Fantastic!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

. . . against the rampant corruption in American Politics, culminating in our alleged POTUS #45 (aka, "Putin's Pick, Putin's Pawn, or Putin's Puppet"). The corpulent geezer playing the part of Evil Party Machine Mastermind "Titus Semple" during FLAMINGO ROAD is a dead ringer for the Real Life "Fake President" of 2018. The well-named and always prophetic Warner Bros. outfit depict Titus as a serial swindler, Fat Cat bully boy, Capitalist Pig, malicious misogynist, self-centered Enemy of the People, compulsively lying spreader of "Fake News" (which one of those Commandments that the misnamed "Righteous" hypocrites are always overlooking calls "bearing false witness"), and obvious Minion of Satan. All Warner Bros. would need to add to this characterization to make it a perfect "spot-on" fit with "Putin's Puppet" is to add a backstory about Titus' dad being a community organizer for the Brooklyn Ku Klux Klan, with his grand-pappy being New York City's top-ranked pimp. Therefore, FLAMINGO ROAD merits top-notch kudos for its unblinking glimpse into America's sad future.

Joan Crawford plays a carnival dancer stranded in a small Southern town who begins a relationship with deputy sheriff Zachary Scott. But Sydney Greenstreet, playing a corrupt sheriff with political aspirations for Scott, doesn't care for this new relationship. So he drives Joan out of town on a trumped-up prostitution charge. She determines to get Greenstreet back and her first step in doing that is marrying political boss David Brian.Nice soaper with snappy dialogue and typically good Michael Curtiz direction. Max Steiner's music score is overwrought. Joan's great despite being a few years too old for the part. But that was fairly commonplace during this period where all the great female movie stars still acting were approaching middle age and still being cast in younger parts. It's a minor quibble of mine so don't let it dissuade you from trying this out. She is very good in this. Sydney Greenstreet is memorable as the evil Titus, despite what looks like obvious health issues. As twisted as it sounds, his poor health actually seems to add something to the performance. The often wooden Zachary Scott has one of his better roles as the weak-willed deputy sheriff being controlled by Greenstreet. Gladys George offers fine support. David Brian is OK but doesn't have much of a screen presence. He also has tepid chemistry with Crawford, who persuaded him to go from the stage to the screen with this film. He's not bad but perhaps a more dynamic actor in the part would have been better.

Lurid, over the top melodrama with Crawford giving a tough, spirited performance against wonderful opponent Sydney Greenstreet, theirs is a terrificly malevolent chemistry. They pretty much wipe everybody else off the screen except for Gladys George in a sharp cameo. Joan is right on the cusp here between true A pictures, which this is, and a series of films that would be Joan Crawford Vehicles with little room for anything or anybody else. From this point on there would be few forays outside a clearly defined formula, but one that worked for her for many years. So enjoy her as a tough carny girl before she calcified into the grand lady.

This is one of Joan Crawford's better movies because it is so entertaining. This movie has it all: drama, snappy dialogue, memorial characters. good guys and bad guys, excellent film noir cinematography, fluid continuity, and a wonderful ending. Most commanding is Sydney Greenstreet. He carries this movie; his performance is strong and surprisingly dynamic. Before Boss Hogg there was Boss Semple and in this movie the Boss is in charge until he gets his come-uppance. Joan Crawford gives a wonderful performance as the carnival worker who gets caught up in political corruption. Her scenes with Mr. Greenstreet are the highlights of the movie. The movie treats a number of compelling themes in a straightforward manner and without becoming melodramatic.