Overrated and overhyped

As Good As It Gets

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A restrained Lee J. Cobb stars in this noir where he plays a cop protecting the woman he's having an affair with after she kills her estranged husband. Cobb's brother, who has been promoted to detective, keeps questioning the clues & suspects as Cobb tries to overlook them w/disastrous results. Nicely shot in San Francisco, this may not be the best noir made but it'll do.

A superb noir thriller. Lee J. Cobb and John Dall square off as brothers and fellow policemen in this breathlessly paced, well-written and well-acted film. Normally I can't stand Dall's jack-o-lantern grin, but it's bearable here as part of his counterpoint to Cobb's brute intensity. The two women are as different as the men; Dall's Lisa Howard is sweetness and sunshine, Jane Wyatt's Lois a selfish, manipulative schemer.It's ironic that Dall's Andy, the younger, and presumably naive brother, has by far the better private and public life. Cobb's character, on the other hand, junks everything to cover up for Lois's murder of her husband. She's frantic and seemingly delusional in her first scene with Cobb. Even though she's right that her husband intends to kill her, she immediately declaims responsibility for killing him. As Cobb chooses to play a double game 'investigating' the murder, we sense the tension he undergoes, as well as his brother's growing skepticism.The young guy who Cobb tries to frame for the murder convincingly portrays a somewhat stereotypical down-on-his-luck type. He's also complicates the plot, as he has committed a murder, just not the one in question. So, in the middle of the movie, Cobb looks like he just might get out from under the murder after all. Cobb's menacing demeanor, which winds up tighter as the plot ensnares him, makes us forget that he's an accomplice, not the actual murderer.The last scene at Fort Point is great. Claustrophobic and desolate, it captures hauntingly the iconic noir atmosphere. The corridors and passageways lead Cobb and Wyatt ultimately into handcuffs. The title points in a few directions: Cobb has cheated himself by going along with the cover-up, he's also the man whose lover 'cheats' her husband for. The only quibble with The Man Who Cheated Himself involves disposing of the husband's body. It is a nice recycling of the husband's alibi to use the airport, but who would be dumb enough to drop a body in plain view of witnesses? Especially if you're a detective. Use the Bay, so the body can 'sleep with the fishes.' Anyway, if you can stand this miscue, along with John Dall's rubber-band grin, this is a fine noir movie.

Women referred to as "dames", people getting trapped in convoluted plots, men with weaknesses, detectives in trench coats and smoking all around - this movie has most charms you'd expect from a noir movie.The plot was generally enjoyable, with some fun twists along the way. The scene where the murder takes place (no spoilers) was really good, as it built up tension, which got released through the character's actions. My main objection to the story, is Cobb's reaction to this afterwords (which sets it all off) does not really make much sense. Cobb's character is at times quite smart, but at other times inept at what he is doing. There's a lack of consistency to him that makes the entire story a bit unbelievable.Having only seen Cobb in 12 Angry Men, it's interesting to see his performance here. He is still good, but you expect him to burst into rage at any time (which he doesn't).

Two of my favorite writers, Seton I. Miller and Philip MacDonald, worked up this somewhat familiar plot (husband tries to murder rich wife and make it look like a burglary but he gets killed instead) into a moderately suspenseful police thriller, which maintains interest with a few clever plot twists and a thrilling bit of action across downtown San Francisco roof-tops, before coming to a really grand climax at the marvelously spooky Fort Point, followed by a winningly ironic conclusion (which surprisingly got past the censors back in 1950).Cobb astutely underplays the lead role of the seasoned, crime-weary detective. Jane Wyatt's heroine-in-distress commendably follows Cobb's lead, leaving all the histrionics to the second-string team of John Dall and Lisa Howard. Despite Dall's efforts, however, it's Alan Wells as murderous punk who easily walks away with the movie's acting honors.Felix Feist has handled all the action with his customary competence, and other credits are equally serviceable.When this film was originally released much was made of the remarkable fact that it was produced by Jack Warner, Jr, the son of Warner Bros mogul, Jack L. Warner. Jack Jr made three movies: The Admiral Was a Lady (executive producer), then this one, and finally Brushfire (1962) which he also wrote and directed. Oddly, none of these movies were distributed by Warner Bros, though Jack, Jr, worked for some time as an executive in the Warner TV division.