200. Odd Man Out (1947)

Running Time: 116 minutes
Directed By: Carol Reed
Written By: R.C. Sherriff, from novel by F.L. Green
Main Cast: James Mason, Kathleen Ryan, Cyril Cusack, Robert Newton, F.J. McCormick

Note: This spot was originally intended to go to "Onibaba", however, since "Odd Man Out" is expiring from the streaming portion of Netflix in a few days (and with no "At Home" delivery available), I had to watch that while I still could. The final six intended spots are still intact.

ON THE RUN

Well Netflix threw a curve ball at me and basically forced me into squeezing this one in. However, it actually turned out to be a fairly impressive, little British noir and one that I could easily recommend.

Johnny McQueen (Mason) and his band of Irish rebels in the "Organization" are planning to rob a mill. The money that they grab will allow them to further their cause and fight harder against the British rule. The hold-up takes place within the first ten minutes of the film and of course, it doesn't go as planned. During a scuffle with an employee of the mill, Johnny is shot in the shoulder and in order to get away, shoots (and kills) the man. He jumps onto the running board of the getaway car, but loses his grip and in the excitement his comrades have no choice but to save their own tails. Now, Johnny holds up in a bomb shelter, while his fellow gang members, his girlfriend and the police hunt him down, through the streets of fog, rain and eventually snow. When a reward is announced for the anyone who locates Johnny, even more people get in on the hunt and the whole film boils down to a whole lot of excitement and suspense.


SPOILER ALERT!

I had to watch this over the course of two sittings, because I was just too tired last night to finish it. I must say that as I began "Odd Man Out", my expectations were very low. I'm not one for a lot of politics with my movies and the original idea of a group of Irish rebels striking back against their oppressors just didn't interest me much. Add to that, that the film didn't start out very frisky, but rather lingered and got off to a slow start. Even as I approached the halfway point, I just wasn't enthused with this one, as the idea of a man running and people trying to track him down, just didn't make for a good movie, in my preformed opinion.

However, things really started to look up and once the film introduced Shell (McCormick) and Lukey (Newton) and continually added dashes of suspense, I started to really take to it. I thought F.J. McCormick was absolutely brilliant and Robert Newton was great too, as a drunken artist, who only wants to find McQueen so that he may paint him. I also liked the addition of Father Tom (W.G. Fay) and the conversation that he and Kathleen have with Shell, disguising Johnny's name for a bird. The ending was great too. I kept having flashes of Johnny and Kathleen making the boat and seeing the film end with them kissing, Johnny favoring his arm, as "The End" pummeled into the screen. I guess I've been watching too many Hollywood affairs and that's not what happened here. I loved the ending here, in fact, I'd say it was the perfect ending to a very good picture.

RATING: 7/10 I can't go all the way, due to my initial hesitations, but it gets better and I think this is one that a lot of people could enjoy, as long as they stick with it till the end.

MOVIES WATCHED: 395
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 606

January 12, 2012 7:06pm