Just so...so bad

Fantastic!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Unless you happened to have seen this movie on TV, you have probably not seen it. It has not been released for DVD, although it is a big budget movie filmed in Cinemascope. Like most Cinemascope films of the time, it brings in the flavor of the locale with panorama shots. I see it a a period piece first and film noir only because of Robinson. For its time, it was incredibly gritty.Robinson is the classic Little Ceasar, and his performance carries the movie. Ladd may have been miscast, but carries the part OK. The dynamic boat-ride ending may be commonplace now, but was a real innovation at the time.I have always wondered why this film was not released on tape or DVD. Perhaps its the title, since San Franciscans loath the nickname "Frisco."

**Spoilers** Getting framed by the mob in the bar-room brawl death of Mr. Dinetto SFPD cop Steve Rollins, Allen Ladd, is sent away to San Quentin for five years for manslaughter. It's while he was incarcerated that Rollins gets the news through the prison grapevine from a man high up in the Victor Amato, Edward G. Robinson, Mob known only as Mr. Ragoni that he has proof that he is innocent of Dinetto death and he's more then willing to prove that fact once Rollins' get out of prison.Released from prison Rollins soon finds out that the person who can clear his name Mr. Ragoni had disappeared, and is later found murdered. Rollins is now only interested in getting even with Victor Amato and his mob and even his long-suffering wife night-club singer Marcia, Joanne Dru,is thrown aside in his efforts to get Amato. Rollins is determined t get even regardless of who or what get's in his way even if it's the entire mob running the San Francisco waterfront. One of Allen Ladd's better late, after Shane, movies as he as ex-cop Steve Rollins does a Dirty Harry bit without a badge or gun and rids the docks of that city of the mobsters and crooked politicians who control them.Getting at Amato through his wimpy nephew Mario, Perry Lopez, Rollins beats the truth out of him about who was responsible for Dinetto's death. Mario implicating both his gangster boss uncle Victor and the hoodlum he hired to do it John Brodie Evens, Rod Taylor. Amato getting the news from his police informant Det. Connors,Peter Hansen, of the scared to death little Mario ratting on him has his top henchman Scarface Joe Lye, Paul Stewart, do a job on Mario making it look like he killed himself. Where the clever as a fox Victor Amato screwed himself up was when he opened his big mouth in Scarface's apartment about him doing in Mario. Amato boasted of his crime in the presence of Scarface's girlfriend actress Kay Stanly ,Fay Wray, who overheard it. With that eyewitness evidence as well as Amato's brutal treatment of the person, Kay Stanly, who witnessed it that was all that was needed to get the slippery eel Victor Amato indited tried and sentenced behind bars for life or a one way trip to the San Quentin gas chamber.Working over a number of Amato's hoods Rollins gets the boss of bosses trapped in a corner where he can't get out, As all the murders including that of his top henchman who later fell out with him, over how Amato treated his girlfriend Kay Stanly, Scarface Joe Lye comes back to haunt him. Amato is then forced to make his getaway on a motorboat in San Francisco Bay with the now really mad, if he wasn't already, as hell ex-cop Steve Rollins more then willing to swim the length and breath of that waterway in order to get his hands on him. Very brutal crime movie for it's time, 1955, with Allen Ladd's Steve Rollins somewhat of a precursor to the later ruthless and no holds barred San Francisco cop Inspector Dirty Harry Calahan who gets things done his way and his way only. Edawrd G. Robinson as big boss Victor Amato is far more convincing as a Mafioso bigwig then even Marlon Brando Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were in "The Godfather" movies. Robinson comes across as a man completely in charge and knowing just what strings to pull to get what he want's done. Thats until he overreaches himself by mindlessly overreacting to the I don't give a damn Steve Rollins who showed the Mafia chieftain that what he feels is Rollins' most important commodity, his life, doesn't mean a thing to him unless he puts his butt behind bars or in the grave for what he, Amato, did in destroying it.

In Hell on Frisco Bay Alan Ladd who also produced this film plays an ex-cop who's served five years on a manslaughter rap for which he was wrongly convicted. Of course as in the case of noir films he's on a mission to find the real killer and clear himself.It doesn't take him long to sniff out a trail that leads to San Francisco underworld boss Edward G. Robinson. Robinson is easily the best in the cast. He's as malevolent as he was in Little Caesar or at least in Key Largo. It's not that Hell on Frisco Bay is a bad film, but it's all so routine for Alan Ladd. He would not transition into character roles as he hit his forties. His legion fans which were gradually dwindling by this time still wanted their guy in action hero parts.He's not terribly animated here. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was ill during the making of this. In a way that might have helped the believability factor. Five years in jail would have given him a certain prison pallor to his complexion.Alan Ladd liked having friends around and the cast here is filled with players who were close personal friends and/or co-workers from his Paramount days. They include, Anthony Caruso, George J. Lewis, Peter Hansen, Perry Lopez, William Demarest. Look for young Rod Taylor as a contract killer and Jayne Mansfield in her screen debut as a bimbo.Joanne Dru plays the estranged Mrs. Ladd and was probably grateful to be in a modern setting. Paul Stewart gives a memorable performance as Robinson's chief henchman along with his lady love Fay Wray who played a former movie star who was keeping company with Stewart. Their relationship with Robinson is the key to the story.Cinemascope and noir usually don't mix, but in this case with the final scene being a police chase and fight with speedboats across San Francisco bay, cinemascope helped greatly.Fans of both Alan Ladd and Edward G. Robinson will enjoy this film.

Edward G Robinson dismissed this one with a passing comment in his autobiography and it's not hard to see why. He exudes menace in the classic 'Little Caesar' manner and his interplay with the underrated Paul Stewart does have a touch of real quality. However, Cinemascope is not a process designed for urban thrillers and the wide open spaces rob the film of any sense of tension or claustrophobia. The greatest weakness, however, lies in Ladd's robotic performance. His boredom is evident throughout and the lacklustre supporting cast do little to help. In the end Robinson is left out on his own, gat in hand, the true professional giving it all he's got.