Bullets for O'Hara (1941)
** (out of 4)
Low-budget crime picture from Warner has a jewel thief (Anthony Quinn) getting away with his crime but a detective (Roger Pryor) nabs his wife (Joan Perry). The wife claims she didn't know what the husband was really up to so after she's granted a divorce, she marries the detective so that the ex will come after them. BULLETS FOR O'HARA is a very silly movie that doesn't have much going for it so it's only going to appeal to those "B" movie fans who enjoy watching these things that usually turn up on Turner Classic Movies just before dawn. At just 50-minutes the shocking thing is that the film runs way too long. Yes, even this short running time manages to be quite slow and at around the thirty-minute mark it was clear that the film was going nowhere. The story itself is pretty silly because you have to wonder why the jewel thief really cared since he jumped ship on the wife, didn't check on her during an entire trial and then decides to walk into a trap months later. It was also funny to see the thief getting himself in good with the people he's going to rob, which isn't something you normally saw in crime pictures like this. Both Perry and Pryor are decent in their roles but neither one of them really jumps off the screen. Quinn is good in his early role as the thief but sadly he isn't given too much time. Dick Purcell has a small supporting bit as a chauffeur. BULLETS FOR O'HARA is certainly a miss that's going to have a limited appeal.
