99 River Street (1953)

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This film has the familiar noir story of a framed man who needs to clear his name, but since the framed man in question is an ex-boxer you get the bonus of a few bloody fist fights peppered through the story. When the lead says the line, "I'm only barred in New York, there are still 47 other states where I can fight!" it took me a few seconds to realize his math wasn't off as a result of getting hit in the head a few too many times. There are lots of other great lines in this one and Frank Faylen who plays Ernie the friendly taxi driver in 'It's a Wonderful Life" apparently couldn't shake the typecasting as he plays Stan the friendly taxi dispatcher in this raw noir.

This action, crime drama finds John Payne playing Ernie Driscoll, a former hard luck boxer turned cab driver. Ernie's wife Pauline(Peggie Castle)is disappointed in her four year marriage and begins a relationship with a jewel thief, Vic Rawlins(Brad Dexter). Pauline is planning to run away with Vic; but a botched heist changes plans. The pretty feed-up wife ends up killed and you know who gets the blame; right, her hot tempered husband Ernie. The former boxer ends up with the help of a friend, a struggling stage actress played by Evelyn Keyes. The two are racing the clock trying to find Vic in order to clear Ernie's name. Phil Karlson directs and the story line is interesting in spite of the brief boxing scenes that lack realism. Frank Faylen plays the dispatcher for the cab company that Ernie works for; and turns in a fine performance. Other players include: Jay Adler, Jack Lambert, Ian Wolf and Glenn Langan.

John Payne plays a bitter cab driver saddled with a cheating wife who wants the moon and the stars and everything that goes with it. Something she realizes will never come married to this broken down hack. Such is the singular event that starts in motion a series of events, some coincidental, some planned and all of them unexpected. And unlike some lesser entries into the film noir black and white movies of the day, this has some totally logical and totally unexpected twists along the way. Peggie Castle was never sexier than this film, Evelyn Keyes was never more reserved-- until you get about the three quarters mark, and then she does one of the most erotic things I've ever seen in any film from 1953 or anywhere in the '50's. The fight scenes are gritty and realistic and the dialog is understated and not hysterical. And the pacing is big screen professional. I highly recommend this film to anyone looking for some serious fun.

John Payne and Evelyn Keyes head for "99 River Street" in this film noir directed by Phil Karlson, and a very good one it is. Payne plays Ernie Driscoll, a washed up fighter who now drives a cab and has to take insults from his pretty, actress wannabe wife Pauline (Peggy Castle) who coulda been a contender if she hadn't married him. It turns out that she has a crooked boyfriend, Victor Rawlins (Brad Dexter) who is planning to get $50,000 from some diamonds and run away with her. When the fence refuses to deal with Rawlins because there's a woman with him, Rawlins kills Pauline and puts her body in Ernie's cab! Ernie's got to clear himself, and a friend at the cab company (Frank Faylen) and an aspiring actress friend (Evelyn Keyes) are there to help.There are a very neat twists in this very atmospheric, gritty noir, which doesn't hold back on the violence. John Payne obviously loved this genre, or else he wanted to work against his clean-cut leading man image of the '40s. Here he looks like a fighter who's taken a lot of punches, and he does a great job as a basically good guy who's been dealt some bad cards and is angry about it. You're really pulling for him. Evelyn Keyes is wonderful as his friend, and her seduction act in a bar is one of the best scenes in the film. Frank Faylen, of course, is always likable - this is about six years before he became Dobie Gillis' father. Brad Dexter is excellent as a ruthless gangster.Recommended, particularly if you like the genre.