Slaughter on 10th Avenue

This was a well written and very well acted movie. The story kept me interested and it was realistic. Richard Egan was at the top of his acting game. Dan Dureyea was excellent as the lawyer opposing Egan. Jan Sterling as the suffering wife gave an award winning performance. And as always Walter Matthau the most wonderful character actor was great as the thug union boss. The music score was good. This was a solid movie that I am surprised didn't get nominated for awards. I know when a movie is really good when it can hold my attention, I can't see any holes in the story and I don't want it to end.

Surely no other film noir has had such an illustrious composer responsible for its theme music. I studied "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue," the musical suite, in elementary school! The movie itself is quite good. It is a gritty story about life on the waterfront. The director isn't famous but I notice he also directed one of my favorites, which I haven't seen in many a long year: "Down Three Dark Streets"! And what a cast! Most people watching today will single out Walter Matthau, who is fine in a relatively small role. But Richard Egan is excellent as an ambitious young cop. Jan Sterling, always good in tough roles, is excellent as the wife of the man who falls victim to the title event. Julie Adams is appealing as Egan's wife. And Dan Duryea gives a bravura performance as a smart but not very admirable lawyer.

The rest of the cast includes such noir staples as Charles McGraw, Sam Levene, and Mickey Shaughnessy.

Initially, I have to admit that I found the music a little distracting. But I got used to it. And the movie hits pretty hard.

Eclipsed by the accomplishment and reputation of On The Waterfront three years earlier, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue mines a similar vein: corruption in the longshoremen's unions and the violent struggle for their control. And while the earlier movie remains the heavyweight champ , its younger brother can be considered a worthy contender, too. (Its title, by the way, comes from an unrelated George Balanchine ballet of two decades earlier, with music by Richard Rogers retained as the film score.)

While On The Waterfront centered on the lives on the dockworkers embroiled in struggles beyond their control, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue focuses on the Suits who try to prosecute the shooting and later death of one of those workers. Richard Egan plays the young turk in the District Attorney's office who must penetrate the operative code of silence and win the trust of the men working the piers and their families – they're scared, and have no reason to put themselves on the line for what they see as a callous bureaucracy with few teeth.

Egan finally wins over the victim's wife (Jan Sterling) and a few of his cronies, but along the way discovers that wheels turn within wheels. A former prosecutor, now some sort of lobbyist, drags him to meet the slick operator who calls the shots on the waterfront (Walter Matthau, before he became the shambliest of straight men), who tries to buy him off. (Fortunately, the movie entertains no theories about the source – Communists? Organized crime? – of the corruption.) But Egan soldiers on, finally persuading his superiors to bring an indictment despite unreliable witnesses and holes in his case.

And this is the movie's most interesting aspect: How the connections and history linking the police, the district attorney and the legal system (Dan Duryea, with a moustache, is another former prosecutor who lives high as a defense lawyer) compromise whatever justice may ultimately be meted out.

While influenced heavily by the noir cycle that was coming to an end, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue shades more heavily toward social commentary; its upbeat ending, too, is anathema to the pessimism of hard-core noir. Still, its good to see Charles McGraw as a police detective, even if he is sporting a silvery mane of hair.

We're back on the troubled waterfront in "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" about the corruption and the men who would rather handle it among themselves.

Richard Egan plays a young prosecutor, William Keating who works with a homicide detective, Lt. Anthony Vosnick (Charles McGraw) in an attempt to build a case against thugs hired by union boss Al Dahlke (Walter Matthau). The men shot Solly Pitts (Mickey Shaugnessy) on his apartment stairway. Pitts manages to croak out the names of his killers to his wife Madge (Jan Sterling). Pitts' friend, Harry Bellaver (Benjy Karp) saw the killers leave.

It should be easy to round up the killers, but the dockworkers aren't talking. Adding to the problem, Keating will be facing off in court with a mob lawyer (Dan Duryea).

Pretty good film, but nowhere near as powerful of On the Waterfront, and I'm sure the filmmakers didn't try for that. The last half hour or so takes place in court, and the end is similar to On the Waterfront.

Good performances.

Excellent movie about uncovering crime on the waterfront. Young DA catches a murder case, involving corrupt labor leaders. Richard Egan stars as the young DA, and does an excellent job. The movie has a steady pace, and is not full of the same old cliché's. Their is light comedy, with a lady that is afraid of aliens, the is very effective at keeping the tempo of the film changing. The ending is very exciting, and the musical score is great. All in all, a really fine movie-with good acting all around, an interesting and believable premise, and a well directed pace. If you love old movies, or just a good story, you'll love this one. I highly recommend it.