totally without it. There's a lot of cleverness to be found, but certain incidents in the film have no real point in being there, such as a murder discovered at the beginning and the discovery of a body in the east river towards the end of the film. Quinn has a floozy mistress that simply disappears from the film, and Granger's hijacking of the truck he drives for Quinn is barely dealt with, either. Bancroft is one of those actresses that shines in everything even though at this time Hollywood producers didn't see her as anything more than a typical stock player.

You pretty much figure out how the film will play out in a key scene halfway through the film, and the conclusion totally forgets about wrapping up what has happened to Granger at that point, which was the major plot of the last quarter. This ends up being a grievous error on the part of all involved in the film's continuity, forgotten without any after thought by the director, writer and ultimately the editor.

***1/2

[edwagreen · 9/10 · 2 May 2015]

Anthony Quinn was quite good here as a mobster who is overly involved with his family. Through threats, intimidation, corruption and who knows what else, Quinn is able to spring Farley Granger, on death row, for a murder that the latter committed. This showed how corrupt the justice system is and furthermore how he could be manipulated to suit the needs of the guilty.

Quinn does this so that Granger can marry the former's sister who is in trouble from the Granger family.

The marriage sours and Quinn decides to destroy Granger and the frame ultimately destroys the two men.

Anne Bancroft gives a toned down but compelling performance as the sister who finally comes to see what her brother really is all about.

the naked street

[mossgrymk · 6/10 · 24 October 2022]

According to Eddie M the stars of this B picture, Anne Bancroft, Anthony Quinn and Farley Granger, felt it was beneath their talents, with Granger going so far as to publicly call it "preachy, trite and pedestrian". Well, he's two thirds right. Certainly this film embraces the cliche, especially in its dialogue (with lines like "Now I finally see you for what you really are") and the production has "undistinguished" written all over it with unmemorable cinematography and Japan Town in Los Angeles doing a poor job of standing in for Brooklyn (doubt if there was a Bank Of Tokyo branch in Gotham in 1950!). However, to my ear at least, at no point does Maxwell Shayne's dialogue or direction get up on a soapbox, so to speak, but rather is content to tell a somewhat improbable but fairly entertaining story without spurious social consciousness getting in the way. Even Peter Graves' newsman, usually a surrogate for Stanley Kramereque, messagey writing, soft peddles the "poor wasted urban youth" stuff. So I would have to dispute Mr. Granger on the "preachy" part and maybe that's why I watched the whole thing instead of skipping ahead to Eddie's closing remarks, as I often do with less than great Noir Alley offerings. Or maybe it was the pleasure of watching three fine actors doing solid work; Quinn just before he hit it big, Bancroft long before she hit it big, and Granger just as he was starting not to hit it big. I guess what I'm saying is that if you give it a chance and aren't too tough on the writer/director then you may have a pretty good time, as well. C plus.

50s gritty crime but start of the PC stuff

[filmalamosa · 4/10 · 1 December 2012]

Moralizing 50s gritty crime movie. I like the pure noir versions better.

Anthony Quinn is a big time gangster he protects and adores his family. His sister gets knocked up by a good looking hood who is on death row. Quinn gets him off on condition he marry his sister and walk the straight and narrow; but Nikki (the hood) doesn't do the straight life well and starts to stray and abuse his wife.

Quinn gets rid of him by framing him for murder and gets him the death sentence. But enter a newsreporter who has a thing for the sister and the police get a crack that allow them to go after Quinn.

It is OK, I don't like the socially relevant stuff (Quinn's college were the rough streets of Brooklyn) it was the beginning of the PC stuff we are deluged with today.

I gave it a 4 for that reason other wise it would have gotten a 6.