What I liked best about this flick was the chance to see Joan Woodbury, who awe-struck me as one of the several beauties in the Charles Boyer classic "Algiers", in a leading role. She does well as Rita, an orphan who rises to make good as a lady crime boss. Her ascent to the top reminds me of Joan Crawford's characters, e.g. Mildred Pierce, who realize their ambitions by fierce determination and willpower. If you're looking for a film noir classic, better look elsewhere. At several points, it's difficult to know where this story is going. I first got the impression that it was going to encompass Rita's plot for revenge against the father and son who tricked her into taking the rap for a drunk driving death perpetrated by the playboy son. But payback time ended up being only a minor point, and a springboard to the somewhat confusing second part of the film, where Rita becomes increasingly involved in city corruption. Anyway, it's only 72 minutes, so a second viewing should clear up any haziness. My copy is from a Platinum box set called "Mobster Movies". The picture quality is good, but the soundtrack sucks, constantly skipping fragments of dialog. There are eight films in the $5.50 box, making each movie a fair 69 cents. Look for Anne Archer's father, John Archer, as Rita's childhood friend Bob. Alan Ladd doesn't get much screen time. It's definitely Joan Woodbury's picture.
18 Reviews
Joan Woodbury Works It
wes-connors11 December 2008
As a young lass, beautiful Joan Woodbury (as Rita Adams) was orphaned, after her "stool pigeon" father was shot to death. As a young woman, Ms. Woodbury finds herself struggling to keep a job, as her murdered father's ex-convict status makes Woodbury a bad business risk. Woodbury rooms with understanding songstress Linda Ware (as Donna Andrews), who advises Woodbury to get in touch with old orphanage friends John Archer (as Bob Elliott) and Jack La Rue (as Mickey Roman). But, none of her friends can help when Woodbury is the victim of a scam, which lands her in prison. Upon release, Woodbury decides to give the male mobsters a run for their money
Re-titled "Gangs, Inc.", this is an obviously weak, cheap mobster melodrama. Still, it's a lot of fun to watch Woodbury work wonders with inferior material. She plays the innocent growing more sophisticated "Rita" quite convincingly; and, she tosses in a great bit as a blonde hooker. Woodbury must be added to the list of unfortunately underutilized Hollywood actresses of the past. "Paper Bullets" also features an early Alan Ladd (as Jimmy Kelly aka Bill Dugan). Ms. Ware, who sang the hit "An Apple for the Teacher" with Bing Crosby, sings a couple of fair '40s numbers nicely. But, mainly, it's Woodbury's show.
**** Paper Bullets (1941) Phil Rosen ~ Joan Woodbury, Linda Ware, Alan Ladd
Re-titled "Gangs, Inc.", this is an obviously weak, cheap mobster melodrama. Still, it's a lot of fun to watch Woodbury work wonders with inferior material. She plays the innocent growing more sophisticated "Rita" quite convincingly; and, she tosses in a great bit as a blonde hooker. Woodbury must be added to the list of unfortunately underutilized Hollywood actresses of the past. "Paper Bullets" also features an early Alan Ladd (as Jimmy Kelly aka Bill Dugan). Ms. Ware, who sang the hit "An Apple for the Teacher" with Bing Crosby, sings a couple of fair '40s numbers nicely. But, mainly, it's Woodbury's show.
**** Paper Bullets (1941) Phil Rosen ~ Joan Woodbury, Linda Ware, Alan Ladd
Hey, gang, it's PRC
MikeMagi11 April 2016
Reading the comments on "Paper Bullets" (aka "Gangs Inc.,) readers are disappointed that it didn't make more sense. But what did you expect? It's a PRC film and they were churned out in a few days. At least, it's a chance to see a very young Alan Ladd who had his cool charisma down pat before he became a star. On the other hand, if you're baffled by Joan Woodbury's rise from prison inmate to gangland queen, you're probably ahead of the writers whose job was to knock out something resembling a script, then go one to the next low budget thriller. As a return to the days when small neighborhood movie houses were shut out of the films from the major studios -- and forced to rely on Monogram and PRC -- it's a colorful bit of history. And as a movie, it really isn't that bad.
Crime's In Her Blood
bkoganbing12 October 2011
Although Alan Ladd has a supporting role in Paper Bullets and in fact gives the film its title, the star here is Joan Woodbury who plays a girl done wrong by the worthless guy she loves and then starts taking it out on a lot of people.
In a brief prologue to the story Woodbury as a child sees her gangster father gunned down for being a stool pigeon. She then spends the rest of her childhood in an orphanage where she meets two of the men who would later play critical roles in her life.
This woman learned not a thing from her tough upbringing however. She stupidly agrees to plead guilty to a vehicular homicide that her drunk date Philip Trent committed and she goes to prison for it. That gives her a far more cynical attitude and for the rest of the film, Woodbury is giving as good as she gets as she rises in the gangland underworld.
Woodbury developed one interesting character, it's a pity that it is attached to a muddled story which drifts off on tangents. The two men in her life are aircraft designer John Bryant and gangster Jack LaRue who also were in that same orphanage. LaRue has a similarly interesting character, but he's also defeated by the script and horrible editing.
As for Alan Ladd he's the only reason this PRC B feature is remembered. He also shows something of what his tightlipped screen persona would be like when he became a star. Ladd plays an undercover cop.
As for the title Ladd tells one of his associates that the gangsters now use Paper Bullets to control a city which are votes. Now that's something today's audience can identify with.
In a brief prologue to the story Woodbury as a child sees her gangster father gunned down for being a stool pigeon. She then spends the rest of her childhood in an orphanage where she meets two of the men who would later play critical roles in her life.
This woman learned not a thing from her tough upbringing however. She stupidly agrees to plead guilty to a vehicular homicide that her drunk date Philip Trent committed and she goes to prison for it. That gives her a far more cynical attitude and for the rest of the film, Woodbury is giving as good as she gets as she rises in the gangland underworld.
Woodbury developed one interesting character, it's a pity that it is attached to a muddled story which drifts off on tangents. The two men in her life are aircraft designer John Bryant and gangster Jack LaRue who also were in that same orphanage. LaRue has a similarly interesting character, but he's also defeated by the script and horrible editing.
As for Alan Ladd he's the only reason this PRC B feature is remembered. He also shows something of what his tightlipped screen persona would be like when he became a star. Ladd plays an undercover cop.
As for the title Ladd tells one of his associates that the gangsters now use Paper Bullets to control a city which are votes. Now that's something today's audience can identify with.
A Must for Joan Woodbury Fans!
JohnHowardReid12 July 2008
This movie is still alive and kicking today thanks to the presence of Alan Ladd. This is good in one way because the movie has some interesting things to say, but bad in another because everyone who watches it expecting that tough-guy Ladd is going to hoop through his usual paces, is going to be mighty disappointed. Without fanfare or introduction, Ladd is suddenly introduced in the third reel. True, his role is a key one but it's small and likely to get lost in the shuffle. There are many key roles in former newspaperman Martin Mooney's ambivalent screenplay which hits out at all political alliances and quite ruthlessly denigrates Reform candidates. It's the lovely and extremely talented Joan Woodbury who ties the various strands of the wide-ranging story together. Unlike the usual Hollywood production, the plot actually proceeds in a series of jumps, much like the films later turned out by the French "New Wave", though easier to follow here, especially if you are aware that the film's original title was Paper Bullets. Nonetheless, some of the film's narrative and character switches are a little disconcerting, particularly in the role played by Jack LaRue who has wisely elected to act the part in a strangely non-committal way. One of Jack's best acting jobs ever, but no-one is likely to notice, alas!
...What?
gluba200011 June 2005
I couldn't make heads or tails out of this terrible film noir.
The plot was confusing, the acting was alright, but the picture quality was awful! Though I bought this at a "Gansters Double Pack" (8 movies on two discs) at WalMart for $5.50 and when you put the DVD in, it apologizes for the awful picture quality that some of the movies may have.
The plot was flip flopping everywhere I couldn't understand it and had no idea what was going on...then "The End" popped up and the movie was over.
What a waste of my time!
I say don't waste your money or time on this! Or if you too bought that Gansters Double Pack then just skip over this one...
2/10
The plot was confusing, the acting was alright, but the picture quality was awful! Though I bought this at a "Gansters Double Pack" (8 movies on two discs) at WalMart for $5.50 and when you put the DVD in, it apologizes for the awful picture quality that some of the movies may have.
The plot was flip flopping everywhere I couldn't understand it and had no idea what was going on...then "The End" popped up and the movie was over.
What a waste of my time!
I say don't waste your money or time on this! Or if you too bought that Gansters Double Pack then just skip over this one...
2/10
ALAN LADD (in less than two minutes on screen!)
davemed3 October 2005
Fellow noir devotees, be not deceived, this is a stinker...poorly filmed, poorly acted and there is nothing...nothing here for the film buff looking for yet another solid B-movie from the goldmine of the 40's & 50's era of classics. I gave it a try based on the relatively high rating on IMDb. There's no accounting for taste, but I found nothing in this movie to recommend to other IMDb members. This is a classic example of having watched a movie and feeling like you have been cheated out of x number of minutes that it took the movie to get to its thankful demise. To have Alan Ladd on the cover of the DVD/tape is nearly fraud, he is on camera less than two minutes and has almost no dialogue! This isn't This Gun For HIre folks...it is a classic in the lousy sense of the studios cranking out fodder on no budget...We all search for the great ones... save your time on Gangs, Inc./Paper Bullets...it is lousy!
Wow...can any character be THAT stupid?!
planktonrules20 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
The film begins with a little girl (Rita) seeing her father killed. He apparently was a criminal who squealed on his fellow crooks. Later, and this part makes little sense, the girl has grown to adulthood and STILL her father's past haunts her! A bit later, Rita meets a good-for-nothing and dates him. During one of their dates, he's a bit intoxicated AND driving like a total fool. The cops give chase and he speeds away--killing a pedestrian in the meantime. Here comes the Really stupid part. He convinces her to confess to the crime, as he assures her his lawyers can get her off scot-free. Why, oh why, would she agree to this?! Yet she does and spends the next couple years in prison!! And, soon after her conviction, this boyfriend disappears--showing that he's a total heel. What a chump!!! Later, after her release, her friend (Jack La Rue) informs her about the truth about the boyfriend. Then, he explains, the boyfriend's family is loaded and she should shake them down for lots of cash for all the trouble he put her to by taking the rap. Frankly, this does make sense--as they certainly owe it to her--especially since they knew she'd go to prison and had every intention of using her and then casting her aside.
Now the idea of bleeding money from the rich chumps is a good plot idea. However, there is no way this would have occurred in the first place because it's hard to believe anyone could be so stupid as to take the rap for a hit-and-run! In an interesting twist, the dumb lady decides on a life of crime--donning a wig and picking up a rich guy--taking him into the desert and robbing him at gunpoint! Wow...how she's changed! Apparently she loves the idea of stealing from "phonies"--i.e., rich hypocrites. However, and this made no sense, she soon stopped doing this and began shaking down the father of the old boyfriend--why she bothered to do some petty robberies in the meantime made little sense. And, what also was a bit hard to believe was that instead of wanting money from the old jerk, she was interested in getting him to put his influence behind a mob-controlled man for mayor. Odd...very, very odd.
In the meantime, another plot develops involving a young Alan Ladd. He's an undercover agent who has infiltrated the mob. He was chosen because he just happens to be a dead ringer for a real crook--what a cliché! But what makes no sense is that this real crook isn't in jail and is out committing crimes while the fake one is infiltrating the mob in another town.
Eventually, evidence that Ladd is able to uncover is enough to issue warrants to the mob kingpins--including Rita. This is a case of very bad timing, as in the interim, she's made a decision to become a decent and legitimate woman, as she's met a really nice guy who she wants to marry! Wow,...what are the odds?! Overall, this is a goofy and rather dumb movie that suffers from "kitchen sink syndrome"--in other words, there is way too many plot elements and weird twists to make the movie the least bit believable. Plus, since the movie is only a little over an hour long, it all seems very forced and contrived. It's a relatively bad B-movie from crap-studio PRC of note only for the performance of Alan Ladd just before he gained great fame the following year at Paramount.
By the way, this DVD was released by Alpha Video---a company which sometimes releases some wonderfully obscure titles (mostly public domain) but which NEVER cleans up the prints or adds closed captions. In other words, the DVD production values are strictly 3rd-rate...at best.
Now the idea of bleeding money from the rich chumps is a good plot idea. However, there is no way this would have occurred in the first place because it's hard to believe anyone could be so stupid as to take the rap for a hit-and-run! In an interesting twist, the dumb lady decides on a life of crime--donning a wig and picking up a rich guy--taking him into the desert and robbing him at gunpoint! Wow...how she's changed! Apparently she loves the idea of stealing from "phonies"--i.e., rich hypocrites. However, and this made no sense, she soon stopped doing this and began shaking down the father of the old boyfriend--why she bothered to do some petty robberies in the meantime made little sense. And, what also was a bit hard to believe was that instead of wanting money from the old jerk, she was interested in getting him to put his influence behind a mob-controlled man for mayor. Odd...very, very odd.
In the meantime, another plot develops involving a young Alan Ladd. He's an undercover agent who has infiltrated the mob. He was chosen because he just happens to be a dead ringer for a real crook--what a cliché! But what makes no sense is that this real crook isn't in jail and is out committing crimes while the fake one is infiltrating the mob in another town.
Eventually, evidence that Ladd is able to uncover is enough to issue warrants to the mob kingpins--including Rita. This is a case of very bad timing, as in the interim, she's made a decision to become a decent and legitimate woman, as she's met a really nice guy who she wants to marry! Wow,...what are the odds?! Overall, this is a goofy and rather dumb movie that suffers from "kitchen sink syndrome"--in other words, there is way too many plot elements and weird twists to make the movie the least bit believable. Plus, since the movie is only a little over an hour long, it all seems very forced and contrived. It's a relatively bad B-movie from crap-studio PRC of note only for the performance of Alan Ladd just before he gained great fame the following year at Paramount.
By the way, this DVD was released by Alpha Video---a company which sometimes releases some wonderfully obscure titles (mostly public domain) but which NEVER cleans up the prints or adds closed captions. In other words, the DVD production values are strictly 3rd-rate...at best.
1940's theater at its best!
trineo2 March 2000
Flipping through the channels I was lucky enough to stumble upon the beginning of this movie. I must admit that it grabbed my attention almost immediately. I love older films and this is or should be considered a classic! One of the most wonderful rarities of this movie is that the main character was not only female but she was also a bad girl. I highly recommend this movie!
Gangster's Daughter
sol121825 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS**** Cheaply made and photographed with many of the night action scenes in it so lacking of any kind of decent lighting that their almost unwatchable the film "Paper Bullets" or its DVD released title "Crime,Inc" has the distinction of having Alan Ladd in it in one of his first more then just bit part roles. Ladd plays Jimmy Kelly an undercover NY cop impersonating mob kingpin Bill Dugan. That fact that Dugan is behind bars in NY's Tombs Detention Center doesn't seem to alert his gang whom Jimmy Kelly has infiltrated. That's until he comes out of hiding or police protection and testifies against his startled partners in crime in open court at the very end of the film. But it's Joan Woodbury as convicted hit & run driver Rita Adams who takes center stage here as the person who took the rap for the crime that her drunken boyfriend Harold DeWitt, Philip Trent, committed.
Having her gangster dad Jim Adams, Kenneth Harlam, who's a stool pigeon for the police gunned down, Mafia style, right in front of her eyes when she was 12 Rita was brought up in an orphanage and when she reached adulthood had trouble getting a job because of her dad's criminal record. Making ends meet by robbing unsuspecting men while hitchhiking and occasionally knocking off banks and check cashing joints Rita decided to go straight by getting a job at a local night club, doing all kinds off odd jobs there, and hooking up with Harold DeWitt who's pop Clarence, Gorge Pembroke, is one of the most prominent lawyers in town.
Told by her lawyer Bruce King, Dayant Washburn, that if she pleads guilty to Harol's hit & run his pop Clarence DeWitt will do all he can to get her off the hook. As it turned out she in fact has the book thrown at her and given a one to five year sentence in woman's prison instead. Now with nothing to lose after getting out of prison Rita makes it a point to shake down Clarence DeWitt for big bucks in blackmailing him in her revealing that his son Harold, who had since been killed in a car accident, was the person whom she took the rap for.
****SPOILERS**** It's never quite brought out in the movie just how Rita got herself involved with the Dugan Mob that Clarence DeWitt was secretly a member of. It may well have been her involvement with DeWitt that sucked her into becoming a member of the Dugan Mob without her actually knowing about it. Despite getting again convicted along with her fellow mob members, including Clarence DeWitt, on 11 felony counts including racketeering jury and wiriness tampering as well as murder Rita did end up getting her wish come true. That's by having a park built her honor for young kids to spend their free time playing stick & hand ball among other games and not get themselves involved in the world of crime. And thus have them develop a healthy attitude towards life which Rita never did or had a chance to have. As for Alan Ladd he went on to bigger and better things or movie roles that established him as one of the top Hollywood actors in both the 1940's & 1950's.
Having her gangster dad Jim Adams, Kenneth Harlam, who's a stool pigeon for the police gunned down, Mafia style, right in front of her eyes when she was 12 Rita was brought up in an orphanage and when she reached adulthood had trouble getting a job because of her dad's criminal record. Making ends meet by robbing unsuspecting men while hitchhiking and occasionally knocking off banks and check cashing joints Rita decided to go straight by getting a job at a local night club, doing all kinds off odd jobs there, and hooking up with Harold DeWitt who's pop Clarence, Gorge Pembroke, is one of the most prominent lawyers in town.
Told by her lawyer Bruce King, Dayant Washburn, that if she pleads guilty to Harol's hit & run his pop Clarence DeWitt will do all he can to get her off the hook. As it turned out she in fact has the book thrown at her and given a one to five year sentence in woman's prison instead. Now with nothing to lose after getting out of prison Rita makes it a point to shake down Clarence DeWitt for big bucks in blackmailing him in her revealing that his son Harold, who had since been killed in a car accident, was the person whom she took the rap for.
****SPOILERS**** It's never quite brought out in the movie just how Rita got herself involved with the Dugan Mob that Clarence DeWitt was secretly a member of. It may well have been her involvement with DeWitt that sucked her into becoming a member of the Dugan Mob without her actually knowing about it. Despite getting again convicted along with her fellow mob members, including Clarence DeWitt, on 11 felony counts including racketeering jury and wiriness tampering as well as murder Rita did end up getting her wish come true. That's by having a park built her honor for young kids to spend their free time playing stick & hand ball among other games and not get themselves involved in the world of crime. And thus have them develop a healthy attitude towards life which Rita never did or had a chance to have. As for Alan Ladd he went on to bigger and better things or movie roles that established him as one of the top Hollywood actors in both the 1940's & 1950's.
Mildly entertaining, hokey B-grade gangster movie
Consul_Incitatus21 November 2006
This obviously was a pretty low budget production, but the cast was pretty decent, the basic premise had promise, and something more could have been done with it, but the script wasn't that great- the plot is incoherent and seems almost random at times and the dialog is stilted and terrible.
Basically, a girl's father gets whacked by fellow gangsters, and later she becomes a robber, and wants to avenge his death, and then it goes into a mob protection racket involving corrupt politicians.
Alan Ladd gets top billing but he really plays a very minor role.
I have to say I found it mildly entertaining in its archaic B-grade hokiness but it really is shoddy and pathetic.
Basically, a girl's father gets whacked by fellow gangsters, and later she becomes a robber, and wants to avenge his death, and then it goes into a mob protection racket involving corrupt politicians.
Alan Ladd gets top billing but he really plays a very minor role.
I have to say I found it mildly entertaining in its archaic B-grade hokiness but it really is shoddy and pathetic.
Film Noir without tension
pmcenea25 April 2003
My question is what was the worst element of this movie? Was it the acting? directing? script?. Maybe it was the waste of Alan Ladd and Jack LaRue. LaRue and, especially, Ladd are capable of bringing extreme sinisterness to a role. In this movie, it was hard to tell who the bad guy was. Granted, Ladd was playing an undercover good guy, but even in his good guy roles, he could be very chilling. So, the net result was a potentially good movie bereft of any feeling of conflict.
"Right now nothing's dangerous."
classicsoncall20 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Right out of the box, this had the makings of a pretty good revenge flick, but that plot got slowly frittered away with off tangent events that didn't move the story forward satisfactorily. I saw the film under the reissue title "Gangs, Inc.", part of a 4 DVD/sixteen film 'Mobsters' movie set well worth it's ten dollar price tag. This one falls slightly below average against the rest of the ones in the collection, a shame because it could have been a lot better.
I guess the main problem with the story is that even though Rita Adams (Joan Woodbury) ultimately gets her revenge against the crime syndicate that rubbed out her father, she wound up going the same route as the bad guys by sharing the same fate with a guilty verdict. The goon that she took the rap for in a fatal hit and run accident wound up written out of the story in an off screen auto accident, so there was no way for her to exact revenge on him directly. The job of infiltrating the crime combine fell to Alan Ladd's character Jimmy Kelly, but don't blink or you'll miss his connection to the story. Kelly's girlfriend Donna (Linda Ware) has a couple of singing numbers in the film, but other than being friends with Rita, there's no other reason for her being there as she plays no role in the outcome either.
What you have here is a movie that on the surface looks like it's actually going somewhere but never arrives. The ending closes on a dedication sign for a playground, presumably on the grounds of the orphanage that took in the young Rita Adams left fatherless in the early part of the story. This viewer was left surmising that the sign was paid for with Rita's share of her ill gotten mob money.
I guess the main problem with the story is that even though Rita Adams (Joan Woodbury) ultimately gets her revenge against the crime syndicate that rubbed out her father, she wound up going the same route as the bad guys by sharing the same fate with a guilty verdict. The goon that she took the rap for in a fatal hit and run accident wound up written out of the story in an off screen auto accident, so there was no way for her to exact revenge on him directly. The job of infiltrating the crime combine fell to Alan Ladd's character Jimmy Kelly, but don't blink or you'll miss his connection to the story. Kelly's girlfriend Donna (Linda Ware) has a couple of singing numbers in the film, but other than being friends with Rita, there's no other reason for her being there as she plays no role in the outcome either.
What you have here is a movie that on the surface looks like it's actually going somewhere but never arrives. The ending closes on a dedication sign for a playground, presumably on the grounds of the orphanage that took in the young Rita Adams left fatherless in the early part of the story. This viewer was left surmising that the sign was paid for with Rita's share of her ill gotten mob money.
has alan ladd, but that's about it.
ksf-21 April 2023
On tubi streaming, it's called gangs inc but imdb has this as paper bullets. Stars jack la rue, joan woodbury. When harold kills someone while driving drunk, rita agrees to take the blame, if harold will marry her. Lamest proposal ever! When rita gets out of prison, she has gone bad, and blackmails howard's family. For a while, she's king of the hill, but how long will that last? We were deep in the film code, so she can't get away with too much for too long! The plot is a bit complicated. And this was originally an obscure film, but seems to have been re-released and retitled in 1946, as alan ladd was now a much bigger star. Sound, picture, and editing are all pretty bad, but it's doubtful this one will ever be restored. About 45 minutes in, we find out what paper bullets are. Directed by phil rosen. It's just very okay. Interesting mostly because it has alan ladd, who had uncredited roles for most of the 1930s. Sadly, alan ladd died young at age fifty.
5.6 ? ARE YOU KIDDING ME ???
chelebob23 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Don't miss this flick ! The acting is good, and Joan Woodward is Hot- especially when she's working the street👌 !
Alan Ladd, Jack LaRue..? Look up the cast- any classic movie viewer will recognize some of em.
I love watching this movie! And when I can't sleep, I plug in the iPad.. it's smooth, very little music, and goes by quick!
I love watching this movie! And when I can't sleep, I plug in the iPad.. it's smooth, very little music, and goes by quick!
After 29 Minutes Alan Ladd shows up
waldenpond889 June 2019
At first I thought I am watching the wrong film, but finally after 29 minutes Alan Ladd shows up in the role of William Dugan, a convict, and the film becomes a tiny little bit more interesting.
It's also called "Gangs, Inc." and "Crime, Inc.".
Would not watch this one again, it's a waste of time and simply doesn't get better.
Too bad Alan Ladd couldn't refuse to make this movie.
Frank Capra, through the looking glass
onepotato25 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Nothing in this movie's title (um, either title), in the casting, in the script, or in the direction suggests this movie is about a criminal moll. The most accurate title for this would be 'Lady Gangster.' The audience for it? Who knows? My head hurt after trying to figure out who the protagonist was ...after trying to figure out where the plot was going ...and after trying to figure out why characters would do the insane things they do so naturally in this movie. And it has the perennial problem of most 'Chick Noirs': What is the genre? It's a girl's aspirational movie... It's a revenge picture... It's a political corruption movie... It's a melodrama... it's a romance... etc. It's all over the place.
Not one line in the movie suggests how Rita (the eventual main character) transforms from gullible sap to mob Queenpin. Psychology? That's for suckers, pal. The only way this movie might have worked is if they had cast a pushy, contemptible, low-class, gum-smacking harlot in the lead role. Rita's behavior as written in the script? Predatory! Desperate! Rita's behavior as performed by Joan Woodbury? Sweetness and sunlight. Woodbury's Rita is waaaay too intelligent and polite (and cheerful, and well-adjusted) to be anywhere near this scenario.
I'm with everyone else who asked more than once during this goofy movie, 'Wait... what did she just do?'. But I think I'm in the minority in that I began to find its utter incompetence more than a little funny, and sort of charming. Rita's sociopath/crimespree made me laugh out loud. It's completely out of left field. Just put on a wig, go out to your own street corner, and look for someone to hold up! Oh yeah, she's a criminal mastermind. Or when Rita's sister sings a cut-rate song in a nightclub; then sits down to some smoothy telling her "You'll never have to worry in life" ha ha ha.
No two scenes in this movie are headed to the same destination. But it's still more entertaining than the inept noirs D.O.A., and 'The Man who Cheated Himself.'
Obtuse, screwy, unintentionally funny. Jack LaRue looks quite a bit like Tony Shaloub.
Not one line in the movie suggests how Rita (the eventual main character) transforms from gullible sap to mob Queenpin. Psychology? That's for suckers, pal. The only way this movie might have worked is if they had cast a pushy, contemptible, low-class, gum-smacking harlot in the lead role. Rita's behavior as written in the script? Predatory! Desperate! Rita's behavior as performed by Joan Woodbury? Sweetness and sunlight. Woodbury's Rita is waaaay too intelligent and polite (and cheerful, and well-adjusted) to be anywhere near this scenario.
I'm with everyone else who asked more than once during this goofy movie, 'Wait... what did she just do?'. But I think I'm in the minority in that I began to find its utter incompetence more than a little funny, and sort of charming. Rita's sociopath/crimespree made me laugh out loud. It's completely out of left field. Just put on a wig, go out to your own street corner, and look for someone to hold up! Oh yeah, she's a criminal mastermind. Or when Rita's sister sings a cut-rate song in a nightclub; then sits down to some smoothy telling her "You'll never have to worry in life" ha ha ha.
No two scenes in this movie are headed to the same destination. But it's still more entertaining than the inept noirs D.O.A., and 'The Man who Cheated Himself.'
Obtuse, screwy, unintentionally funny. Jack LaRue looks quite a bit like Tony Shaloub.
A paper thin plot is thinner than what the script was written on.
mark.waltz20 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Some bad girls with rotten pasts just need to get over it. That's the case for Joan Woodbury, the vixen of this PRC crime dramathat shows her as a youngster in the opening witnessing the murder of her father by the mob after betraying them. As an adult, she's fired from job after job for her father's past, and when she becomes involved in a scandal involving a wealthy politician's son, she ends up taking the rap for a car accident that he causes.
Woodbury's time in jail makes her more vindictive, and when she's released, she begins to commit a series of crimes and begins involved in a racket that controls local politicians. one scene has her soliciting a married man in his car then going out to the country with him, robbing him and threatening to leave him pantsless if he tries to stop her. Nice movie heroine, aye?
Jack LaRue, Linda Ware, John Archer and Vince Barnett co-star in this film that is closer to an exploitation film. Promotions for the rerelease and subsequent video releases promote Alan Ladd as the star, but he's minor as one of the racket's thugs. The atmosphere is fast and quick, but most of this is unpleasant and predictable. This is fine for B movie fans like me, but don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.
Woodbury's time in jail makes her more vindictive, and when she's released, she begins to commit a series of crimes and begins involved in a racket that controls local politicians. one scene has her soliciting a married man in his car then going out to the country with him, robbing him and threatening to leave him pantsless if he tries to stop her. Nice movie heroine, aye?
Jack LaRue, Linda Ware, John Archer and Vince Barnett co-star in this film that is closer to an exploitation film. Promotions for the rerelease and subsequent video releases promote Alan Ladd as the star, but he's minor as one of the racket's thugs. The atmosphere is fast and quick, but most of this is unpleasant and predictable. This is fine for B movie fans like me, but don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
