Really Surprised!

Pretty Good

A Masterpiece!

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

What starts off as your standard film noir with a nicely set up plot line ends up with two much comedy that takes the story nowhere. It's all about federal investigator Claire Trevor showing up in the Mexican outback to get the goods on drug lord Raymond Burr and ending up on the run with fellow agent Fred MacMurray whom she has no idea is there for the same reason. He catches her in Burr's motel room, and she overhears him making some sort of deal with Burr, so their lines are more than just a little crossed. Somehow they end up together on the road wanted by the Mexican police, and it's way too obvious where this plot line is going. Fresh from an Oscar win, Trevor is tough, independent and self assured; he's less defined, being, well...Fred MacMurray. In his few scenes, Burr gets to reveal a lot more than MacMurray does. Typical silly circumstances involving native Mexicans shows them either far too happy go lucky, or overly suspicious (a heavyset nagging wife) or stereotypically drunk. This isn't bad, but it's so close in plot to "The Big Steal" that I'm surprised that RKO didn't sue Universal. The Mexican actors take it all in stride, and way down the line, Charles Lane pops up in a bit, making you ask for the hundredth time, "Wow! Is he in everything?"

Want to see Perry Mason playing a bad guy, and before he got fat? Want to see old cars? Humorous aside: some of the cars are 'new' (1949, 1950) for the movie, some of the cars are purposely 'old' (1930's and 40's, the Mexican sheriff drives a Model T truck) for the movie. Of course by today's standards, they're all OLD. Otherwise, there isn't much reason to watch this movie. (Wait, one scene, at the airport, you can see 'new' airplanes that are of course old now). Has one of the worst cabaret scenes imaginable. Claire (who has apparently bribed one of the chorus girls to take her place) tries to hook up with Raymond Burr, but he's not interested so she settles for one of his henchmen. Plot is pretty thin (and partially copied from It Happened one Night) and the scene near the end of "I'm a cop, you're under arrest...No, I'm a cop and YOU'RE under arrest...No, I'M a cop, wait, we're BOTH cops?" is entirely too long and drawn out.

**SPOILERS** Even though the movie "Borderline" is about a serious subject drug smuggling, and has a number of people killed in it, it comes across more like a 1930's type screwball comedy. Johnny McEvoy aka MacKlin and Madeleine Haley aka Gladys LaRue, Fred MacMurray & Claire Trevor, are working undercover in Mexico and unknown to each other who they really are. Each one thinks that the other is a criminal trying to get each other arrested by the US border police after they cross into California with a load of illegal drugs.It's amazing to me that a criminal sharpie like Pete Ritchie, Raymond Burr, couldn't spot these two undercover US law enforcers, posing as a gangster and floozy, as soon as he laid his eyes on them. Ritchie must have either been high or suffering from brain damage from the drugs he was smuggling. After ripping Ritchie off of his drug stash the two are on the run to get to the Mexican border with the drug shipment only to get each other arrested by the border police. All this without realizing that they both play for the same team the US Custom Services, Macklin, and the L.A Police department, Haley.I couldn't get over the fact that the two fell in love with each other, which was obvious at the end of the movie, yet were more then willing to turn each other over to the authorities where they could have gotten long prison time for drug trafficking? Doesn't true love mean anything to these two? Couldn't they just let each other get away and concentrate on the capturing the major dealer and head of the drug smuggling ring? The FBI let Sammy "The Bull" Gravono, who admittedly murdered 19 people, walk away Scot-free in order to get his boss John Gottie behind bars with his testimony and nobody, as far as I know, in the FBI was madly in love with Sammy! The two crime fighters are now together in their efforts to stop the drug smuggling gang led by Mr.Big himself Harvey Gumbin, Roy Roberts. Harvey wasn't that much smarter then his Man in Mexico Pete Ritchie by not realizing who this McEvoy really was, an undercover government agent. In the end there was an incredible shootout at Harvey's hideout, where McEvoy brought the drug shipment. McEvoy himself urged on Harvey's gangster to shoot it out with the police, in order not to blow his cover, endangering not only himself but the very police that were coming to his rescue! The best way to enjoy the movie "Borderline" is to watch it only for unintentional laughs.

"Borderline" tries to be a lot of things. Romantic comedy, film noir, comedy of errors, gangster film, and more. Unfortunately it does not succeed at any of these genres.Led by Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor, who have absolutely no chemistry together, this film suffers from an identity crisis.Film starts out on a serious note, story about drugs being smuggled over the border. Then Claire Trevor acts as though she thinks she's in "Hellzapoppin'". Broad, over the top, and just not right for the part. From there we meet Fred MacMurray who is only slightly more interesting.Yes, there are some humorous moments, but nowhere near enough to be able to recommend seeing this film.5 out of 10