Portland Exposé

PORTLAND EXPOSE is another one of those films from the 1950's that purports to expose the crime, vice, sin and corruption of some major city. Think of all the films with a major city in the title followed by : "expose", "story", "syndicate", and "confidential". Perhaps someone with a lot of time on their hands should put together a list. Then again, perhaps not.

In this film Edward Binns plays a honest tavern owner who is forced to go into partnership with the mob. At first he goes along, but decides to fight the mob when one of the mobsters tries to rape his daughter.

PORTLAND EXPOSE a conventionally made low-budget crime thriller from the fifties. Like many films of this genre, the ads claimed it is based on a true story. The film is a bit rougher than some other films from the period. In one scene Binns' daughters boyfriend suggest they go to a hotel for a night of...well you know, because he thinks she is loose because he knows that her fathers tavern has been used by the mob as a pickup place for hookers. Then mob thug Frank Gorshin tries to rape her. Its also mentioned that Gorshins character did time for a sexual offense involving children. Pretty rough stuff for a 1957 low budget crime thriller.

This is a tough look at the difference between unions and criminally controlled protection. Portland is a peculiar setting for a film noir. It works well, though: The opening narrative begins like a travelogue and gradually shifts into comments on the city's corruption.

The cast is excellent. It's not always the most beautiful looking group. The ingénue, who is pretty, wears her hair slicked back with what looks like Brylcreme. Virginia Gregg, the notable radio actress playing her mother, looks a little old for the role and tired.

It's a twisted movie, though. Catch this: Frank Gorshin, of all people, plays a hit man who is also a pedophile! That's a new one on me -- though child molestation does figure in that great classic of weirdness, film noir, and beauty "The Naked Kiss" a few years later.

The bit players add a lot. There's a scene, just a throwaway, in which a blonde playing a slot machine yells "Jackpot!" and goes into paroxysms of glee as the camera moves away and dumps her.

And the portly older gal imported to Portland to oversee the b-girl business is fabulous. We meet her as she gets off a plane and totters along in her high heels, fur stole wrapped defiantly around her. Her description of her "girls" is priceless: It prefigures the introduction Melanie Griffith provides herself in "Body Double" decades later.

Make no mistake: This is a serious movie. It was obviously done on the cheap. But it's done with great style.

This film begins with a rather unnecessary and stuffy prologue. Fortunately, despite this weak introduction, the film turns out to be a very, very tough film indeed--with thugs who are child molesters or threaten to throw acid in people's faces. This is NOT your typical 1950s Film Noir movie, but a hard as nails look at organized crime in a rather unexpected locale--Portland, Oregon.

You'll probably notice Virginia Gregg in the female lead. She was seen in 1001 "Dragnet" episodes. Edward Binns, a fine character actor whose name you probably won't recognize plays Gregg's husband--a man who is being forced by the local mob to play ball. Frank Gorshin, in a small but memorable role, plays the rapist who is so vile even the gang is disgusted by him.

As for the plot, it's a very familiar one--having been seen in such earlier films as LOAN SHARK and APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER. An honest guy is sick of the mob, so he agrees to join them in order to get evidence to prosecute them. In this case, Binns pretends to be a rather worldly and not too honest man who is interested in moving up in the organization. However, despite being familiar, the film is handled well and is more than just another time-passer.

No it's Not...New York, L. A., Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Kansas City, or even Phoenix...it's Portland.

Another City Cracked-Open Exposing Vice, Corruption, and Organized Crime Beneath the "All-American" Facade...

"People here go to a lot of nice Churches"...

says a Voice-Over Open Warning that these Folks are being Preyed-Upon by Gangsters, Organized or Other-Wise and Your Government is "On-the-Case" and "Looking Out For You".

Almost a Forced "Survival" for Hollywood, that by 1950 the "Movie-Machine" better get with the "Program"...

and Back-Out of the "Back-Alleys" and Offer Affirming "Procedurals" with a "Propagandized" Core of Government, Law Enforcement, and Politicians that were "Fighting the Good Fight"...

and that Depressing, Dark-Side of Life where Film-Noir was "Born and Raised" for a Decade was No Longer Fit for the Living-Rooms of the Nuclear-Family of Eisenhower-Era "Pre-Cognizance".

Among the Direction and Trend that "Pure" Film-Noir Morphed Into was a Sub-Genre that became Known as "Police Procedurals"...

and a Sub-Genre of that was the Run of "City-Expose" that had an Almost Yearly Entry During the 1950's. Most of the Movies were at Least Watchable Crime-Action Melodramas and some were Excellent and a Few were "Great"...

Considered one of the Best was "Kansas City Confidential" (1952), there were others almost as good, Like "The Phoenix City Story (1955), and as a Whole, None were Bad or Awful.

This is One of the Better Ones.

Although its Low-Budget Rears its Miserly Head Once in a While, the Movie more than Makes Up for that Shortcoming with some Really Gritty, Sleazy, and Hard-Boiled Stuff.

Frank Gorshin Makes a Mark as a Convicted Pedophile that Immediately Tries to Rape a High School Girl (Carolyn Craig)...and its Not Shy with the Visuals.

She is the daughter of Edward Binns, who the Low-Life Mobsters Lean On to Play-Ball, allowing Pin-Ball and Slots, in His Roadside Restaurant and Bar, with Hints of Gambling and Prostitution Down the Road.

Nothing Here is Restrained and Pushes the Code Quite Often with its Girls, Torture (a bottle of "acid" is luridly lingered upon), Violence (one Goon is cut in half, as another one grins, by a steaming locomotive), and of course Corruption.

Of Everyone and Everything, Including (this is the 50's)...Unions).

Our Hero Wears a Wire. It's as Big as a Shoe-Box.

This is a No Holds-Barred Entry in the Sub-Genre of the Sub-Genre.

For Fans of Film-Noir, Crime, Gangsters, and Low-Brow Pulp-Fiction, it's a Must See.

For Others.... Worth a Watch.

A tavern owner helps authorities get the goods on gangs trying to take over a labor union.

This Lindsley Parsons production is one of the many "confidential" or "expose" films of the time. Usually the tabloid title would include the name of a city whose supposed racketeers the movie would then expose. This movie appears inspired by the acid blinding of New York City labor reporter Victor Riesel in 1956 for his investigations into labor racketeering in that city.

The low-budget Parsons outfit may have produced this programmer, but they managed two key assets, despite the lowly origins. First, they got heavyweight actor Ed Binns for the lead, along with familiar face Virginia Gregg and that fine little actress Carolyn Craig. What Binns lacks in marquee value, he makes up for in sheer talent, having been one of the Twelve Angry Men (1957) in that powerhouse film of the same year.

Second, the movie did extensive location filming in Portland, lending the visuals both interest and a realistic air. The woodsy tavern, in particular, looks genuine instead of the usual Hollywood fakery. Then too, the screenplay manages some suspense, especially when Madison (Binns) goes undercover. But the highlight may be hoodlum Joe's (Gorshin) attempted rape of sweet little Ruth (Craig). It's pretty explicit for the time.

If there's a downside, in my book, it's the absence of real menace from any of the bad guys (contrast with the subtle menace of kingpin Edward Andrews' in Phenix City Story {1955}). All in all, however, the movie manages a number of interesting features without being anything special.

(In passing—Catch sexpot Jeanne Carmen (Iris) who was Marilyn Monroe's "bosom buddy" in more obvious ways than one. Also, such a shame that Carolyn Craig died so young and under rather mysterious circumstances, as well.)