Very Cool!!!

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

An ex-boxer struggles to get his life back on track in this gritty, hardboiled drama that's fast-moving, realistic and sometimes brutal. His efforts are constantly frustrated, however, by the hand that fate deals him and then things get even worse when his bitterness and self-pity make him bad-tempered and dangerously violent. This movie opens strongly with a well-filmed boxing match and closes impressively with a memorable climax. In between, its no-nonsense style, sharp dialogue and shadowy locations are perfect for this type of material and contribute enormously to its edgy atmosphere.Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) is the ex-pug who was leading on points and desperately close to winning the world heavyweight title when an eye injury brought an end to his challenge and his career. A few years later, he works as a cab driver and saves what he can to buy his own gas station but his acquisitive wife Pauline (Peggie Castle) sneers at his aspirations. She works in a flower shop and is having an affair with a thief called Victor Rawlins (Brad Dexter) who, after stealing some diamonds, takes her with him to a pet shop owned by his fence Christopher (Jay Adler). Unfortunately, Christopher doesn't believe in doing business where women are involved and so refuses to pay Victor the $50,000 he was expecting and thwarts the couple's plan to use the money to go and live in style in Paris.Ernie regularly frequents a drugstore where he has coffee with his long-time friend, Stan Hogan (Frank Faylen) who's a dispatcher at the cab company and also sees Linda James (Evelyn Keyes) who's an ambitious young actress. One day, when Linda tells him she's in trouble because she'd accidentally killed a theatre producer who was being too forceful in making advances to her, he agrees to help. Linda takes him to the theatre where he sees the body lying on the stage and Linda goes on to explain precisely what happened. Ernie offers to help her to dispose of the body, but at that point, the house lights come on and it becomes obvious that the whole incident is a hoax. Ernie becomes furious and after punching a few guys to the ground, leaves the premises.A little while later, an apologetic Linda tells Ernie that the stunt at the theatre was set up as her audition for a part in an upcoming play and that the police are looking for him because the theatre people had reported the assaults hoping that the resultant publicity would translate into higher ticket sales. Ernie's troubled by this but matters get much worse when he and Linda discover Pauline's dead body in the back of his cab and the couple have to set off on a search to find the real culprit before Ernie gets apprehended for the crime.One of the main strengths of this movie is the convincing way in which the fight sequences are executed as effective camera angles and realistic sounds add greatly to the power of these brutal encounters. John Payne is also very believable as a tough guy who, after suffering the huge disappointments involved with the way his boxing career ended, was betrayed by his wife, provoked into a series of assault charges and then framed for his wife's murder. These attributes plus the movie's excellent supporting cast and a script that's overflowing with quotable lines are just some of the reasons why "99 River Street" is an above average crime drama that's extremely enjoyable to watch.

99 River Street (1953) *** (out of 4)Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) loses the Heavyweight title and soon afterwards finds himself a wash-up taxi driver. This doesn't sit too well with his wife who had dreams of diamonds and furs but she thinks she finds it in a small time gangster. Soon the gangster murders the woman and the blame falls on her innocent husband so with the help of a friend (Evelyn Keyes) he must track down the real murderer. Director Karlson and star Payne made KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL the previous year but in my opinion this film here is much better even though it's not as remembered. All the classic noir touches are here from the dark characters, the shadow, the atmosphere and of course the blonde wife who is purely bad due to greed. I think what makes this noir somewhat different is that we really don't have a good guy anywhere. All of the characters are quite flawed with our hero coming off as a hot-tempered jerk who has many problems of his own. Even the partner comes across rather shallow during one very memorable scene where she admits to murder. I won't ruin how that plays out but it's a brilliantly dark and funny twist. Both Payne and Keyes are terrific in their roles and make for an interesting duo. They both come across so different that you can't help but buy them as some sort of strange friends who find themselves in over their heads. Payne was really impressive as he handled the character extremely well and had no issues playing the jerk and getting that dark side out. Brad Dexter is very good as the hood and Frank Faylen is nice as a friend of Payne's. Peggie Castle also deserves a mention as the cold wife. I really enjoyed the atmosphere created by Karlson as it takes place in dingy clubs, secret back rooms and winds up on some rundown docks. This atmosphere is very rich throughout due to a nice score as well as some terrific cinematography that really soaks everything up. The story itself is one we've seen countless times before but there are a few original touches. My favorite would have to be our main guy working as a cab driver because it allows him to communicate with his friend via the radio system, which was a nice touch. The final ten-minutes features some nice tension and an action packed ending with a terrific fight.

John Payne, smart guy, not much of an actor, made a series of inexpensive studio-bound semi-noirs in the early 50s in which he was often the victim of a frame. In this one, he's an amiable ex boxer -- nice, masculine occupation -- who now drives a cab because of an eye injury. When he discovers that his gorgeous, sexy wife (Castle) is schtupping some thief, he becomes bitter and easily angered. It's even worse because her boyfriend is Brad Dexter, the sleazy private eye who had shot Sterling Hayden in "The Asphalt Jungle." Peggy Castle simply has no taste, you know? Dexter is mixed up with a gang of armed robbers, fences, money launderers, and shoe fetishists or something. It's not clear exactly what such established heavies as the pop-eyed Jay Adler and the Neanderthal Jack Lambert actually do, besides double cross each other.Adler has agreed to buy some stolen diamonds from Dexter but when Dexter show up with Payne's runaway wife in tow, Adler demurs. He don't do business with no dames because they can't be trusted. The solution to Dexter's conundrum is simple. He takes the luscious Peggy Castle up to his apartment, strangles her, and dumps the body in the back of Payne's cab.Dexter finagles the fifty large from Adler but Adler wants the money back and pursues Dexter as he tries to make a getaway from a pier behind the River Cafe or whatever it is, in Jersey City. Payne is in pursuit of Dexter because, by this time, he's discovered that Dexter is the killer of his wife. Well -- not exactly. Actually that conclusion requires a leap of faith on Payne's part.But let's not get into holes in the plot or, more generally, its weaknesses because then we'd have to figure out why so much emphasis is place on Payne's determination to return to boxing, a narrative thread abruptly dropped, like a corpse in the back seat of a taxi. We'd have to start wondering why Jay Adler has such a problem doing business with women around, even as mere witnesses. What did Adler's mother ever do to him? Speaking as a psychologist, I'd begin with deficient potty training. And then, too, we'd need to ponder Dexter's motives in dragging Peggy Castle along and insisting she witness the exchange of money and diamonds. We psychologists call this "separation anxiety." It's why children cry when they have to leave home for their first day of school. I have other questions too. To whom do I send this bill? The director was Phil Karlson, who had a curious career. His work might be called clumsy by some but I think "primitive" is a more apt description. He does a headlong job, kind of like Samuel Fuller but without any irony or social comment. He rams the fast-paced plot down your throat whether you're ready or not. He made some clunkers but also some more disturbing things like "The Phoenix City Story" and "Five Against the House" and "Walking Tall."

Adding my simple and direct...Payne's personal individuality sweats off the screen in this top notch noir. This is must see for anyone who loves mystery, noir or film at all. Lack of top rung stars makes all the better and at least four performances couldn't be be improved. Cinematography simple but effective, although some dubious shots at end. Flaws include melodrama at start and finish but they don't affect the core 80 minutes.Payne is brilliant even when dull or dumb. Evil wifey way sexy in the pantheon of evil chicks, but the 10 second cigarette lighting event at the end burns steals the limited sexy award in the film (still trying to research how many takes it took).The violence is pretty real for that time and only two short periods of hokum in the film, probably to keep it palatable in theaters at the time. Shockingly unknown, some of the characters from KC Confidential keep the all pieces in place, but 99 River Street is more intense and less surreal than that standard. Enjoy.