Cry Vengeance (1954) User Reviews

Knockoff of Big Heat shows fatigue of late noir cycle

[bmacv · 6/10 · 11 March 2002]

Cry Vengeance owes a debt to the previous year's Fritz Lang film The Big Heat. It too tells the tale of an honest cop whose family was killed in a mob-engineered explosion and who sets out as a crazed vigilante seeking redress. But while The Big Heat sizzles, Cry Vengeance stays tepid, perhaps owing to its sub-Arctic setting.

The star of earlier noirs The Dark Corner and The Street with No Name, Mark Stevens directs himself as the hate-twisted protagonist, just out of prison after being framed and losing his wife and daughter. (Stevens has aged visibly, and it's not just the scarred-face makeup his character sports.) Strong-arm tactics with plenty of karate chops elicit the information that the man he holds responsible has assumed a new identity in Ketchikam, Alaska. But not only is Steven's arrival expected, he's followed by a platinum-haired gunsel who's the real killer (Skip Homeier, who bears a resemblance to Lee Marvin, The Big Heat's sadistic torpedo).

Cry Vengeance matches its predecessor in brutality but comes up short everywhere else. Muddy photography wastes the scenic north, while the bland dialogue lacks the epigrammatic edge that's one of the joys of film noir (no "sisters under the mink" insinuation here as in Lang's film). The plot, with its double-crosses, needs a more baroque approach to sell itself.

On the whole, Cry Vengeance falls victim to the fatigue that, by 1954, was beginning to beset the entire noir cycle. Plots and characters amount, basically, to retreads. Joan Vohs, as Homeier's sozzled moll, couldn't have given this performance without Gloria Grahame's the year before in The Big Heat. With Stevens looking tired, too, it doesn't augur well for Cry Vengeance. But it holds distinction as the only film noir set in the Alaskan Territory, as Hell's Half Acre of the same year was the only one set in the Hawaiian (it wasn't until 1959 that statehood was conferred on both territories).

Amazingly good considering the very small budget.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 15 October 2011]

Mark Stevens was never a big star. Most of his career he played in B-movies and did a bit of TV. So, in light of this, I was surprised that he not only starred in this film but directed it as well. Now having a cast full of mostly no-names might negatively impact most films, but with film noir, having these less familiar faces is great--as it adds to the realism.

Stevens plays a guy who was a cop. He's spent the last three years in prison for a crime he didn't do. The mob not only set him up but killed his family and disfigured his face. So, it's not at all surprising that now that he's out of prison, he's ready to exact vengeance against the guy responsible. The problem, however, is that through much of the film you really aren't sure who the culprit is--though Stevens' character sure seems to know and he's out to kill Tino Morelli (Douglas Kennedy).

The movie is a very good film about revenge gone amok. The characters turn out to be very complex and the villain worse than you'd expect to find--even in a B-film. Entertaining throughout and the only scene that I thought was poorly handled was the phone call to Stevens near the end--it just seemed contrived.

If you do watch, pay attention to the performance and character played by Skip Homeier--he's very memorable!! Also, while not exactly the same film, this one is very reminiscent of Gregory Peck's "The Bravados"--another exceptional film about revenge. See this one as well!

By the way, it's odd that this film was set mostly in Ketchikan, Alaska. Despite the city being inundated with cruise ships, it really doesn't look all that different today than it does in this movie. And, the fishing is quite good.

Mark Stevens directs himself in a film noir set in Alaska

[robert-temple-1 · 6/10 · 19 December 2013]

Mark Stevens was a leading player in B movies, and was an excellent cop in THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948, see my review) and private eye in THE DARK CORNER (1946, see my review), both excellent noirs. Here he got his first chance chance to direct himself. Although he does well enough as a director in other respects, because he could not see himself he probably did not realize that he looked too grim throughout most of the film, never changing his expression during the early portions. This may have made sense in theory, because he a wronged man seeking vengeance, and grief-stricken at the death of his wife and child. But one cannot have a single expression for nearly an hour like that without it becoming monotonous. Stevens furthermore according to the story had to have a severely scarred side of his face, which meant that he could show very little emotion on his face in any case. The film was largely shot at Ketchikan, Alaska. Alaska was not even a state at that time, but still a Territory. This was an extremely unusual place to set a film in the 1950s. The location footage, especially the aerial footage, is thus of considerable historical interest, not least to the people who live there today. Mark Stevens went on to direct himself again in TIME TABLE (1956) and directed three more feature films and 50 television drama episodes in the nine years between 1956 and 1965. He last appeared as an actor in 1987, and he died in 1994 at the age of 77. This film is not outstanding, but it is nevertheless a contribution to the noir genre.

Not a bad film at all

[mgtbltp · 17 October 2011]

Here is another off the radar Noir, its not listed in the Encyclopedic Reference to American Film Noir but its no doubt a Noir though "noir light" most of the action takes place in Ketchican, Alaska and the film has great locations and action sequences using the town and its environs making full use of the vertical aspect of the town, its waterfront docks and the paper mill.

Story is ex cop Vic Barron (Stevens) was not only framed (and sent up for 3 years) by the mob, but also had his face partly blown off while his wife and child were killed in a a car explosion, is out of prison and looking for vengeance. He's looking for mob boss Morelli (Kennedy) who has changed his name and is living as a model citizen with is young daughter and a bodyguard in Ketchican. Mob hit man Roxy (Hormeier) is sent by San Francisco racketeer to take care of all three.

Martha Hyer & Cheryl Callaway provide some nice eye candy, the daughter of mob boss takes a liking to Barron a bit too easily (different times compared to today's zeitgeist of not trusting strangers) but its nothing that will detract from the film if you keep the times in mind, streaming on Netflix

A good cop is accused of killing his family.

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 8 June 2015]

Mark Sevens stars and directs this crime drama. After angering mobsters, police officer Vic Barron(Stevens)is framed for a crime he didn't commit. The worse part is suffering the tragedy of his wife and child being murdered. After serving his time, Barron is determined to seek revenge on one man in particular, Tino Morelli(Douglas Kennedy), who helped put him behind bars.

When have you seen Film Noir set in Alaska? Barron is blind to everything but getting vengeance and he travels to a remote town in Alaska. Ketchikan is where the mild mannered Vic is sure he'll find his man and settle the score. CRY VENGEANCE may seem a bit off beat; sometimes making it hard to tell the difference between good and bad. The plot is sustainable and even miles and miles of snow look good.

Rounding out the cast are: Martha Hyer, Cheryl Callaway, Mort Mills, Don Haggerty and John Doucette.

Vic Barron is back and he's crazier now then he was three years ago!

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 15 February 2015]

***SPOILERS*** Framed for a crime, which is never elaborated or explained in the movie, that he didn't commit ex-SFPD cop Vic Barron, Mark Stevens, is out to not only gets those who framed him but the person who killed his wife and child in a car bomb explosion that left him looking like the phantom of the opera without his mask on. The one person whom Barron is out to get is mob boss Tino Morelli, Douglas Kennedy, whom he thinks order the hit on him that ended up killing both his wife and five year old daughter. Checking out Morellie's old haunts in the city a bay area nightclub owned by Nick Buda, Lewis Martin, Barron is confronted by Buda's bodyguard the man in white Roxey, Skip Homeier, whom he puts away with a couple body chops and hits to the kidney.

It's later that Barron gets the word from the out cold Roxey's abused girlfriend Lily Arnold, Joan Vohs, after leaning on her a bit that Morelli skipped out of town and is now residing in th Alasken town ,known as the "Salmon Capital" of the world, Ketchiken. Taking Lily's fishy story to be the real deal Barron takes the first plane out or north to Alaska to both meet and knock off Morelli for what he did to him and his family. It's there that Barron meets bar owner Peggy Hadrding, Martha Hayer, who despite his disfigured mug or face takes a shine to him because of his manly and "I don't give a sh*t about anything" attitude. Meanwhile with the word out that Vic Barron is in town Morelli's bodyguard Johnny Blue-Eyes, Mort Mills, takes a crack at him only ending up on the floor with his kidney's badly damaged from Barron's karate chops. It was later in the movie when Barron breaks into Morelli's house that he karate's chops Johnny Blue-Eyes, who tried to stop him, so bad that he never regained consciousness or woke up for the remainder of the film!

****SPOILERS**** Things start to happen that has the vengeful Vic Barron begins to change his opinion about Morelli when he meets his 7 year old daughter Marie, Cheryl Callaway, who's so sweet and friendly to him, even when he attempted to kidnap her, that he has second thoughts of doing her dad in! How could, Barron summarizes, Morelli be such a rat when he produced a sweet and lovable girl like Marie! It soon turns out that Barron was right! Not in how sweet & lovable Marie is but that her dad Morelli couldn't have done what he did in killing his wife & child with a bomb planted in the family car! It turned on Buda's orders, who also framed Barron, it was Roxey who did it who's now also in Alaska and on Buda's orders not only planning to knock off Morelli but also his motor mouth girlfriend Lily and frame Barron for it!

P.S Mark Steven's first directed film and probably his best right up there with his later big score in the anti-Castro movie, filmed during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, "Escape from Hell Island" that almost had, if WWIII broke out, him and his entire cast nuked in a massive nuclear exchange between the USA & USSR while filming the movie!

LATE FILM-NOIR RECYCLES THE GOOD AND INCLUDES SOME OF THE DILUTION ELEMENTS

[LeonLouisRicci · 6/10 · 10 September 2021]

By 1954 the Elements of Film-Noir were Diluted to the Point of Virtually Killing the Genre. At Least the Purity that Made it Remarkable and Different than the Standard Crime Stuff.

Beginning about 1950 the Genre was Intruded Upon with more "Friendly" Considerations as a Bid to Please the more Conservative Elements Taking Hold in Society and "Big-Brother" Authority.

In Mark Stevens Crime Thriller it can be Witnessed by the Location (Alaska) and the Heavy Plot Laden Little Girl.

These Things can Turn Noir into a more Pedestrian Film as the Defining Tropes Gave Way to other More Easily Digested Stories by Increasing Suburbanite Family and the Enormous amount of Kids in Everyone's Life.

The Film Contains some Fine Outdoor Cinematography and some Brutal Scenes, but Overall these are Counterpointed Quickly with a Softer Touch.

The Cast is Competent with Skip Homeier Stealing the Show as a Platinum Blonde Junkie that may put You in Mind of Lee Marvin's Psycho in Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat".

In Fact the Film is often Mentioned as a Low Budget Version of the Aforementioned Classic. Overall it's Worth a Watch.

But it's Sad to Watch Film-Noir Fade Away.

More than just a 'The Big Heat' knockoff

[XhcnoirX · 7/10 · 16 August 2016]

Mark Stevens is a bitter ex-cop, fresh out of San Quentin after doing a 3-year term on bogus corruption charges. Aside from being framed, he also lost his wife and kid in a car explosion meant for him. San Fransisco racketeer Douglas Kennedy was said to be responsible for everything and Stevens wants to get even. He turns to another local mobster, Lewis Martin and his right-hand Skip Homeier, for information but they feign ignorance. But Homeier's girl Joan Vohs, informs Stevens that Kennedy moved to Alaska, and Stevens makes his way up north. There Stevens meets bar owner Martha Hyer while trying to find Kennedy, who lives there under a new identity, raising his young daughter, together with his former criminal partner Mort Mills. But when Martin gets wind that Vohs spilled the beans to Stevens, he sends Homeier and Vohs up north as well, to take care of Stevens, Kennedy, and Vohs...

I have a soft spot for Mark Stevens ('The Dark Corner'), and this movie, hist first directorial effort, only solidifies that spot even more. He's not a great actor by any means, but at least in his noirs I find him really entertaining to watch. This might even be his finest hour acting-wise that I've seen so far. Despite playing his character bitter to the core, some would even say over-the-top bitter, he does manage to give him some humanity, and there are some touching moments during his interactions with Kennedy's daughter Cheryl Callaway ('The Lineup'), who gives a great performance for a 7-year old girl. In fact, the cast is pretty good overall, with Vohs ('Vice Squad') also standing out as a streetwise girl with a heart of gold who always goes for the bad guy, Homeier ('Black Widow') in this case. Homeier gives his character a nice sadistic streak, while the gorgeous Hyer ('Down Three Dark Streets') plays the strong but empathetic businesswoman well (loved her hairdo here btw, it really made her stand out). But while they have decent chemistry, the romantic angle between Stevens and Hyer feels a bit forced, it happens way too fast.

The plot takes more than a few cues from 1953's 'The Big Heat', but it doesn't feel like a carbon copy of that movie. It's not a classic, but Stevens proved himself a solid director. His next movie, 'Time Table', is also a solid noir (which I would love to see in a cleaned up version), and he would also direct, produce and star in the noir-ish TV series 'Big Town'. What sets 'Cry Vengeance' apart tho from other noirs is the location, a small town in Alaska. Despite a lot of interior shots, there is enough on-location/second unit shooting to give this movie its own feel. It's not an out- and-out noir tho, plot-wise it moves away from noir as the movie progresses, and visually DoP William Sickner ('Loophole') doesn't really bring out the shadows either. But I didn't mind really, I actually liked the story arc and the way Stevens slowly regained his humanity. Definitely a movie I will revisit at some point. 7+/10

Flat Film Noir

[zardoz-13 · 6/10 · 18 July 2015]

Not did actor Mark Stevens star in "Cry Vengeance," but also he helmed this brooding melodrama about revenge. If you haven't seen Fritz Lang's classic "The Big Heat," you probably won't spot the resemblance between "Cry Vengeance" and it. The premise is strongly reminiscent of Lang's film, except that Stevens and scenarists Warren Douglas of "Torpedo Alley" and George Bricker of "King of the Underworld" take "The Big Heat" premise a step further. Tough Frisco cop Vic Barron (Mark Stevens of "The Dark Corner") lost his wife and daughter during an explosion that left him scarred for life on the right-hand side of his face. Were this not enough of a tragedy, the villains who planted the bomb also planted enough evidence to frame Vic and get him a three-year stretch in San Quentin. Since this unfortunate episode, big-time criminal Tino Morelli (Douglas Kennedy of "The Texas Rangers") has left San Francisco and moved to Ketchikan, Alaska, where he is raising his pre-elementary school age daughter Marie (Cheryl Callaway) with the help Blue-Eyes (Mort Mills of "Psycho") his hoodlum henchman Johnny. As it turns out, Vic is getting out of San Quentin, and he is determined to wrecked vengeance on Morelli. Meantime, nobody in Ketchikan knows Tino's true identity. He is masquerading as an ordinary citizen and he has pretty young, Peggy Harding (Martha Hyer of "The Sons of Katie Elder"), fooled, too. Meantime, Tino's pals warn him that Vic has gotten out, and mobster kingpin Nick Buda (Lewis Martin) assigns psychotic killer Roxy Davis (Skip Homeier) to watch Vic. Vic and Roxy have a history and neither likes the other. What Vic doesn't know about is Roxy's secret, and Buda doesn't want Vic to find out about it. As soon as Vic gets out, he heads to a pawn shop and purchases a revolver. Vic's old pal on the S.F.P.D., Red Miller (John Doucette), tries to persuade Vic to give up his quest. Vic refuses to and learns Tino's whereabouts and flies up to confront him. Trigger happy Roxy follows him with predictable results. "Cry Vengeance" boasts strong performances, authentic locations, loads of atmosphere, and a strong backstory.

Pedestrian crime drama with some great aerial views of Ketchikan Alaska

[Paularoc · 6/10 · 9 September 2012]

Mark Stevens both stars in and directed this movie. He plays a cop who just gets out of jail after being framed for corruption and is determined to kill the gangster he thinks responsible for framing him and for killing his wife and child. His search takes him to Ketchikan, Alaska; the aerial shots of the town are brief but quite beautiful. The supporting cast is strong and includes such familiar faces as Douglas Kennedy, John Doucette, Skip Homeier, and Mort Mills. Martha Hyer really doesn't have much to do as Stevens' new love interest. Skip Homeier with his bleached blond hair is okay as the psychotic killer but not a particularly interesting character. Unfortunately, Mark Stevens' performance is too wooden - we should feel some sympathy for a man who has been so unjustly treated by life but we don't, at least not at an emotional level. For those liking crime dramas, this is certainly worth a watch but is pretty average for the genre.

No Excuse To Have This Movie Lag In So Many Spots

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 26 March 2007]

This is a late entry in the film noir genre and maybe helped ruin this wonderful type of film. This was just too boring, too melodramatic for a good noir.

It starts off fine but cools off - no pun intended - shortly after "Vic Barron" (Mark Stevens) arrives in Alaska. We see the slow transformation of a hard-nose vengeful man into a decent guy. At least I liked the Alaskan scenery. Who doesn't?

Actually, the villain "Roxey Davis" (Skip Homeier) was somewhat cool with this strange blonde head of hair. The women, led by Martha Hyer, were decent to watch, too. However, an 83- minute film, especially with good villains and good scenery - shouldn't lag this much.

Cry Vengeance (1954)

[MartinTeller · 8/10 · 3 January 2012]

What do you do when you get framed for bribery, your face is disfigured and your wife and child are killed? You seek revenge, even if it takes you to Ketchikan, Alaska. Mark Stevens (THE DARK CORNER, THE STREET WITH NO NAME) both stars and makes his directorial debut with a cheapie BIG HEAT knockoff, but it's a tasty little morsel. Stevens gives the best performance I've seen from him, cold and intense, and leads a mighty fine cast of B-roster supporting players. The characters are so engaging that the deaths are tangibly felt by the viewer. Pretty much everyone in this movie is fun to watch, especially Skip Homeier as the suave, menacing gangster and Joan Vohs as his conflicted moll. Even the little girl is good. The film has a terrific rough-and-tumble attitude, with biting dialogue, dark morality, smoky jazz in nightclubs and cheap dives, and lots of fist fights. There's some good exploration of ethical grey area. It could use a little more directorial finesse, but for a first effort it's not too bad and sports a couple of well-shot sequences. Maybe not one of the greats, but it packs a good noir punch.

Half Baked Alaska

[kalbimassey · 6/10 · 24 November 2020]

Judging by Mort Mills' reaction to a letter he receives in the opening sequence, it is clearly evident that he has not won the lottery. His hurried departure, with trousers symbolically flying at half mast, endorse the view that this is harrowing news. Alarm bells are soon ringing in the lives of key individuals with the disclosure that violent, crooked ex-cop Mark Stevens is about to be released from prison. They probably wish that he had tunneled out of San Quentin, on the off chance of his tunnel surfacing in Alcatraz!

Ominously, Stevens' first act as a free man is to purchase a gun, before inevitably stumbling into a bar, where he immediately locks horns with intellectual looking rude boy, Skip Homeier. With more than a passing resemblance to Bamber Gascoigne, Homeier is prepared to universally challenge and provoke anyone from fellow thug to innocuous desk clerk, leaving sufficient time to pursue his hobby of beating seven bells out of hapless lush, Joan Vohs.

Stevens' grim mission to exact revenge on the man he believes to be responsible for the murder of his family takes him to Ketchikan, Alaska at the height of summer. With eighteen hours of daylight, Cry Vengeance could be accused of being a film noir without the noir. Delivering his lines in a gravelly, low-key, monosyllabic, Eastwood style rasp, his solitary, embittered demeanor draws curiosity and the sympathetic ear of disarming Martha Hyer. Despite her placatory gestures there is little evidence of a thaw. Will this scarred, self absorbed, chip on both shoulders figure ever find redemption? Or is he intent on exorcising his personal demons via the blood spatter route?

Cry Vengeance is smartly paced and has some good action, including a respectful nod in the direction of Hitchcock's 'Saboteur.'With 'B' movie stamped throughout and shot on a budget comparable with the loose change in your back pocket, the movie exhibits an undeniable period charm, but it is not without its flaws. Stevens' flinty, one dimensional performance is largely devoid of any on-screen charisma, presence. NO! not Christmas presents!....charisma, presence and there are moments of mild, unintentional amusement as the movie teeters on the brink of amateur hour.

Compared in some quarters with 'The Big Heat'.....The heat is the probable limit of Cry Vengeance's ambition. The final? ...sadly out of reach.

The Alaska stuff is a nice aspect in a routine crime noir

[secondtake · 4/10 · 23 February 2011]

Cry Vengeance (1954)

Leading man Mark Stevens falls something short of a cult figure. He is director and first actor in four movies from 1954 (this one, his first) to 1963. He plays his roles as if he is in control, which he is, literally, from the director's chair. He's the hardened type, and here he is bitter bitter bitter, to the point that he is not quite a fully developed character and it's hard to get absorbed in his problem.

The rest of the movie is functional. It doesn't lack interest--for one thing, it's shot in Alaska, mostly (the exterior shots)--and the supporting cast is middling to good, filling roles we've seen before from pretty girl befriending the unlikely hero to chatty bartenders to a sweet kid who turns the man around through her innocence. And the filming (William Sickner, a routine cameraman with nearly two hundred B-movies to his credit) and editing, likewise, are workaday...the job gets done, but it lacks some kind of richness or aura or plain old drama.

Then to make it a little more disappointing, a couple of the main themes are taken a little too directly from earlier noirs, namely "The Big Heat" which came out the year before. The theme, established right away, is a cop who is out for vengeance against whoever killed his wife and child in a car bomb meant for him. Stevens plays this part with cold certitude. It's an interesting film in some ways, but a clunker in many others. Take it for what it was, and what it is.

Holds Interest

[dougdoepke · 20 February 2014]

Fast and efficient slice of thick-ear, with a plot borrowed from previous year's The Big Heat (1953). The producers, however, had the good sense to locate the action in Ketchican, Alaska, definitely not an over-used locale. Director Stevens makes good use of the outdoor settings, lending exotic flavor to the action. To bad that the photography is definitely non-noir. But then the interiors were filmed in a TV studio.

The plot may be borrowed, but there's an interesting wrinkle. Namely, nominal, good guy Stevens is more fearsome than the ostensible mobster, bad guy Kennedy. That's because Stevens thinks Kennedy killed his family and framed him. Now, ravaged with revenge, Stevens wants to kill Kennedy's family, including his winsome little daughter. So, we're left wondering just who to root for. Then there's the psycho hit-man Homeier who's kind of a wild card in a mop of ultra- blonde hair. (Note, for example, the cold-hearted abruptness of the execution scene.) Add a number of familiar supporting players, like Mills and Doucette, and you've got a generally persuasive cast. And, oh yes, on the blondined distaff side mustn't forget barfly Vohs or the fetching Martha Hyer.

Considering this movie along with Stevens' tour-de-force Timetable (1956), it's too bad his niche with b&w B-films was giving way to TV. In my book, he shows himself a filmmaker of more than average aptitude. Anyway, the movie's both interesting to follow and scenic to eyeball, a pretty good combination for any film.

Skip Homeier Steals The Show

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 12 September 2023]

With the exception of the second half's move from an American big city to rural Alaska, the film noir CRY VENGEANCE is a strange, offbeat venture... and wouldn't be if strange and offbeat Skip Homeier didn't play the primary villain...

Despite there being a mob boss that director and star Mark Stevens wants to kill, befitting the revenge title since his family was murdered while half his face burned and deformed before imprisonment... but the tall and lanky Homeier's hit-man Roxey Davis, with white spiked hair that would be normal decades later, soon becomes just about everything...

Making up for dragging expository scenes that hinder otherwise neat and smokey tavern settings with his target's oblivious bar-working moll Martha Hyers, spending the most time babysitting who's technically the most important character in child starlet Cheryl Callaway as the targeted mobster's daughter...

She's so precious you know our hero with antihero motivations won't pull through on his urban-to-rural journey's primary goal to off her daddy: but it's henchman Mort Mills and scene-stealer Homeier... the latter turning-out even more evil than he'd initially seemed... that provide Stevens, both the director and actor, some worthy tension on screen.

Not a masterpiece, but its great if you are from Ketchikan...

[tnordtvedt · 3/10 · 30 May 2000]

I can't say this was a great film, nor can I recommend it to anyone who does not have a familiarity with Ketchikan, Alaska, where it was filmed. Without a tender place in your heart for Alaska's first city, this film will probably not seem too keen to you.

But, if you have lived in Ketchikan for any length of time it is a lot of fun to see your hometown as it was nearly 50 years ago. I know this excludes most everyone out there, but hey, I am not recommending it to most everyone. If you know and love Ketchikan, check it out, you will get a kick out of it. Otherwise, skip it.

Wow

[frogdaddy14 · 10/10 · 13 February 2005]

Well, me being a resident of Ketchikan, Alaska my entire life, am amazed. I just watched this film about 2 weeks ago, and I think it was awesome. The areal shots of the town are really neat. Now, of course, the city has changed quite abit, but its still neat to see historic Ketchikan in a great film. For those of whom that have seen this movie, the house that it was shot in just recently burned down. That was sad, because obviously it was a very historic house. I would suggest that everyone see this film. It was awesomely filmed, and it is very entertaining. Also, if you are ever in the Ketchikan area, hit it up! Anyway, thats all I have to say.

What a disappointment

[ryepsen-1 · 2/10 · 20 June 2011]

Mark Stevens was terrific in the earlier (and truer) noir, Dark Corner (1946), with not only the young Lucille Ball but also a masterful one- handed Martini pour. Cry of Vengeance, with Stevens in the main role and also directing, has promise but falls back on a dozen clichés: knocking out a tough guy with one sucker punch; confessing everything to a bartender; the ex-con revealing tenderness to a little kid with a broken doll; a character named Joey; and plenty of bleach blinds (Martha Hyer is, however, excellent). The sets, with flimsy doors and unconvincing wainscoting, are cheesy. Early on you'll note poor dubbing when an outdoor scene couldn't be miked. And Stevens is unrelentingly grim, evidently following his own direction that it wasn't necessary to allow nuances o show through.

You could have directed and scripted a better version, and I'll state here that I could as well. Be sure to catch Dark Corner, with its fine performance from Clifton Webb of Laura fame.

Disjointed beginning fumbles plot development where the villain isn't who the hero thinks he is.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 14 December 2013]

If the writers had flashed back to the wronged man being convicted of a crime and the evidence which made him believe that mobster Douglas Kennedy was the guilty party revealed, this might have been better structured. However, they choose to start the film where the innocent man (Mark Stevens) is released from prison and sets out to locate Kennedy who is living with another identity in a small Alaska town with his sweet daughter and living a double life. Most of the film is cat and mouse with one of the cats (Kennedy) also the mouse for the psychotic Skip Homieier and Stevens playing mouse for both of them. All Kennedy wants to do is protect his daughter from danger, and while it is obvious that he is still living a life of crime, he's also a model citizen in his community where his past life is unknown.

At times, I felt that maybe I had missed an important plot development, but after re-watching the beginning, realized that everything that had come before was exactly what I remembered having seen earlier. At times, the hero is as creepy as Homieier who is playing a variation of the psychopath which Richard Widmark played in "Kiss of Death". Especially disturbing is the sequence where Stevens follows little Cheryl Callaway (as Kennedy's daughter) under a Jedi and she innocently asks the stranger if he'd like to play with her to which he simply hands her firearm ammunition.

While there are some definitely gripping moments of suspense, the damage has already been done by the weak narrative. There's really nobody to root for here, even Stevens who was basically done in by the unsympathetic way he's presented here. Martha Hyer adds some perkiness as a barkeeper with an interest in Kennedy but her character really serves no other purpose than to add some adult female to the story.

The right side

[ulicknormanowen · 8/10 · 4 August 2021]

With an obvious lack of means ,actor Mark Stevens reveals himself a very good director ;set in Alaska ,the movie takes advantage of the splendid landscapes and even of the natives ' philosophy and wisdom (told by Martha Hyer ,rarely better).

This trite story of an ex-convict seeking revenge is given an effective treatment :the actor/director himself is excellent : he never cracks a smile, his cold face and his piercing eyes give the jitters ;he's determined to kill, even though it involves a child .

One only sees his "right" side in the first sequence .

The hero is a two-faced man,in every sense of the word :it takes all a little girl's tenderness and natural goodness to make him reveal his true colors ; the young actress ,never bland ,always moving,is superbly directed ;children are often difficult to handle without falling into the trap of sentimentality ,but Stevens brilliantly directed her : the scene when he tucks her in bed climaxes the film .As for the rest of the cast ,they rise to the occasion.

Ketchikan If You Can

[cutterccbaxter · 1 April 2024]

The movie poster has a totem pole, so that's cool. And the reason there is a totem pole is that the brunt of the story takes place in Alaska, which is cool. There are no indigenous peoples in Cry Vengeance, just their totem poles.

I liked the movie because the bad guy fell off a dam near the end. He took quite a tumble. Pretty sure he didn't survive.

The bad guy was played by Skip Homeier. His character was kind of interesting and yet, kind of stupid too. He wore glasses. Not a lot of bad guys wear glasses, so that was kind of interesting. He wasn't exactly a mastermind criminal. He was pressing his luck if he thought he could frame the good guy (Mark Stevens) twice in the same movie. That made him stupid, as far as I was concerned.

I thought Mark Steven's did an excellent job of directing himself. I could almost hear him say, "Give me more anger, Mark. Give me more anger." He was pissed off up until the end.

Stevens vs Homeier

[searchanddestroy-1 · 24 September 2023]

The main interest in this bland and predictable plot is of course the face off between Mark Stevens and an awesome Skip Homeier. Stevens - director and main lead - is nearly as impressive as he was in JACK SLADE, though I prefered this latest movie, which also was a western. This one is good enough noir, crime, for my taste, despite some ending that doesn't excit me that much. It is underrated and would deserve to be more known, again because of Homeier's character. The scenes with him, and especially with Stevens, are pure gems for this kind of B picture. I am happy to have found it again in my library.