This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Mild-mannered race track mechanic/driver Mickey Rooney is shyly in love with pretty Dianne Foster which alerts her boyfriend and his fellow drivers to the possibility of using him as the get-away driver in a bank heist. He is desperate to remain honest but being infatuated with Foster gives him more temptation than he can handle.Lacking in any real passion, this ends up being just another one of the many heist films and one of Rooney's more unmemorable B films after his long reign at MGM. He may have continued to work regularly, but other than a few great supporting parts here and there was shoved mainly in crap to continue to get a paycheck.Supporting actors show more life here than Rooney does, his acting mainly tepid until the finale. For most of the film, its mostly talk, talk, talk and little action. The location footage is pretty good and the over a photography is excellent. But there really is little action and absolutely no spark between Rooney and Foster. Mainly for the most loyal of the Mick's cult following or lovers of crime drama. The noir aspect of it is obviously subtle which indicates that it will be questioned in the list of films in that genre.

***SPOILERS*** In one of his best adult roles Mickey Rooney is car mechanic and race car driver Eddie "Shorty" Shannon who gets caught up in a bank robbery not for money but for love in him impressing gun moll Barbara Mathews, Dianne Foster. It was Barbara who made a play for Eddie in getting him involved, as a wheel man, in a bank robbery that her boyfriend greasy Steve Norris, Kevin McCarthy, and his pal Harold Baker, Jack Kelly, were planning to pull off.Not at all interested in his take of $15,000.00 in the robbery but only wanting to impress Barbara Eddie against his better judgment went along with the plan only to end up getting stiffed by her in dropping him like a hot potato and planning to check out to France with her greasy boyfriend Norris. Eddie for his part heart broken as he was still carried a torch for the double-dealing Barbara and after he escaped being murdered by Baker in order to keep him from talking to the police went back, bloodies and battered after his escape, to the beach house where Norris & Barbara were and that's where the real action in the movie began.***SPOILERS*** A tour de force by Mickey Rooney who's acting in the film was so both tragic as well as touching that it should have easily earned him an Academy Award. Mickey playing against type and a lonely and shy , with girls, young man compared in real life where he romanced the most beautiful women, Lana Turner Norma Sherer Ava Gardner & Marilyn Monroe, in Hollywood Mickey made you forget who he was in the role, as a love starved schnook, that he so convincingly played.

Drive a Crooked Road (1954) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Mickey Rooney plays Eddie Shannon, a race car driver without a bit of self respect due to a scar that covers part of his face. He spends most of his time alone or working as a mechanic until one day he meets the beautiful Barbara (Dianne Foster). The two strangely hit it off but it turns out she's working for a small-time gangster (Kevin McCarthy) who needs to use Eddie for a bank heist. This semi-noir isn't the greatest film ever made but there are enough interesting moments to make it worth sitting through if you're a fan of the genre. It's always funny seeing some of this non-MGM roles that Rooney was in at the middle point of his career because on one hand it just doesn't seem right seeing him in a part like this but at the same time it gives the film a somewhat interesting twist simply because you are seeing him in this type of role. It's strange but I think Rooney's performance starts off a tad bit stiff but gets better as the movie goes along. The early scenes we see Eddie sitting alone, in deep thought and simply being too shy and embarrassed of himself to talk or act like a normal person. I thought Rooney struggled a little bit during these scenes but at the same time this could be one just simply in shock because this isn't the Rooney we're use to seeing. Once the story starts to pick up and he begins to come to life with the girl then I found Rooney to be much better suited. Foster really looks like a prettier version of a young Barbara Stanwyck. I thought she did a very good job in the film as she was perfectly believable as the love interest but she also handled the cold-blooded villain as well. McCarthy clearly steals the film with his slick, laid back performance. You can't help but feel he's a villain you love to hate because of his lack of emotion when it comes to fooling this weak guy by making the loser think he's a winner. There are many memorable moments in the film including an early scene between Rooney and Foster on a beach where she tries to bring him out of his shell. The greatest sequence in the film is the actual heist, which is followed by a sequence where Rooney must drive at a fast speed on a dangerous road in order to get past a road block that police will put up once they learn of the robbery. This sequence here has some nice tension in it and the editing is very good. DRIVE A CROOKED ROAD is probably going to appeal to fans of Rooney and McCarthy more than your typical crime-picture fan. I think a stronger screenplay would have been beneficial especially early on when this hot woman falls for the Rooney character as it simply isn't very believable.

Hell hath no fury like a man scorned.Mickey Rooney starts out as if he is a Danny Kaye milque-toast character. Taken in by Diane Foster, he soon meets up with 2 guys who want his driving talent to be used in robbing a bank.Rooney is great here as he goes from a quite guy, afraid of really living to aiding the guys in the heist.Hurt by the betrayal of Foster, she shows compassion at the end and this leads to tragedy as Rooney becomes a killer.This is really film-noir at its very best.The robbery was a complete success but the thieves were done in by personal reactions. This one is worth catching.