Richard Widmark played some memorable villains in noirs such as 1947’s Kiss of Death, where he gleefully pushed an elderly wheelchair-bound woman off the top of a staircase. He doesn’t get the opportunity to do such things 21 years later in Madigan, but he still acts like a complete douche and this time he’s supposed to be one of the good guys.
This police detective raises high the front of the heavy desk a secretary is seated behind, threatening to flip it over on top of her if she doesn’t disclose where her boss went. This is a guy who seriously will not take a number and wait to be served. He is also supposedly a faithful husband to Inger Stevens, yet he spends the night at the apartment of old flame Sheree North. It may be a chaste evening in which he simply catches a few winks, but couldn’t he do that at home?
He’s not even that good of a detective. The entire plot centers on Steve Ihnat’s fugitive who stole the guns of Widmark and partner Harry Guardino when they were distracted by his girlfriend (Toian Matchinga) getting out of bed in the altogether and making a run for the closet. I was amused when, right before this, Widmark asked Matchinga her age, in that tone implying he thinks she’s under the age of majority. She gives an age like 22, and he’s like, “Yeah, right”. Yeah, right, indeed, though not as he inferred, as she looks at least five years older than that.
Relieved of their firearms, the detectives are marched up to the roof by Ihnat in what looks like the world’s saddest conga line and abandons them up there. All of this is so ridiculous, yet played so straight, that it feels like watching a scene from the series Police Squad! Then the man goes on the lam, leaving behind him a trail of corpses, some of which are of cops. One of them is shot with Widmark’s own pistol.
No wonder Henry Fonda’s commission is irked. And he already had a history from back when he was a captain and Widmark was a patrolman reporting to him. Fonda had zero tolerance for anything resembling bribery, and this chafed Widmark, who is receptive to various “gifts”. The way he describes it almost sounds like a protection racket. Once again, I have to remind myself this is our hero.
I find it odd the only character who seems to experience any growth over the course of the runtime is Fonda. Apparently, losing his zero tolerance for graft is regarded as a good thing. The script seems to find hypocritical his enforcement of that rule when he is sleeping with Susan Clark and they aren’t married. I regard these as two very different things, with the latter not being an offense at all. Consenting adults and all that.
His strict adherence to rules starts to loosen up when friend and chief inspector James Whitmore is revealed by a wiretap to be corrupt. Clark chastises Fonda for even considering a strong reprimand of somebody who is a friend, but I think the law, especially at its highest levels, should be held up the most intense scrutiny.
The movie also seems to judge Inger Stevens for almost (almost) having a fling with Warren Stevens, whom her husband foisted her upon at a celebration held by Fonda. Let’s review: Widmark doesn’t have time for her at this police event, except to walk her in, and he is perilously close to committing adultery himself. And yet, she is supposed to be one to be shamed for even considering straying.
That is one of the many representations of the mindset of the era in which this picture was made. Another is the sight of a black policewoman. At first, I was thinking how progressive that is—until all she does is bring Fonda a cup of coffee. We never see her again. The only other Black actors I can recall seeing in the runtime is a desk sergeant who gets a line or two and Raymond St. Jacques as a priest and father of a son he claims was forced by the police into a confession. The latter is promised by Fonda to have this matter investigated by his own subordinates and, if there are guilty parties, he will punish them himself. If I was the father, I’m not so sure I’d be receptive to the idea of this investigation being done by anybody but an independent party.
One element of the film which surprised me is the intentional humor in some of the dialogue. Consider this line in the background at the police station: “What do I want an attorney for? I did it!” Then there’s North to Widmark as he quickly downs a drink in a club: “Take it easy on that stuff. It contains water.” Even one entire scene is quite funny, where a nervous Widmark accidentally runs into Fonda and gets so flustered that he keeps saying one irrelevant thing after another, while the camera cuts back to a stoic, glowering Fonda. This plays out like a dry run for almost every Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers gag from The Simpsons.
The performances are all over the place, largely because the actors aren’t served well by the material. Widmark, Fonda and Whitmore are all fully committed to their roles, but all are single-note sketches. Even the best dramatic moments from these legendary actors scans as too dry, artificial and stagey. North must have left quite an impression with director, because he used her again in Charley Varrick. Michael Dunn makes an appearance as a pimp, and I wondered which experience he preferred: making this, or the notorious bomb BOOM!, which was released the same year. Stevens, as Widmark’s conflicted wife, is quite bad in the one role with most potential for nuance. I will never stop marveling at how difficult it must be to play drunk, as her worst moment is when she almost caves to the advances of Stevens after that party. It’s like, “Take me fake drunk. I’m home.”
The weirdest aspect of Madigan is it feels like one of those NBC Mystery Movies series productions from just a few years later. Given both were made by Universal, I wonder if a great many of the sets, or their components, were reused. Even the font used in the credits recalls such shows as Columbo. Funny thing, I probably would have judged this production less harshly if it had been one of those TV series. It may not be fair to judge a movie using that criteria, but I figure it’s about as reasonable as the police doing an inside investigation into possible criminal behavior by one of their own, instead of using an outside and independent investigator.
Dir: Don Siegel
Starring Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevers, Harry Guardino
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray