He Ran All the Way (1951)

Disappointment for a huge fan!

A lot of fun.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

John Garfield plays a troubled and confused robber named Nick Robey whose problems are further exasperated as he is unemployed and lives at home with his mother who is not very loving or understanding. So Nick is trying to figure out what to do with his life when he is literally pushed out of his bed and onto the street by his pestering mother and he is greeted by a waiting shark named Al Molin (played by Norman Lloyd best known for his TV role as Dr. Daniel Auschlander in the 1982-88 hospital drama St. Elsewhere) who has talked Nick into a surefire plan of robbing a manufacturing plant of their weekly payroll.The robbery does not go as it was planned but Nick does escape with a briefcase full of $10K cash but he needs a place to hide after shooting a cop while getting away from the robbery. Nick decides to hang out on the beachfront in an indoor public pool where he accidentally collides into a novice and naive young female named Peggy Dobbs played brilliantly by Shelly Winters.As Nick's head is swirling with where to hide and when to make his getaway his paranoia comes to a head and he convinces the naive Peggy Dobbs to allow him just to walk her home. Poor naive Peg agrees to have Nick walk her home and she invites him into her upstairs apartment which Peg shares with her parents and younger brother Tommy. John Garfield lives an isolated existence both physically and more importantly emotionally. When the pressure of the police potentially closing in on him becomes far too much for him to bear Nick misled by his delusional paranoia he makes a decision that he will keep the four (4) Dobbs family members hostage in their upstairs apartment until the heat dies down and he can figure out how and when to make his getaway.John Garfield plays the paranoid plant robber on the run with great emotion and fear. His screen performance portrays a young man who just seems lost and wanting for someone, anyone, to show him some semblance of love and understanding. So Nick reaches out to his mother but even she turns him down. The only one left that Nick believes he can even remotely rely on anymore is this young naive girl Peg who he is holding as a hostage with the rest of her family. Emotions are running at a fervor pace throughout the scared Dobbs family and over the next 48 hours young Peg continues to have empathy for Nick as she realizes he is lost and has no one in his life. The climax of this film is well done and reflects the troubled times of the 1940's and 1950's when film noir and guns went hand in hand with emotion and struggling families.I give the 1951 black and white John Garfield film "He Ran All the Way" a decent 6 out of 10 rating.

A neurotic, jumpy stick up man, well played by John Garfield in his final role, has killed a cop in a botched robbery and takes a family hostage while he tries to figure out his next move. Recalling somewhat similar (and better) films like "The Desperate Hours" (the 1955 version) and "The Petrified Forrest", this tries to deal on more psychological terms of the tormented bad guy and his victims, but it sometimes feels overblown, and at others downright illogical. Shelly Winters plays the 'good' daughter with a yen to go bad, falling for Garfield (although he's so convincing at being a psychological mess, it's a little hard to buy she falls as hard and fast as she does). None-the–less, the tension level stays pretty high throughout, the film looks good, and Garfield does create a pretty complex and unique anti-hero, longing to trust people, but never able to. If not a classic, certainly worth seeing if you like the genre. Sadly, it seems to be out-of-print in the U.S. I had to get my copy from the U.K.

This is John Garfield's last film, made by the star's own company, which means he bowed out with a dignified vehicle which finds him in his most congenial element. Unfortunately, he would die of a heart attack on the eve of his HUAC hearing the next year at the young age of 39; ironically, the premise of a hounded petty criminal (hiding out in an apartment block) actually seems to be a tragically prescient parable for his current personal plight! Anyway, here the star is ably supported by the likes of Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford and Norman Lloyd.Though essentially routine (not to mention overly familiar), the film is undeniably well-made, reasonably slick for an independent production – though, of course, not quite in the same league as the star's earlier BODY AND SOUL (1947) and FORCE OF EVIL (1949) – and, at a mere 77 minutes, thankfully it does not overstay its welcome. Suspense is nicely sustained throughout (from the opening payroll robbery which snowballs into murder, to a scene where an argument escalates into hysteria and results in a hand injury to the heroine's mother, and the effective – if contrived – downbeat ending). A memorably hard-boiled moment constitutes perhaps the most hilarious order ever given at gunpoint – Garfield to Ford: "Carve the turkey!" Among the notable credits are scriptwriters Hugo Butler and Dalton Trumbo (both boasting associations to my favorite auteur Luis Bunuel!), cinematographer James Wong Howe (making the most of the enclosed setting), production designer Harry Horner (ditto), editor Francis D. Lyon and dialogue director Arnold Laven – interestingly, the last 3 all eventually graduated to the director's chair (while both Trumbo and Howe would try their hand at it just once). Also worth mentioning is the fact that, apart from Garfield, director Berry and the afore-mentioned scriptwriters (with Guy Endore 'fronting' for Trumbo) were similarly targeted by the so-called "Red Scare".

After a heist goes wrong, cop killer John Garfield (as Nick Robey) is on the run. Taking cover in a public swimming pool, Mr. Garfield meets plain Shelley Winters (as Peg Dobbs). Flattery gets him everywhere; and, Garfield uses Ms. Winters for getaway cover. Starved for the manly affection, Winters mistakes his advances for interest. Soon, Winters has Garfield in her apartment, to meet the family. When he feels the police closing in, Garfield holds up in Winters' apartment, holding the family hostage. Desperate hours ensue… It's difficult to understand Winters' continued naivety; and, the "family held hostage" plot doesn't ring quite true. Still, Garfield's paranoia, and Winters' character development make it well worth watching. Sadly, this was Garfield's final film; he died within a year, at age 39. Director John Berry and photographer James Wong Howe make it look great. "He Ran All the Way" boasts a fine supporting cast, led by Wallace Ford. And, the ending grows with an exciting, thought-provoking intensity. ******** He Ran All the Way (6/19/51) John Berry ~ John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford, Selena Royle