Underworld U.S.A.

Cliff Robertson plays Tolly Devlin, an embittered ex-convict who has spent a lifetime tracking down the men who murdered his father. Desirous of handling matters on his own, Devlin pretends to be loyal to both the Mob and the Government, playing one against the other in hopes of flushing out the killers. He learns that the three surviving assassins are employed by a supposedly charitable "cover" operation known as National Projects. To get what he wants, Devlin ingratiates himself with mob boss (and outwardly solid citizen) Conners (Robert Emhardt). What Robertson didn't count on was falling in love with "Cuddles" (Dolores Dorn), which leads to his own downfall - but not before justice is served. Producer/director/writer Fuller based "Underworld U.S.A." on a series of "exposé" articles in The Saturday Evening Post. A prime example of Fuller's tabloid sensibility, the film careens through its plot at a lightning pace showcasing his penchant for fevered, sensationalistic imagery and shocking violence. Though not as good as his earlier crime thriller "Pickup On South Street", or his later masterpieces "Shock Corridor" and "The Naked Kiss", this is prime Fuller for afficianados.

Written, directed and produced by Sam Fuller, this is a tough, straight-talking, no nonsense film noir. This is like a 1940s noir but it's 1961 instead. So, instead of the boxy cars, of the Forties you have long- finned late 1950s automobiles. Otherwise, it''s the same genre.

You get the same film noir photography: black-and-white with lots of nighttime shots and a lot of tough characters. I just wish they had at least really likable person to root for, but I didn't find any. The "hero," played well by Cliff Robertson, is a tough, revenge-obsessed guy and that's basically the storyline as he tracks down the hoods who beat up and killed his father.

Even though the rest of the cast doesn't have big names, many of the faces are familiar and all are good actors. This is an earlier "Point Blank" film seven years before that came out - same kind of story.

Of the women in here, I found Dolores Dorn the most interesting.

From its brisk opening, this dark and seamy underworld drama moves like a well-oiled machine, laying out and glorifying Cliff Robertson's revenge tactics to punish the men who killed his father.

Not unlike John Boorman's "Point Blank" which also featured an almost cyborg-natured Lee Marvin punishing the bigshot criminal overlords who did him wrong, here the pursuit is more humanized but suffers no slack as Robertson gives an extraordinary performance.

With a glinty-eyed, crooked smile and a gleeful look which seems to creep into his face as he torments his victims, Robertson suggests a little of Mel Gibson's instability in the first "Lethal Weapon", but without the looniness. His more understated moments are not only very realistic, but are the epitome of cool. Robertson can definitely smoke cigarettes better than anybody.

Fuller's direction is taut, featuring plenty of creative cinematography and a lot of sequences which are far more ahead of their time than the majority of crime films being made around 1961. As always, Fuller manages to tell his story with both hysteria and pathos. This is definitely a must-see for fans of Don Siegel's work or the crime films of Phil Karlson and Anthony Mann. "Underworld USA" could very well share a double bill with John Flynn's "The Outfit" as well. Superb stuff.

A juvenile delinquent witnesses the murder of his father by mobsters and seeks revenge as an adult. This is a brutal crime drama, with lively direction by Fuller, although he goes a bit overboard with shadows, closeups, and zooms. Robertson is not bad, but seems miscast as the tough guy who, driven by vengeance, singlehandedly takes on the syndicate. The best performances are turned in by the two leading actresses: Dorn (recalling Stella Stevens) as a gangster's moll and Kay (recalling Thelma Ritter) as a mother-figure for Robertson. Also notable are Rust as a ruthless mob henchman and Gates as a federal prosecutor.

Who else but the creative Fuller would follow a little girl's murder with two grisly skinned turkeys for cooking. What a striking way to symbolize the horror of the murder. As expected, the movie's visuals, especially close-ups, keep eyes riveted. The story's about revenge as Tolly (Robertson) schemes his way into the criminal combine that murdered his father. The script underlines how the combine's criminal claws reach into most every aspect of government. Once inside he plays a double game with lawman Driscoll (Gates) that he uses to exact revenge on his four targets. Meanwhile he discovers that ex-hooker Cuddles (Dorn) is more than a sexy distraction.

The first part amounts to a textbook of noir. Filming seldom leaves the dirtiest alleys of Columbia's shadowy backlot. After that, drama switches to more conventional lighting and sets, as the threads of Tolly's revenge spread. It's a great supporting cast from fatso Emhardt to tough gal Kay, to handsome, gimlet-eyed Richard Rust as a cold-blooded killer. If Rust had a psycho giggle, he'd be up there with Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death {1947}. To me, however, Robertson underplays to a fault. I never get the occasional sizzle that should intensify a revenge narrative. Over-playing is the usual pitfall for a movie like this, but here the outcome is the unfortunate opposite. Also, the screenplay, though boldly conceived, scatters during the last part, making developmental threads hard to follow. A tighter focus would help.

Nonetheless, there's plenty of compensation thanks mainly to Fuller's camera, plus touches like Tolly's permanent facial scar, symbolic of his wounded psyche. There's also that unexpected ending with its poetically apt trash can. Anyway, the flick may not be top-flight, but good or not so good, it's clearly the work of a movie auteur.