Too much of everything

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Raymond Burr is most famous as the invincible Perry Mason, but in Rear Window we saw him as the villain. In this movie, he has a much bigger villain part, as Rick, and makes much more impression as such. His towering presence is well used, and we hear him presenting his evil plan in a very elegant manner, packaging his plan in the most perfect "nice" expressions.Burr makes my favorite quote from the movie, landed with perfect timing:"He was screaming he wanted out. When a man screams, I don't like it. Especially a friend. He might scream loud enough for the D.A. to hear. I don't want to hurt the D.A's ears.... He's sensitive."On top of this, we have the overall gray and "noir" mood of the picture, about a man with very bad odds (Joe Sullivan/O'Keefe), and two women, one of them his loyal accomplice Pat (Claire Trevor), who is also narrator of the story, and Ann (Marsha Hunt) who is forced to join them. Joe's feelings for the two is the constant worry of Pat, hopelessly in love with Joe. All three do their parts well.A weakness of the movie, showing its age, is that the action scenes are pretty primitive. We have to live with that for movies this old.

I like my film noir dark and gritty, and it helps if there's some credibility built into the story. What's with the character of social worker Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt)? She falls for a common street thug like Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe), has a bleeding heart for a wife killer who crashes Oscar's Tavern, and then turns around and shoots one of the henchmen sent by big Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr) to put Sullivan away. Who by the way, pulled off a one in a million getaway from a prison break while his own gang was conspiring to have him fail.Boy, I don't know. There seems to be a whole lot of fans for this flick in the reviews section, but the most I'll grant it is the slick John Alton cinematography. And say, what gives with Oscar's Tavern? I didn't seen any bar or liquor in the joint, it looked like someone's living room when you came through the front door.For this viewer, the entire story had a disjointed feel to it with Pat Cameron's (Claire Trevor) pining over a guy she can't have, and treated like a yo-yo when it looks like Sullivan's romance with Ann Martin falls through. In fact, the most believable thing about the whole story was the five gallons of gas for a buck at the Union Oil station. I've been around long enough, so that's something I could relate to.

Hard shadows and bleak souls populate this pulpy yarn from director Anthony Mann. A ripping crime movie, sure, but this is really about a woman coming to terms with the devastating fact she is in love with a man who doesn't love her back. Claire Trevor's longing eyes behind a spotted veil and throaty voice-over tell you everything. Who really got the Raw Deal? I think I know.(I'm an enthusiast, not a critic. Thanks for reading.)

It's interesting how none of the three lead characters in this picture are redeemable. This is about as noir as a person can get! And I think it's interesting how the sexual dynamics between Dennis O'Keefe and both women (played by Claire Trevor and Marsha Hunt) are continued throughout the story. His character is definitely not a one-woman man, and both gals seem to know it. Usually, if there is cheating in a movie of this era, regardless of the genre, one of the participants does not know, and does not find out about the unfaithfulness of their partner until two-thirds of the way into the story. But with RAW DEAL, all the cards are on the table right up front, and yet both women want to have an on-going relationship with him, and he clearly enjoys being able to be satisfied by each one at the same time, in different ways. It's a shocking revelation, and one wonders if a major studio would have attempted such material with an A-picture. Perhaps it's just as well, and all the more reason to appreciate a more independent film releasing corporation like Eagle-Lion and director Anthony Mann, who is willing to push the boundaries.