ABSURDITY: The getaway car used in a robbery, in which all three occupants died, vital evidence in an ongoing police investigation publicly on show at a fairground. Surely not!
MEDIOCRITY: The two motorcycle cops involved in the chase are shown, in spots clearly astride stationary machines, whilst the high speed scenery takes all the risks. The wonky, wobbly, wooden handrail at the roller coaster ride was presumably kept in storage, prior to being sold to the makers of Crossroads in the 1960's. Crooks, 'Wires' MacGuire (Sheldon Leonard) and his lame-brained sidekick hardly generate the 'oooh...I'm scared' factor, when they appear. Ann Savage is by far the movie's greatest asset, yet her character is a pale shadow of the volatile, destructive, savage by name, savage by nature femme fatale, who turned hapless Tom Neal's life upside down, inside out and back to front in the previous year's classic, 'Detour.' And as for her song.....that's one minute and 42 seconds of my life I'll never have back!
LIABILITY: Tom Dwyer (Don Barry's) sub-Cagney, fast talking, wise-cracking, whip-smart private dick comes across as forced and irritating, rather than sharp and amusing. To add insult to injury, most directors found the bloke very difficult to work with.
Occasionally, the rushed, slap-dash approach can produce a masterpiece. (Check out Neil Young's Tonight's the Night). This is not one of those occasions. Had this been a school report, phrases like 'could have done better' and 'too easily satisfied' would spring to mind.
Remarkably, this hotch-potch of half baked ideas and one dimensional characters, despite its legion of shortcomings, turns out to be passingly watchable, mildly entertaining and arcanely memorable. Frequently and against all the odds, 'Crooked Mile' manages to punch above its weight. It remains a pretty rough around the edges production from Poverty Row, Republic Pictures. Indeed, there is nothing polished about this misfiring oddity apart from John Dehner's finger nails.
