The Worst Film Ever

The greatest movie ever made..!

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The constraints within which filmmakers have to operate when they're working on a low budget can often produce surprisingly good results and this is most often seen in crime dramas where qualities such as grittiness, realism and pace can be produced without any need for high expenditure. "The Hoodlum" is a case in point, as it describes the inevitable downfall of a criminal who, from the outset, is clearly beyond redemption and the way in which his story is told displays all the aforementioned qualities plus plenty of tension.As a youngster, Vincent Lubeck (Lawrence Tierney) had a long history of involvement in petty crime before being sentenced to ten years in prison for armed robbery. After having served five years of his sentence, the parole board at the state penitentiary meets to consider his case and despite the strong views of the Warden (who considers him to be unfit to be released on parole); the board approves the criminal's release after having listened to an impassioned appeal from Lubeck's mother.When Vincent returns home to live with his mother, he's required under the terms of his parole to work in the gas station which his brother Johnny (Edward Tierney) had bought using the insurance money from his father's death. Vincent shows no appreciation of what Johnny or his mother have done on his behalf and doesn't acknowledge how well Johnny had done in building up his business and buying the family a new home. He also dislikes working in the gas station and displays a bad attitude to its customers. This naturally upsets Johnny who, unlike his mother and his naïve girlfriend Rosa (Allene Roberts), sees his brother exactly for what he is. Rosa's attempts to build bridges between the brothers leads to her getting seduced by Vincent and eventually committing suicide after discovering she's pregnant and then being very firmly rebuffed when she asked Vincent to marry her.Vincent notices the collections that are made by an armoured van from the Fidelity Bank which is located on the opposite side of the street from the gas station and dates Eileen (Marjorie Riordan), the bank's secretary, in order to get some more information about the regular cash shipments. Then, after meeting up with some of his old associates, he masterminds a heist and a very imaginative way of escaping with the loot. His quest for easy money, however, soon leads to some undesirable results, both during and after the heist.Vincent Lubeck's character is very straightforward as he's completely unrepentant about anything he's done in the past, never intends, even for a second, to go straight and is only focused on getting easy money. He thinks that the intense bitterness and anger that's such a powerful part of his make-up is attributable to his family's experience of having lived for years in a home that was close to the city dump and sees the acquisition of a lot of money as being the only thing that can clear the stink that he lived with for so many years. He's vicious, volatile and amoral and brings nothing but misery to his family.Lawrence Tierney does a great job of portraying the sheer intensity and explosive nature of this selfish sociopath in a style that perfectly complements the fast-moving way in which the on-screen action is delivered. It's these qualities that ultimately make the movie so enjoyable and help to compensate for the poor acting of some other members of the cast.

Some criminals just shouldn't be let out of prison, and here, it is obvious from the start, that life-long offender Lawrence Tierney is not about to change his ways no matter how many people give him the opportunity to. His mother (Lisa Golm) gives a heart-felt plea to get him out of prison, claiming he's a good boy and if given the chance, can be useful to society. She will learn a bit too late that a mother's love isn't always meant to be apple pie filled sweetness. Lawrence betrays his own brother (the lesser known Edward Tierney) and gets into trouble, unable to remain calm while under pressure working as a gas station attendant. Women aren't safe around the younger brother, either, and he will destroy one of them in the process as well.At just an hour's length, this powerful "B" film noir/crime drama is as exciting as many of the higher budgeted "A" films on the same subject. It is totally without pretense or glamour, and there is absolutely no sympathy for the leading anti-hero. Lawrence Tierney is excellent in this part, seemingly years younger than he really was when he took on this role. Edward Tierney is an interesting contrast and their pairing is a unique teaming in screen history. At first, Golm's mother might seem very stereotypical, almost aggravating, seeming to be exactly like Margaret Wycherly's mom in "White Heat", but her final scene is tragically pained as a lifetime of total disappointment is revealed in just a few minutes. Allene Roberts and Marjorie Riordan make interesting weather-beaten heroines with their characters drawn in over their head and against their will as the women whose lives will be forever shattered because the parole system failed to keep one obvious sociopath behind bars where he belonged forever.

Brevity is the only strong point in this sloppy little noir featuring Laurence Tierney and brother Ed. Contrived and rushed it makes little to no attempt to establish veracity and the whole affair has the feel and look of adults acting kids playing cops and robbers in a neighborhood alleyway.Career criminal Vincent Lubeck is up for parole and while all indications point to denial his mother comes in and sobs enough to spring him. He goes to work for his brother at his filling station but still filled with rage and self pity decides to rob the bank across the street. He gets a gang together to look conspicuous then on the day of the robbery simply puts the hose back on the pump crosses the street and gets into a fierce gun battle with armored car guards. The Hoodlum is a mishmash of bad acting and crass composition with complete inattention to detail. The robbery and getaway stumbles, bordering on comic with montages of a fully mobilized LA police force and newspaper stories hitting the streets within ten minutes of the robbery still in progress by way of a three car funeral. Tierney as usual is convincingly threatening but his ticking time bomb demeanor should make it clear to everyone to stay away from the hair brained heist. The rest of the cast more or less walks on egg shells around violent Vince. Intimidating as Tierney is he remains no match for this haphazardly constructed unintentionally comic caper that collapses atop him.

This is typical but quite entertaining B movie fare. Well, not completely typical because the main character of such fare is generally more sympathetic than Lawrence Tierney is here. He's a guy you love to hate as he gets paroled thanks to his sweet and loving mother and then proceeds to be a total heel, raping and impregnating his sister-in-law, robbing a bank and just an overall not-nice guy. He doesn't even evoke sympathy at his dying mother's bedside and that's one of the perverse charms of the film. The ending in a dump is quite satisfying and prompts a feeling of good riddance to bad rubbish. This is a typically short little B film, cheaply made, ludicrous at times, but fun to watch and one which will be appreciated by fans of 40's and 50's 2nd features.