Journalism has always walked an odd line. At its best, it tries to be an unbiased observer and chronicler of events. It has to be difficult to be at the sites of crimes and tragedies without interfering or assisting.
Howard Duff’s aspiring photojournalist in 1950’s Shakedown would not have any struggles with his conscience, as we will see him happen upon a car that has crashed into the bay. Instead of notifying the authorities, he asks the panicked driver to look up and appear to be yelling. It will look better in the photograph.
Something else Duff didn’t do is notify editor Bruce Bennett of this story. And that is the guy Duff is trying to impress in a weeklong trial at the paper for which he’s been so desperate to work. He keeps getting turned down because he doesn’t have experience, but he needs to work at a paper to get this on his resume. This catch-22 sounds similar to the difficulty I’ve heard so much about people trying to break into any film industry trade union. I know this is also the kind of frustration many college graduates are feeling towards today’s job market, in which many employers usually require a work history of several years for entry-level positions.
Duff is only at the paper for that week because of a sympathetic ear from Peggy Dow, the photography editor who obviously wants to share a great deal more of her anatomy with him than just ears. She has convinced Bennett to put him on staff for that week’s trial run and gives Duff the assignment of snapping pics of dogs at the pound. It’s not exactly the kind of high-profile assignment the eager photographer craves.
Duff instead rises to the challenge of getting the first substantial photo of the face of local gangster Brian Donlevy. While no other photobug has been successful in doing that, Duff appeals directly to the man, proposing that an honest businessman such as himself wouldn’t have anything to hide and so should readily show himself to the world. This is Donlevy’s assessment: “I don’t know if you’re a bright young man or a liar.” Oh, Duff can definitely be both at the same time.
Surprisingly, Duff’s goading works, and he gets a photo that raises his profile as well as the hackles of Bennett and some of the other staff photographers. There is much marveling over how, once again, Duff just happened to be in the right place at the exact right moment. Bennett can smell a rat as easily as Donlevy, and is suspicious of the increasingly audacious snaps the new guy is bringing in: “Composition, lighting, focus—all perfect.” I like his response he has when Duff swears on his mother: “Don’t kid me. You never had a mother. You were put together by a machine.”
I was astonished by the lengths Duff will go to in order to get what he wants. He will pit rival gangsters Donlevy and Lawrence Tierney against each other. Tierney, who was so intimidating decades later in Reservoir Dogs, is terrifying here. But I also wouldn’t cross Donlevy, but that’s what Duff will do, partly because he’s after the man’s wife, played by Anne Vernon.
Vernon is an actor I don’t recall having seen in anything before, and she has the choicest role and the best performance even in a stacked cast. I love her sarcastic response to Duff when says he likes the way she and husband lives, lounging in bathrobes in mid-afternoon: “I was worried you wouldn’t approve.” She at least seems to be one of the few people immune to his charms: “You’ve been quiet all through dinner. I find I like you better that way.” Alas, her feelings will change over time, when I hoped she would just keep returning his gifts sent during a lengthy courtship process following the demise of Donlevy.
Other actors get meaty dialogue as well. One moment that stands out for me is Duff telling a cabbie, as regards a reckless driver in front of them: “That guy’s flirting with the undertaker. Stay with him a while—the romance might be interesting.” It seems, however, that he also has a metaphor he’s hung up on, forever comparing his luck to finding Alladin’s lamp. At one point he says, “I rubbed that lamp a little too hard this time” and I laughed hard at this symbolism taken a step too far. A guy should be gentle when rubbing his little lamp.
Symbolism appears in physical forms as well, and I am already wondering what else I might notice in a rewatch. I was particularly intrigued by a tie our protagonist wears in one scene, one which is covered with number 13’s, black cats and horseshoes. I did not, however, notice any genie lamps.
Shakedown is compelling and above-average noir. It will not complete stick the landing, but I greatly enjoyed much of the journey to get there. It is also a rare opportunity to see Dow, an actor who was in far fewer pictures than I would have suspected. Here character here talks about trying to get as much work in as possible before she’s “bogged down in babies.” That is a telling line, as she abandoned her career after marriage, going on to have five sons.
Dir: Joseph Pevney
Starring Howard Duff, Peggy Dow, Brian Donlevy, Lawrence Tierney
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray