Show Them No Mercy!

Seeing that Show Them No Mercy was produced by 20th Century Pictures and then released by the newly formed 20th Century Fox one has to conclude it was one of the first films released by the newly merged studio. For some reason this film has fallen into neglect and that's a pity.

The story is the aftermath of a kidnapping of a child. The victim has been released and the ransom paid. Now the gang of four is holed up in a deserted farm house and deciding how to make a getaway.

Into their hideout stumbles young couple Edward Norris and Rochelle Hudson with their dog and baby. They go to a house that looks deserted to get out of the rain after their car breaks down. The gang consists of Cesar Romero, Bruce Cabot, Edward Brophy, and Warren Hymer.

For those of you used to seeing Cesar Romero as a dashing cavalier this film will be quite the revelation. He's one mean and lean gangster leader of this crew under whom Bruce Cabot chafes as Cabot thinks he ought to be top dog. As for Brophy and Hymer you know right away they're just comic relief.

Show Them No Mercy was later remade as a western, Rawhide which starred Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward. That was also a good film.

But for a different Cesar Romero check out Show Them No Mercy.

Two decades before DESPERATE HOURS, you had this crime flick, which plot, scheme, is rather close in terms of atmosphere to the William Wyler's movie. Here Cesar Romero would be Bogie. You have here a typical good WASP American family - as usual in ninety percent of US films - held as hostage by a bunch of criminals on the loose - kidnappers here instead of escaped cons in DESPERATE HOURS. This movie is also the good opportunity to remind you that the director George Marchal was not a crime film specialist - actually he was only a very good professional yes man in any kind of films, ANY KIND - but he gave us this one and also THE BLUE DHALIA, starring Alan Ladd and his long time pal William Bendix.

This movie, about a young couple with a baby accidentally getting involved with a band of gangsters being hunted by the FBI, is one of the greatest obscure crime films of the 1930's. The pace is lively, the suspense is exhilarating, and the cast is just about charming and watchable as can be. Cesar Romero is incredibly evil in this film, Bruce Cabot is as sturdy and intense as he was in King Kong, and Edward Brophy is, as always, a ton of fun to watch.

Watching this film is like eating a bag of really good candy. It grabs you right from the start and then zips through the motions of it's thin plot with an efficient grace, hitting all of the right spots and not wasting a second.

It's a most satisfying film. See it and have a blast.

"Show Them No Mercy" is a terrific crime film and much of the reason is that the studio allowed the bad guys to be really, really sadistic. And, the finale is one that shocked me, as I didn't think they could get away with a scene that violent after the new Production Code was enforced in mid-1934. Somehow this one got past the censors...and I am glad it did!

When the film begins, there's been a kidnapping and four scum-bags are responsible. But the laugh's on the kidnappers...the ransom money is marked and they don't know it. But the kidnappers aren't stupid and their boss (Cesar Romero) goes to towns well away from the hideout to spend a tiny bit of the money to see what happens. Stupidly, the police then announce that some of the ransom has been spent and that the money was marked (a mistake...this should NOT have been in the film).

In the meantime, a nice couple and their baby have car trouble on a rainy night and they seek refuge in an old house. This old house turns out to be the hideout and the three are kept prisoner there through most of the film. The most evil of the criminals (Bruce Cabot) wants to kill them...even though one is just a sick little baby! Nice guy, huh?! Will the baddies kill the family, will the police find them in time or will one of the family members need to take matters into their own hands? See the film and see for yourself.

What makes this a great crime film is the finale--a brutal but very satisfying finale. Plus, the ending is NOT what you'd expect...and it sure ain't formulaic. Excellent acting, great tension and a breezy plot...this is a terrific crime film you must see. Tough and unforgiving from start to finish!

Show Them No Mercy! is a very rough and tumble tale of a gang of criminals that abduct a young couple in a farmhouse. It was directed by George Marshall with verve and energy to spare, and has one of the best casts of hard guys one could ask for.

The movie is a product of the G-man era, and reflects a Mid-Depression America increasingly intolerant of criminals. Characters are nicely developed and tend to be eccentric without becoming fey. One of them is genuinely frightening.

Criminals, especially kidnappers, were not suffered gladly in the Depression era. One feels within the movie itself a sense of outrage. The film, though tense, has at times a pastoral quality in its quieter moments due to its rural setting. It ends with a burst of extreme violence out of character with the rest of the film, which must have brought audiences to their feet at the time of its release.