1955’s Shack Out on 101 is a weird, oversexed and undercooked noir with an odd cast. It feels aimless and takes a long time to get to where it’s going. Even then, I’m not sure it ended up where it intended to go.
Terry Moore and Lee Marvin are always at odds with each other as they work in Keenan Wynn’s beachside diner. Marvin’s character is accurately named Slob, though Sleazy would have also fit the bill. I also would have accepted Greasy, as he works the grill and fryers. In the opening scene, and one of the few not in the single set that is the restaurant, he aggressively plants a lip-lock on Moore as she sleeps on the sand, and does so with the aggressiveness of a punch. In retaliation, her fists go flailing and she seems to land some actual blows on the actor.
She’s also having to fend off the rather less aggressive advances of Jess Barker and Donald Murphy, government agents posing as egg delivery men. They, Frank Lovejoy and Whit Bissell are all regulars of this establishment and seemingly the only customers it ever has. Lovejoy’s professor is there largely because he’s Moore’s boyfriend. That he is on a nuclear research program at the university is a major hint where the plot is headed. As for Bissell, I guess he’s there just because he’s a war buddy friend of Wynn.
Among the weird elements at play, some of which actually factor into the plot, are Marvin’s friend who deals drugs on the side (Len Lesser), Lovejoy’s curious habit of collecting seashells bought from Marvin, Moore taking her civil service exam, and Wynn and Bissell planning a spearfishing trip together. Most importantly, and introduced rather late in the proceedings, is the discovery of how two of Lovejoy’s former colleagues disappeared.
I’m less clear on the necessity of a looong scene where Wynn and Marvin do a weights workout in the dining area before the day begins. I found this really odd, as the beach is right there. For that matter, I never understood why Lovejoy buys seashells from Marvin, and that also has me confused because of the beach’s proximity.
A key element will be what I consider to be Chekhov’s speargun and this will factor into the Bissell’s character arc, as his war experiences have left him with a physical aversion to violence. Becoming a pacifist seems a noble goal to me, but it seems the filmmakers have a different mentality and so the arc for this character will be for him to stop being such a pussy.
The performances are rather solid for something that feels so ramshackle. At least, the actors deliver the hysterical dialogue in a manner befitting it. Marvin is always calling Moore “The Tomato”, and a sleazy sax line which usually underscores such moments suggests the soundtrack is in agreement with him. A bizarre moment has Moore furious with Lovejoy, asking him why she has to swear loyalty to the country as part of her civil service exam. She actually reads aloud the definition of “traitor” from the dictionary. This film also has the most bizarre pillow talk I have ever encountered: “Oh, I only wish there were more branches.” This is all the weirder because the “branches” in this line refer to the divisions of government.
Perhaps the strangest element of Shack Out on 101 is the use of the code phrase “peace on earth”. Wynn would eventually be in Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, where that same phrase was what is used to recall the bombers to their bases. I can’t imagine Kubrick was a fan of this movie, nor was that a tribute to it, but, much like I how I feel about this weird and disjointed noir, I don’t honestly know what to think.
Dir: Edward Dein
Starring Terry Moore, Frank Lovejoy, Keenan Wynn, Lee Marvin
Watched on the Kino Lorber blu-ray box set Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXI