Surprisingly incoherent and boring

How sad is this?

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Blistering performances.

In "Johnny O'Clock" Dick Powell has three femme fatales for the price of one. The first is hat check girl Harriet Hobson (Nina Foch), the second Nella Marchettis (Ellen Drew) the gold digger wife of Powell's boss Guido (Thomas Gomez) and finally Nancy Hobson (Evelyn Keyes) the sister of hat check girl Harriet. How the three weave in and out of O'Clock's life forms the basis of this film noir ably directed by Robert Rossen.The name Johnny O'Clock is obviously an alias and although we hear Police Detective Koch (Lee J. Cobb) read off a list of Johnny's known aliases, we never learn his true identity.Johnny is the high living well-dressed junior partner of gambler Guido Marchellis. He runs the gambler's casino for him all the while professing that he himself is not a gambler. When two of the main characters turn up murdered, Johnny is immediately suspected of the crimes. He is dogged unrelentlessly by Inspector Koch who seems to have it in for Johnny. Through it all Johnny becomes involved with the three aforementioned females at various stages of the investigation.This was a different sort of role for Powell. This time around, he is not the hard boiled detective or wise cracking private eye he usually played but a shady sort of character who is out only for himself complete with character flaws and a past. Lee J. Cobb plays the police inspector as only he could, a role he would reprise several times throughout his career.Evelyn Keyes, who had just married John Huston, makes an alluring heroine. Nina Foch is suitably innocent as the Johnny's "blind date" and Ellen Drew is sexy and seductive as the real "femme fatale" of the piece. Others in the cast are John Kellogg as Charlie Johnny's "man", Jim Bannon as brutal cop Chuck Blaydon and a young Jeff Chandler as a gambler named "Turk".Complete with all of the dark shadows and night scenes, "Johnny O'Clock" makes for an entertaining "film noire" murder mystery.

A great cast stars in "Johnny O'Clock," a 1947 noir written and directed by Robert Rossen. It stars Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, Lee J. Cobb, Ellen Drew, Thomas Gomez, and Nina Foch.Not that many years have passed since Dick Powell was a singing juvenile, but here he is as Johnny O'Clock, a somewhat cold tough guy who has a partnership with Guido Marchettis (Gomez) in a gambling casino. Johnny's a hard guy to figure - with the hat check girl Harriet (Nina Foch), he's helpful and kind, and it's hard to decide which is the real Johnny.There's a crooked cop who works for Johnny and Guido named Chuck Blayden (Jim Bannon), who's making trouble for Harriet and there's an Inspector Kotch (Lee J. Cobb) who wants Johnny to answer some questions. Then there's the gorgeous, sexy wife of Marchettis, Nelle (Drew), who's had an affair with Johnny and wants him back. In the midst of all this, Harriet is found dead and it's assumed to be suicide.When Harriet's sister (Evelyn Keyes) comes along, there's an instant spark between her and Johnny. But Johnny is in trouble, thanks to a couple of watches, and the disappearance of Blayden.For some reason, this films ends up being a disappointment. Despite Rossen's wonderful direction, it's not tight enough, nor is the story strong enough. One sort of has the feeling of being dropped into the middle of something. That doesn't mean there aren't interesting elements. One is the tiniest hint of homosexuality in the character of Charlie (John Kellogg), an ex-con who works for Johnny and lives with him.The performances across the board are very good, led by Powell as an attractive, solid tough guy with hints of humanity, and Keyes as a strong but vulnerable woman.Still worth seeing.

"Old enough not smart enough" a line from the film by the grieving sister describing her dead sibling.Full of one liners this film so, do the ironing, if required, while waiting for the football results on a Saturday afternoon.Then try one liners like "what I don't know I don't like!", "What did you get out of college?", when next on the phone to a rude petulant child dealing with your credit card application, Gas board, Sainsburys Customer services etc. enquiry.Lee J Cobb convinces me as a cop. No knife carrying "Hoody" on his patch I reckon. The nosey neighbour doing her Miss Marple bit is a nice touch.The film is better described elsewhere. For the record though I would put all your money and house on Seabreeze if you should ever be whisked back in time in an "Ashes to Ashes" kind of way!Of note is a lovely line in the restaurant. (Johnny and girl go and sit on table at late night café. Waiter brings drinks to table before any such order is taken). (Johnny O'Clock) "Who ordered the drinks?" (Waiter)"Have you ever eaten here before?". (Johnny O'Clock) "No" (Waiter) "Well you will need the drinks then".Also "O'Clock O'Clock O'Clock all the time it came ticking in my head" surely the corniest line said by a cuckolded husband?Enjoy the film with the awful title and maybe you might discover a smart Alec answer to the meaning of life when asked one day by a young boy called Reece!

I loved the dialog and the endless stream of wise cracks, many said by Dick Powell, who was great at that sort of thing. After watching a lot of film noirs, I think Powell and Sterling Hayden are my two favorites in that genre. Powell was suave, sophisticated, a quick man with a quip and still a tough guy. Hayden exuded raw manliness, a no-nonsense thug whether he was a good guy or a crook.That said, the film is only so-so because, like a number of films being viewed today, some 60 years later, they are a bit slow and sometimes too talky. This film begins to bog down halfway through and it gets tough to finish, even if you like the actors in here, which I certainly do.Besides Powell, Cobb and the tough guys, there are some really good examples of film noir women in here. My favorite was Ellen Drew as "Nelle Marchettis." I only wish her role had been bigger. Those who like Evelyn Keyes will be more pleased, since her role is bigger. She reminds me a bit of another "tough film noir broad:" Marie Windsor. Then there is Nina Foch as the softer "Harriet Hobson," who sadly leaves the movie in the first half hour.Overall, if you like actors and some snappy lines, check this out. I saw it on TCM. To my knowledge, it's not available on disc. If you are looking for an action-crime film, however, go on to something else.