Portland Exposé

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.

Portland Express (1957)

Overall, this is often a stilted affair, and it begins and ends with a canned voice-over about Portland, the Oregon city at the center of this unlikely crime scenario. And for people looking for noir, this is not noir at all, though it does have a kind of throwback to some gangster thugs, and there is a good twenty minutes of night stuff that has a noir look.

Portland Express is more about American innocence, and the surprise anachronism of these mobsters in fedoras pressuring a cute roadhouse into using their pinball machines. Which leads to bigger pressures.

The lead man is a small time movie and later t.v. character, Edward Binns, a solid but unexciting actor, sort of perfect for this solid but unexciting town (back then--now I hear it's solid and exciting). And his daughter is a complete unknown who acts her heart out, and really feels like a teenager on the cusp of womanhood in a realistic way. This matters because she becomes central to the plot, including in a harrowing and almost abusive rape scene (it pushes the violence very hard for a movie of this simplicity). But it's a turning point for Binns, the father, and for the plot, as this likable, ordinary family man goes undercover to get the bad guys.

Naturally, we root for him, and see the dismantling of the syndicate. It gets increasingly dark and desperate over time, and a bit unlikely, but you'll still want to watch to the end, when the cavalry arrives--a group of ordinary men in plaid shirts who rush in to save the day. It's not as hilarious as it sounds. There is a quality of really beautiful, ordinary middle-America here that resonates, and that helps show this is really a 1950s movie. It's widescreen black and white, and a genuine slice of its period.

Edward Binns stars in this B movie about a tavern owner in Portland who is offered a jukebox, a pinball machine, and a slot machine to install.

However, a tough syndicate takes over the area and begins controlling the business, turning it into a hard-core gambling establishment that includes B girls.

At first, family man George Madison goes along after his family is threatened. However, one night, a thug that likes jail bait (Frank Gorshin) nearly rapes his daughter (Carolyn Craig). Madison sends his family away and agrees to go undercover, wearing a wire.

Nothing special, the underdog against a crime syndicate. However, it does show a wholesome American '50s family up against the sleazeballs. It's also fairly gritty.

The story is based on Portland crime boss Big Jim Elkins.

Jeanne Carmen, purportedly a close confidant of Marilyn Monroe, does a terrific job as the B girl who exposes Madison as undercover. Carmen claimed knowledge of Monroe and the Kennedys.

After the death of Monroe, Jimmy Rosselli, who worked for Sam Giancana, told get to leave Hollywood as her life was in danger. She lived incognito for over a decade. However, her stories have been questioned and denied by those who knew Monroe.

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.

"Portland Exposé" follows a tavern owner in Portland, Oregon in the mid-20th-century who finds himself a linchpin to a crime syndicate's gambling racket after installing their pinball machines in his business. His attempts to overthrow them endanger the life of himself and his family.

This low-budget film noir is one of the more slick, gritty, and iron-fisted out there, but it's unfortunately been largely forgotten. It's a B-movie through and through, and while it does suffer some pacing issues and a lack of development, it is at times surprisingly shocking. It depicts rape attempts (including a preemptory one from a teenage girl's boyfriend), and other types of violence that are a bit shocking given the time it was made. It also depicts prostitution in a manner that is frank, reminiscent of how the subject is treated in pre-Code films like "The Story of Temple Drake."

Based on a series of crimes committed by real-life kingpin Jim Elkins, the screenplay never really fleshes out the inner workings of the syndicate or how exactly all of this ties together in the context of the labor unions, and that is probably its biggest trouble. At a quick-paced 72 minutes, there is not sufficient time to elucidate all of this. Where the film makes up for it is in its photography and acting, particularly that of Edward Binns as the tavern proprietor, Virginia Gregg as his concerned wife, and genre favorite Carolyn Craig (probably best known for her role in the original "House on Haunted Hill") as their tormented teenage daughter. All of the acting is surprisingly believable, and the scenarios pack a further punch because of it. The film possesses a borderline-documentary style that recalls 1955's "Kiss Me Deadly," though this film is far less surreal.

All in all, "Portland Exposé" is a solid film noir/thriller that largely succeeds on the basis of its performances and overall tone. It's a dark and gritty film noir, and has a certain kind of bitterness about it that makes it memorable even though it has narrative shortcomings. 7/10.