recommended

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Interesting study in the way of life of living only for worldly success and money. Zachary Scott makes the tycoon who from a humble start builds an empire but at the cost of everything human on the way. He simply refuses to take any no or objection to his ambitions seriously but grabs everything he fancies for his own and gets it - until there is Sydney Greenstreet, who turns the film into a very interesting drama, the finale towering into a frantic settlement with the inhumanity of ruthlessness.Among the others Lucille Bremer as Christa makes an intelligent impression, and Louis Hayward as the friend who sees Zachary through and tries to follow but fails to save him, makes a credible enough figure of a real best friend who fails for no fault of his, while Diana Lynn as Martha and Mallory becomes something of an enigma - it's actually she who brings Vendig's ruin but unintentionally, as her only power over him is that she resembles his first love, whom he deserted - it's not her fault.It's a very interesting story of opportunism, but like in so many of Ulmer's always most interesting films, the characters never really come alive. The acting is too stiff, and they act more like dummies than like live people, like statues in a grown up puppet play. Nevertheless, the film is still very much worth seeing for its message and lesson, as a morality of considerable weight, as people of this kind dominate and rule the world still today and make a mess of it.

Director Edgar Ulmer wants RUTHLESS to put himself up there with the bigger directors. This is one of those old black and white dramas you won't walk away from. Horace Vendig(Zachary Scott)is the product of a broken home; not having any of the luxuries his friends had. Horace honed his intelligence to become a cold-hearted, callous and ruthless financier. Even his childhood friend Vic(Louis Hayward)could not believe what he made of himself. Vendig would charm women to just throw away when another caught his eye. Love was out of the question. All Horace was interested in was notoriety and wealth. He sold himself as a respectable philanthropist; while all along he shamelessly trampled on anyone that got in his way. Matinée idol Scott plays the role very well. Scenery and storyline are interesting and the cast is strong. Other players: Diana Lynn, Martha Vickers, Sydney Greenstreet, Lucille Bremer and Raymond Burr. Robert J. Anderson plays Horace with Arthur Stone playing Vic in the flashback scenes. Borderline Film Noir.

The combination of Edgar G. Ulmer (of "Detour" notoriety), Zachary Scott, Sidney Greenstreet, Raymond Burr and Martha Vickers, under the title "Ruthless," promises a fairly robust slice of film noir. Alas, what one gets is a faintly Citizen-Kaneish look back over the life of a heartless tycoon (Zachary Scott, who, whatever his strengths, was no Orson Welles). It's a puzzling movie. Scott was a poor child (Burr briefly plays his dad, dressed up to look like a carnival barker) who saved the life of a wealthy girl, whose family then took him under its wing. This, for some reason, became his sole act of altruism, as he turned into a self-centered, manipulative ladder-climber. The story does manage to keep one's interest, but just barely; Greenstreet provides some welcome slices of ham. But the script is tedious, the stylishness nonexistent. If this is your kind of movie, by all means enjoy, but don't mistake it for something it isn't. What it isn't is a tense little shocker along the lines of Anthony Mann's Raw Deal or Railroaded (which I foolishly thought it might be).

Kind of cross between Keeper of The Flame and Citizen Kane, Zachry is perfect as the ice-cold schemer who confuses love and friendship for weakness and folly. Burr is great in minor role, explaining Scott's character. But it goes on too long, and after awhile, it becomes tiresome how many people with warning are still being taken in by him. After all, Zachry's smooth, but he's no Bill Clinton. Too, Greenstreet is over-the-top in pivotal role, spoiling some of the effect. Overall, worth watching, but by no means, great.