Highway Dragnet

Last updated
Highway Dragnet
Highway Dragnet 1954.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Nathan Juran
Screenplay by
Story by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn J. Martin
Edited by Ace Herman
Music by Edward J. Kay
Production
company
William F. Broidy Productions
Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures
Release date
  • January 27, 1954 (1954-01-27)
Running time
71 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Highway Dragnet is a 1954 American film noir B film crime film directed by Nathan Juran from a story by U.S. Andersen and Roger Corman. The film stars Richard Conte, Joan Bennett and Wanda Hendrix. It was Roger Corman's first feature film credit. Corman also worked as an associate producer. [1]

Contents

Plot

Jim Henry, former Korean War Marine sergeant recently discharged, is in Las Vegas to visit Paul, an old buddy from the war. While in a casino, Jim is drawn to, and ends up in an altercation with, former fashion model Terry Smith (Mary Beth Hughes); they end up in each other's arms. The next morning, while hitching a ride, Las Vegas police pick up Jim and take him to an apartment where Lt. Joe White Eagle (Reed Hadley) reveals Terry's dead body, strangled.

The Lt. thinks Jim is a murderer but Jim claims his friend Paul can back up his alibi; Paul cannot, however, because he is a secret army agent who is functioning under a different name and is not accessible. Panicking, Jim grabs an officer's service revolver, holds the police at bay and escapes in one of their patrol cars, shooting out the tires on another. Driving down Highway 91, Jim turns off the road and abandons the police car; he changes his clothes and walks back to where he has spotted two women trying to start their broken down car. They are top magazine photographer Mrs. H. G. Cummings (Joan Bennett) and her model, Susan Willis (Wanda Hendrix).

After Jim fixes their car, the ladies offer him a ride; however, before they can continue, Mrs. Cummings' small dog runs into the road and is killed by a passing car. When they reach the Apple Valley Inn for a photographic assignment, Mrs. Cummings and Susan invite Jim to stay with them. [2] In a short while, the police finds the abandoned patrol car and sets up roadblocks to catch Jim. [3]

At the inn, when she finds a newspaper with a report of the murder, which includes Jim's photo, Susan wants to call the police, but Mrs. Cummings stops her. She tells Susan that Terry Smith was the woman with whom her husband had an affair. He killed himself and Cummings is sure the police will suspect her of the woman's murder. Jim is later recognized; knowing the police have been alerted, he takes Mrs. Cummings and Susan hostage, steals a car and crashes through a roadblock.

With Lt. White Eagle and other units in pursuit, Jim drives across the desert but the car becomes stuck in sand. Mrs. Cummings grabs his gun and is about to shoot Jim when Susan wrestles the weapon away from her. Susan now believes he may be innocent. Later, after reaching his partially flooded house at the Salton Sea, Jim tells Susan that he has to reach Paul in order to confirm his innocence. The next morning Jim tells Mrs. Cummings and Susan to leave, but Susan decides to stay as she has fallen in love with him.

In his house, Jim finds a note from Paul stating that he had to leave on another secret assignment. Suddenly, Lt. White Eagle appears and sets about arresting Jim. White Eagle orders Susan to place Jim's gun on the sink. Mrs. Cummings quietly enters, picks up the gun and shoots White Eagle; in order to cover her guilt, Cummings is about to shoot Jim and Susan when the gun malfunctions. Cummings runs away, pursued by Jim, but she falls, into a mix of water and sand she fears is quicksand. She begs Jim to rescue her, but he makes her confess to strangling her husband's girlfriend with her dog's leash. Other police officers on the scene overhear her confession. Lt. White Eagle, who is not too seriously wounded, forestalls charges against Jim, noting that their principal witness is Susan and "a wife can't testify against her husband". Jim and Susan walk off together, arm in arm.

Cast

Production

Corman said the story was based on a trip he had taken to the Salton Sea. "The Salton Sea is overflowing its banks in the desert, and I saw all these old houses that were deserted," he said. "The first floors were flooded, and I thought it would be a great climax to a picture — some sort of chase across the desert and a shoot-out in the flooded house. So, I started with the climax of the film and worked back to create my story." [4]

While working at the Dick Hyland Agency, Roger Corman sold his first screen story called The House in the Sea to Allied Artists for $3,500. Allied Artists changed the title to the more commercial exploitative title, Highway Dragnet, after the success of the television series Dragnet . [5]

Quitting his job, and joining the production as an unpaid worker, Corman ended up getting credits as a screenwriter and associate producer. [6] Portions of the film were shot in the Coachella Valley, California. [7]

The film was shot over ten days. [8]

Reception

The New York Times called the film a "second rate 'whodunnit'". [9] Recalling that Highway Dragnet "did all right", its success encouraged Corman to devote his career to work in cinema. [6] He used the money from the sale to help finance his first movie as producer, Monster from the Ocean Floor . [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Attack of the 50 Foot Woman</i> 1958 film

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 independently made American science fiction horror film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers. It was produced by Bernard Woolner. The screenplay was written by Mark Hanna, and the original music score was composed by Ronald Stein. The film was distributed in the United States by Allied Artists as a double feature with War of the Satellites.

<i>Suburbia</i> (film) 1983 film by Penelope Spheeris

Suburbia is a 1983 American coming-of-age thriller drama film written and directed by Penelope Spheeris and produced by Roger Corman. The film's plot concerns a group of suburban youths who run away from home and adopt a punk lifestyle by squatting in abandoned suburban tract homes. The punks are played by Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, Timothy Eric O'Brien, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and others.

<i>Rose-Marie</i> Operetta-style musical by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart

Rose-Marie is an operetta-style musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. The story is set in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a French Canadian girl who loves miner Jim Kenyon. When Jim falls under suspicion for murder, her brother Emile plans for Rose-Marie to marry Edward Hawley, a city man.

<i>Ozzy & Drix</i> American animated television series

Ozzy & Drix is an American animated television series based on the 2001 film Osmosis Jones. It centers on Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones, a cheeky-chappy white blood cell, and Drix, a level-headed cold pill, who battle germs and viruses inside the body of teenage boy Hector Cruz. The series is set in a stylized version of the human body, which resembles a city where microorganisms and cells are anthropomorphic.

<i>The Stepfather</i> (1987 film) 1987 American psychological horror film

The Stepfather is a 1987 American psychological horror film directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Terry O'Quinn, Jill Schoelen, and Shelley Hack. O'Quinn stars as an identity-assuming serial killer who marries a widow with a teenage daughter. Having killed his previous family and changed his identity, his murderous tendencies continue after his stepdaughter becomes suspicious of him. The film is loosely based on the life of mass murderer John List, although the plot is more commonly associated with slasher films of the era. The film was written by Donald E. Westlake, from a story by Westlake, Carolyn Lefcourt and Brian Garfield, with an uncredited rewrite by David Loughery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanda Hendrix</span> American actress (1928–1981)

Dixie Wanda Hendrix was an American film and television actress.

<i>He Walked by Night</i> 1948 film by Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann

He Walked by Night is a 1948 American police procedural film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann. The film, shot in a semidocumentary tone, is loosely based on the real-life actions of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker, a former Glendale, California police department employee and World War II veteran who unleashed a crime spree of burglaries, robberies and shootouts in the Los Angeles area between 1945 and 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Beth Hughes</span> American actress

Mary Elizabeth Hughes was an American film, television, and stage actress best known for her roles in B movies.

<i>Andy Warhols Bad</i> 1977 film by Jed Johnson

Bad, also known as Andy Warhol's Bad, is a 1977 comedy film directed by Jed Johnson and starring Carroll Baker, Perry King, and Susan Tyrrell. It was written by Pat Hackett and George Abagnalo, and was the last film produced by Andy Warhol before his death in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Juran</span> American film director (1907–2002)

Naftuli Hertz "Nathan" Juran was an Austro-Hungarian-born film art director, and later film and television director. As an art director, he won the Oscar for Best Art Direction in 1942 for How Green Was My Valley, along with Richard Day and Thomas Little. His work on The Razor's Edge in 1946 also received an Academy nomination. In the 1950s, he began to direct, and was known for science fiction and fantasy films such as Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. He was also the brother of quality guru Joseph M. Juran.

<i>The Wasp Woman</i> 1959 film by Roger Corman, Jack Hill

The Wasp Woman is a 1959 American independent science-fiction horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, and Barboura Morris. The film was originally released by Filmgroup as a double feature with Beast from Haunted Cave. To pad out the film's running time when it was released to television two years later, a new prologue was added by director Jack Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Crane (actor)</span> American character actor (1918–1969)

Richard Ollie Crane was a character actor whose career spanned three decades in films and television. His early career included many uncredited performances in feature films made in the 1940s.

<i>Capone</i> (1975 film) 1975 American biographical action crime film

Capone is a 1975 American action crime film directed by Steve Carver, written by Howard Browne, and starring Ben Gazzara, Harry Guardino, Susan Blakely, John Cassavetes, and Sylvester Stallone in an early film appearance. The film is a biography of the infamous gangster Al Capone.

<i>Tomahawk</i> (film) 1951 film

Tomahawk is a 1951 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Van Heflin and Yvonne De Carlo. The film is loosely based on events that took place in Wyoming in 1866 to 1868 around Fort Phil Kearny on the Bozeman Trail such as the Fetterman Fight and Wagon Box Fight. In the UK, the film was released as The Battle of Powder River.

<i>The Savage</i> (1952 film) 1952 film by George Marshall

The Savage is a 1952 American Technicolor Western film directed by George Marshall. The film stars Charlton Heston, Susan Morrow, and Peter Hansen. Much of The Savage was shot in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The film is based on L. L. Foreman's novel, The Renegade, first published in 1949 by Pocket Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Kent (actor)</span> American actor (1908–1955)

Robert Kent, was an American film actor. His career included starring roles in several film serials of the 1940s, including The Phantom Creeps, Who's Guilty?, and The Phantom Rider. He also had a role in the 1938 film The Gladiator and was Virginia Vale's leading man in Blonde Comet, a 1941 movie about a female racing driver.

<i>Sierra</i> (film) 1950 film

Sierra is a 1950 American Western film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Wanda Hendrix, Audie Murphy and Burl Ives. The film was based on the 1937 novel The Mountains Are My Kingdom by Stuart Hardy.

<i>Frankenstein</i> (2015 film) 2015 American film

Frankenstein is a 2015 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Bernard Rose. It is a modernised adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The film is told from the monster's point of view, as he is created, escapes into the modern world, and learns about the dark side of humanity.

<i>The Desert Flower</i> (film) 1925 film

The Desert Flower is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by Irving Cummings and written by June Mathis. It is based on the 1924 play The Desert Flower by Don Mullally. The film stars Colleen Moore, Lloyd Hughes, Kate Price, Gino Corrado, Fred Warren, and Frank Brownlee. The film was released on June 21, 1925, by First National Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Major (Franklin D. Roosevelt's dog)</span> American presidential pet

Major, a German Shepherd, was a presidential pet belonging to United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

References

  1. ↑ Highway Dragnet at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films .
  2. ↑ Remarkably, he refilled the radiator and then buried the dog, obviously without having water or a shovel/spade at hand. Hardly surprising for a production of the 1950s is, that the actors look continously spick and span, despite the great heat. You don't see any sweat on their faces, let alone sweat stains on clothing.
  3. ↑ Incomprehensibly, Jim has torn a photo of himself apart and left it, whit his clothes and various paraphernalia including a dog tag and military papers at the police car...?
  4. 1 2 Emery, Robert J. (2003). The Directors Take Three. Allworth Press. p. 119.
  5. ↑ Ray 1991, p. 23.
  6. 1 2 Corman and Jerome 1990, p. 18.
  7. ↑ "Coachella Valley feature film production 1920–2011." Filming in Palm Springs (archived). Retrieved: September 25, 2017.
  8. ↑ Swires, Steve (April 1989). "Nathan Juran: The Fantasy Voyages of Jerry the Giant Killer Part One". Starlog Magazine. No. 141. p. 60.
  9. ↑ O. A. G. "Palace shows 'Highway Dragnet'." The New York Times, February 10, 1954, p. 8.

Bibliography

  • Corman, Roger and Jim Jerome. How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never lost a Dime. London: Lars Müller Publishers, 1990. ISBN   978-0-3945-6974-1.
  • Ray, Fred Olen. The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers as Distributors. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1991. ISBN   978-0-8995-0628-9.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.