The Fat Man (film)

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The Fat Man
The Fat Man FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by William Castle
Screenplay by Harry Essex
Leonard Lee
Story byLeonard Lee
Based onradio series created by Dashiell Hammett
Produced by Aubrey Schenck
Starring J. Scott Smart
Cinematography Irving Glassberg
Edited by Edward Curtiss
Color process Black and white
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • May 24, 1951 (1951-05-24)(New York) [1]
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Fat Man is a 1951 American crime film noir directed by William Castle and starring J. Scott Smart, Rock Hudson, Julie London, Clinton Sundberg and Emmett Kelly. It is based on a radio drama of the same name, with Smart reprising his role as portly detective Brad Runyan.

Contents

Originally released by Universal Pictures, the film is now in the public domain in the United States.

Castle later called the film "a potboiler of little merit, except that I was able to cast Rock Hudson ... and to use Emmett Kelly, the Ringling Brothers clown, as the villain." [2]

Plot

Portly private detective Runyan is asked by dental nurse Jane Adams to investigate the unexplained murder of her boss. Suspicion falls on disappeared patient Clark, last seen being driven from his appointment by the chauffeur of probable gangster Gordon. Runyan contacts Boyd, Clark's former lover and briefly his wife, who reveals that Clark had once spent time in jail.

The police tell Runyan that Clark's offense was the theft of half a million dollars, money that was not recovered. In jail, Clark had a cellmate named Deets, a circus clown, with whom he shared many secrets. On release, Deets had claimed Clark's share of the loot from Gordon, the heist's organizer, in order to fulfil his ambition to own his own circus.

Deet's side of the deal was to eliminate Clark, and he left the corpse in a truck that was destroyed by fire. When he realized that Clark had undergone dental treatment, creating dental records that could be used to identify him, Deets killed the dentist and Jane. Runyan locates Deets, and in a final shootout, Deets is fatally wounded and dies in his own circus ring.

Cast

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler wrote: "[W]hile this whodunit is sometimes as ponderous as its titular gumshoe, it proves that its heavyweight hero is a man who should be seen as well as heard. ... Mr. Smart takes the business in hand seriously, but not seriously enough not to be cheerful about matters generally. Figuratively living up to his nickname he is, at least, a novelty among screen hawkshaws." [1]

See also

Soundtrack

References

  1. 1 2 Weiler, A. H. (1951-05-25). "The Screen in Review: The Fat Man Turns to the Films". The New York Times . p. 31.
  2. ↑ Castle, William (1976). Step right up! ... I'm gonna scare the pants off America. New York: Putnam. p. 121. ISBN   9780399114700.


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