Deadline - U.S.A. (1952)

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writer:

Richard Brooks (writer)

Release Date:

14 March 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

With his newspaper about to be sold, crusading editor Ed Hutcheson tries to complete an exposé on gangster Rienzi.

Plot Keywords:

Big City | Diary | Daughter | Idealist | Editor

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Ed Hutcheson
Ethel Barrymore	...	Margaret Garrison
Kim Hunter	...	Nora Hutcheson
Ed Begley	...	Frank Allen
Warren Stevens	...	George Burrows
Paul Stewart	...	Harry Thompson
Martin Gabel	...	Thomas Rienzi
Joe De Santis	...	Herman Schmidt
Joyce Mackenzie	...	Katherine Garrison Geary
Audrey Christie	...	Mrs. Willebrandt
Fay Baker	...	Alice Garrison Courtney
Jim Backus	...	Jim Cleary

Also Known As:

Deadline (UK)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

New York Daily News Building - 42nd Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In order to get the feel of what it would be like to work for real newspaper, Bogart hung out at the city room of the New York Daily News.

Quotes:

Ed Hutcheson: It's not enough any more to give 'em just news. They want comics, contests, puzzles. They want to know how to bake a cake, win friends, and influence the future. Ergo, horoscopes, tips on the horses, interpretation of dreams so they can win on the numbers lottery. And, if they accidentally stumble on the first page... news!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bacall on Bogart (1988) (TV)

Racing to beat life's deadline

Deadline - U.S.A. has Humphrey Bogart as the editor of a big city newspaper that is in the process of being sold to a Rupert Murdoch like chain that publishes scandal sheets. His paper is in the process at the same time of doing an expose of notorious racketeer Martin Gabel.

And if that ain't enough for Bogey his wife Kim Hunter is splitting from him. It's the usual story, she can't stand having him married to her and the paper as well.

Growing up in New York in the Fifties we had several newspapers, each vying for a smaller readership. I remember we had the Times, News, Post, Herald Tribune, World-Telegram&Sun, Journal-American, and the Daily Mirror. Some of those you can see are the products of consolidation, there were more in the past. After a printer's strike in the sixties most of them went out of business.

The papers were competing for a shrinking share of readership. In the previous generation, radio competed with the print media and I grew up with that new phenomenon of television. Today we are seeing the effects of the Internet as the individual's primary source for news.

The gangster part of the plot gets started with the discovery of the body of a Virginia Hill like moll, the former mistress of Martin Gabel. While some of the scandal sheets cover the sensational aspects of the murder of a glamor girl, Bogey's paper does some serious investigative reporting and uncovers a lot of evidence. Their work also has consequences including the maiming of young reporter Warren Stevens.

In the meantime the heirs of the newspaper's original founder are looking to sell the paper. Opposing it is their mother, Ethel Barrymore and she has a fine part and is obviously the model for the widow publisher played by Nancy Marchand in Lou Grant. She has one classic scene with Humphrey Bogart where they commiserate over their mutual problems.

Deadline - U.S.A. is a realistic look at the life of a big city paper in days gone by. It's a gritty piece of nostalgia, as timely in its day as The Front Page was in the Twenties. Cast members like Paul Stewart, Jim Backus, and Ed Begley look and feel right at home at their jobs.

The film is recommended particularly for younger viewers who are glued to their computers and television to see how a newspaper functioned back in the day.