The Raging Tide

An odd fish of a movie, The Raging Tide spins a yarn of crime and redemption, of the city and the sea. It opens as though it's going to be another installment in the noir cycle, with Richard Conte gunning down a rival in cold blood, phoning in a tip to the police, and fleeing to his meticulously planned alibi. Well, maybe not so meticulously, as his girlfriend (Shelly Winters) isn't where he expected her to be. So he stows away on a boat moored at Fisherman's Wharf and is well out to sea when he's discovered by skipper Charles Bickford and his son (Alex Nichol). The bounding main proves a convenient hideout, so he signs on and, improbably, comes to relish the seafaring life.

Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, police detective Steven McNally grills Winters about Conte's whereabouts. (He's one tough cop, telling her `You're an old-looking 23.') But she keeps mum, while go-between Nichol brings her messages from Conte, who won't set foot on land. Relationships among the principals intertwine: Bickford, having problems with his unruly son, takes a shine to Conte, while Nichol falls for Winters. Then Conte hatches a scheme to frame Nichol for the murder he's wanted for, using Winters as his cat's paw. But a big storm blows in....

The Raging Tide boasts solid, if slightly hammy, performances; even Bickford manages to crawl out from under the heaviest Svedish accent since Anna Christie. The picture's all but stolen by John McIntyre as a penniless old salt trying to escape the attentions of Minerva Urecal, though his function in the story never becomes clear. And that story, sentimental and a bit old-fashioned, stays strong enough to compel interest, surviving even the inevitable disappointment that comes when its noir elements go full fathom five.

I like Conte in this film, but the entertainment comes from the supporting actors....McIntyre & Bickford. Also, I wouldn't call this Film Noire, just a good old B&W. The SF and Fisherman's Wharf shots are historically interesting, if you know the City.

I liked it more than most of the other reviewers. The San Francisco scenes were great, and all the character actors were good. I always like Richard Conte, and Shelley Winters was surprisingly good. The ending wasn't quite believable but it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the film as a whole.

Bruno (Richard Conte) is a career criminal and early in the film, he kills one of his rivals. Not surprisingly, he is soon on the run from the law...and he hides out on a fishing boat. And, for some time, he manages to evade the police by hopping aboard a fishing boat. Soon, he manages to impress the skipper and he becomes a trusted member of the crew. In the meantime, the police are pressuring Bruno's girlfriend (Shelley Winters), but she's a tough character and manages to hold them at bay. What's to become of the pair?

The best thing about this film is watching Shelley Winters and she's an excellent femme fatale. In one scene, a guy is getting fresh with her and she lets him have it! Overall, an enjoyable noir movie...mostly because of her.

Winters great as a tough dame.

Racketeer Richard Conte kills a man, and has to high-tail it out of San Francisco. The roads rails and airports are sewn up tight, so he takes the fourth exit. He hops onto a fishing boat, and then presents himself to its skipper, Charles Bickford, explaining he got drunk and fell into the boat. He's willing to work his way. Bickford agrees, but son and crew Alex Nicol knows there's more to it than that. Meanwhile, detective Stephen McNally keeps a close tail on Conte's girl friend, Shelley Winters.

There are changes to the characters - McNally not included - and it's good to watch the relations among them shift and change. Director George Sherman is facile at the action sequences, and Ernest Gann's script, in which everything is SYMBOLIC handles the ... well, if it's meant to be subtext, it's not hidden very deep. Fortunately the actors are all good, even if Bickford blows everyone else off the screen while he's on it