Pushover (1954)

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Pushover is only 88 minutes long but it isn't very tightly paced. On the other hand, there are some nice touches. The claustrophobic feel of the picture (no doubt, partly due to the low budget), and the way the protagonist, a police detective (well played by Fred MacMurray) becomes more and more involved in the life of a woman he's observing on a stakeout, are highlights. Kim Novak plays the woman; she's inexperienced but has her usual intensity and sincerity, and of course, she's gorgeous. A small film that has a too-deliberate pace, but some intelligence and that sense of inexorable fate that the best noirs have.

I enjoyed this movie, as I think Fred MacMurray is one of our great actors, with a wide range. Comedy to drama. Happy nerd to hardened cop or lower level establishment man. Clearly he is bored with his mission in life in this film and the great Double Indemnity.Possible Spoilers: OK. why a 7 and not an 8? I felt Paul Sheridan's (MacMurry) disgust with his life and his apparent loneliness could have used more development. He falls too easily for Kim Novak's character, even if she is strikingly beautiful. She too easily goes with him the first night they meet. It would be more believable, and more sensual, if there were two meetings at least, to pulse his desire for her. Now, I don't particularly like films where the male star is a little long in the tooth for his paramour.This was common in the 50s and 60s when Male stars of the 30s and 40s were cast with much younger female leads, presumably because of the men's star power. I put forward Bogart,and Bill Holden with Audrey Hepburn (totally unbelievable) in Sabrina, Bogart being 55 and Hepburn 25.Or Rear Window with an older Jimmy Stewart, age 47, and Grace Kelly, 25.With some suspended belief, this is a very enjoyable movie. I love noir.The story lines of noir are simple and pure and the mood dark. I believe this movie pulls it off though it was the waning period of noir: 1954;

At twenty-one, Kim Novak never looked better. She has a wistful quality that at the same time seems to exude oestrus. Her voice is a helpless whisper that adds to the impression that she's just aching to be taken advantage of. It's entirely understandable that MacMurray should go ga ga over her.Here's the story. MacMurray meet Novak in the course of doing his job, but they fall for each other. The problem is that Novak belongs to another man, someone with a great deal of money. The duplicitous pair plot to kill the other man and take his money. There is, however, another problem. Things begin to go wrong, first a little, then in mighty important ways. An innocent bystander accidentally bumps into MacMurray while he's carrying out the murder. She might identify him if she meets him again. And there's still another problem. MacMurry has a keen boss who is at first misled as to the nature of the plot but then begins to unravel it. In the end, MacMurray is shot and lies dying, smiling at the sadly disappointed straight guy who used to be his best friend.If it sounds like "Double Indemnity," it's because the two films share the same endoskeleton. The dame in this noir isn't the treacherous Barbara Stanwyk, but MacMurray has the same role as the man who thought he could outwit the organization he worked for. In "Double Indemnity" it was Pacific All-Risk Insurance. Here it's the police force.But, except for Novak's angelic presence, "Pushover" is pedestrian compared to "Double Indemnity." The direction by Richard Quine is strictly functional. I was never too fond of Miklas Rosza's dramatic chords but the musical score here is generic "thriller." The dialog lacks sparkle. The story develops some complications but there is nothing edgy about it. There is no scene, for instance, in which MacMurray meets the innocent passer by who might identify him and MacMurray's uncertainty become palpable. Nobody has to fake a broken leg and board a train while wearing a disguise. There is no sense of location, and I don't know why. It's easy to place a story in a real city and it adds a lot to the texture.There are no illuminating directorial touches, as in "Double Indemnity," when Stanwyk blows the car horn and MacMurray breaks the victim's neck and the camera is glued to Stanwyk's face as she stares straight into the lens and a slight smile appears. When MacMurray kills Novak's boyfriend here, it's just bang, bang, and he's dead. MacMurray is the principal character and he's glum throughout. He has no wisecracks to make. He doesn't look shifty eyed. He seems to be older, a little bored, going through the motions and waiting for his paycheck.I've been unkind to the movie, and for reasons that are obvious, but that's not to say it stinks except in comparison to "Double Indemnity." The movie itself invites that comparison. But -- on its own -- it's not bad. It's a diverting thriller about a cop who goes crooked. It's just that in the back of the experienced viewer's mind, there's liable to be a simultaneous running of a more colorful and far better movie with a similar plot. Well, let's be pragmatic. If you want to get the most out of "Pushover," don't watch "Double Indemnity" first.

Enjoyed this great classic film from 1954 starring Fred MacMurray, (Paul Sheridan) who is a detective and gets involved with Lona McLane,(Kim Novak) who is connected with a bank robber and Lona cons Paul to kill her boyfriend so they can take the money for themselves. The only problem is that Paul Sheridan is assigned to watch Lona on a stake out with other detectives and have her apartment watched and her telephone wires tapped. There are many problems that face Paul and Lona and one of Paul's detective friends gets involved with a girl named Ann Stewart, (Dorothy Malone) who lives in the same apartment house as Lona and lives down the hall. This story becomes quite exciting as a crooked cop tries to cover his tracks and makes mistakes after mistakes. Don't miss this Classic it is great with outstanding acting and a great cast of actors. Enjoy.