A Bullet for Joey (1955) User Reviews

Commies, Gangsters, and Mounties

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 29 November 2006]

Edward G. Robinson and George Raft team up for the second and last time in A Bullet for Joey, a cold war noir espionage thriller set in Montreal.

Their first teaming as a memorable one. They co-starred in Manpower 14 years earlier and had a fistfight on the set over the affections of co-star Marlene Dietrich. Dietrich was involved with Raft at the time and Raft got jealous of Robinson who was a very cultured man and could talk to Dietrich about things that Raft knew little about.

A whole lot of water went under the bridge in the interim and there was no reported friction between the co-stars. Marlene had gone out of Raft's life and she was never in Robinson's at all.

Robinson's a Canadian R.C.M.P. inspector and he gets drawn into an investigation that involves the kidnapping of an atomic scientist George Dolenz and the device he's working on. A whole lot of dead bodies start turning up around Dolenz including a suspicious Mountie that starts the ball rolling.

Raft is a deported American gangster, living in Lisbon, who is recruited by Communist spy Peter Van Eyck to pull off the kidnapping. Raft sneaks into Canada, gets some of his old gang back together and proceeds on the job.

A Bullet for Joey proceeds on a parallel plot track with Raft putting together the kidnapping and Robinson working on a multiple homicide investigation.

Both Robinson and Raft were now B picture players. Robinson would make a big comeback the following year in The Ten Commandments. There was not to be a comeback for George Raft however.

Look for another good performance by Audrey Totter as the gang moll who Raft recruits to entice Dolenz. Totter graced many a B film back in the day competing with Veda Ann Borg for brassiest moll.

A Bullet for Joey is good noir film with a cast headed by two guys who knew their way around the genre. It's a cold war relic of a film, but I think can still be enjoyed by today's audience.

An interesting Cold War gangster film that is VERY low on energy

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 30 January 2007]

This is an odd little relic from the 1950s. While there were quite a few gangster films made at the time as well as anti-Communism thrillers (such as MY SON, JOHN and I MARRIED A COMMUNIST), this is the only film I can think of that merges the two genres! In a highly unusual move, the Communists enlist the aid of a deported American gangster (George Raft) to orchestrate the kidnapping of a nuclear scientist. This makes the film's concept rather interesting, but the film itself is hampered by low-energy performances (particularly Edward G. Robinson and Raft to a lesser extent) and poor casting (almost none of the people spoke with French-Canadian accents despite the film supposedly taking place in Montreal). In fact, Robinson sounded pretty much like he was on sedatives! Perhaps the reason for this muted performance was just because this excellent actor was so badly miscast. As a result, it is STILL watchable but also quite skip-able as well.

Worth watching for the cast.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 17 January 2012]

"A Bullet for Joey" is pretty interesting as far as film noir goes, although it doesn't fit that neatly into the genre, being more of a straight crime drama with overtones of intrigue. Two iconic tough guys headline the drama, Edward G. Robinson as Police Inspector Leduc and George Raft as mobster Joe Victor. It takes place largely in Montreal, Canada, which only adds to the appeal of this movie for this viewer. Joe was run out of America and is now living in exile in Lisbon when dangerous men approach him with a job: kidnap a prominent nuclear physicist, Carl Macklin (George Dolenz). Joe's just happy to be working again, content not to ask too many questions, and rounds up his old gang, including Joyce Geary (the striking Audrey Totter). Trouble brews when, for one thing, Joyce, who's found some scruples, finds her task of diverting Macklin's attention compromised by the fact that she genuinely likes the guy. "A Bullet for Joey" is one of those movies that may not be destined to become a classic, but is still perfectly acceptable of its kind, telling a good, straightforward story (concocted by James Benson Nablo, and scripted by Daniel Mainwaring and A.I. Bezzerides) with efficient direction by Lewis Allen (who also directed Edward G. in "Illegal" from the same year). Fans of Edward G. should know beforehand that there are chunks of the story without him, and if one is enticed by the prospect of seeing him and Raft face off, this doesn't happen until right near the end, when Edward G. appeals to Raft's sense of not only patriotism but decency in the hopes that the mobster will see the light. They're both great, as is Totter as the tough looking but ultimately soft hearted dame who really doesn't want to see any harm come to her new man. Dolenz, Peter van Eyck as the nefarious "book dealer" Eric Hartman, William Bryant, Steven Geray, and Joseph Vitale are all good in support, with Toni Gerry extremely appealing in the role of the lovestruck secretary romanced by Bryant's scummy character as part of the plot. "A Bullet for Joey" moves along well enough and with its final theme of redemption, is 88 minutes worth of good if not great entertainment. Seven out of 10.

Not What You Think!

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 6 July 2016]

Seeing 30s icons Edward G. Robinson and George Raft teamed up in a movie after many years, one would expect to see a reprise of their gangster roles from the earlier period. Not so.

This one has Joe Victor (Raft) being recruited in Lisbon, where he has been living - broke, to coordinate a planned kidnapping in Montreal of nuclear scientist Dr. Carl Macklin (George Dolenz). Eric Hartman (Peter Van Eyck) is the brains behind the plot.

When a Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable (RCMP) is murdered Inspector Leduc (Robinson) enters the case. Meanwhile Victor assembles his old gang including former girl friend Joyce Geary (Audrey Totter) and Jack Allen (Bill Bryant). Joyce is tasked with wooing the scientist. Allen meanwhile courts Macklin's secretary Yvonne Tremblay (Toni Geary) with tragic results.

After three murders the kidnapping takes place and.........................

Robinson and Raft were both well past their respective "best before" dates at this time. Robinson (and pipe) sleepwalk through the first three quarters of the film. Similarly, Raft spends the same period in a farm house blandly handing out orders to his underlings. The climax of the story takes place in the final quarter where most of the action takes place. The ending is pure Hollywood especially where Raft's character is concerned.

One has to wonder what Robinson, playing an RCMP inspector would look like in the force's dress uniform red tunic, breeches and wide brim hat. Besides I'm sure that he wouldn't meet the force's height and age restrictions.

George Dolenz is the father of Monkees' Mickey Dolenz. Sally Blane who plays the secretary's sister was the sister of Loretta Young.

Eddie and George could have done better

[searchanddestroy-1 · 6/10 · 11 April 2022]

I have always been deceived every time I have watched this Lewis Allen film, I don't know why. Despite the fact that two heavies of the American crime film genre are together. Maybe because of the mix up between gangster element and the spy - cold war- one. But it remains worth seeking and seeing only for the presence of those two. I am not sure that they worked together besides.

A BULLET FOR JOEY (Lewis Allen, 1955) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 4 July 2008]

This lesser and curiously-titled noir re-unites two stars (who had previously been teamed in Raoul Walsh's MANPOWER [1941]) from the gangster heyday – Edward G. Robinson and George Raft. Robinson, by now, was alternating between good-guy/authoritative roles and villainous types – so it was Raft who got saddled with the obsolete hoodlum figure (albeit a mere cog in the wheel in the plot to kidnap a nuclear scientist, with Peter van Eyck as the true ring-leader).

While I thoroughly enjoyed ILLEGAL (1955), also with Robinson and by director Allen and which actually preceded this viewing, I was less enthused with this one: tolerable in itself but not especially interesting as drama (though, again, it was concocted by two noir specialists – OUT OF THE PAST [1947]'s Geoffrey Homes, a pseudonym for Daniel Mainwaring, and A.I. Bezzerides who, soon after, would contribute the far more significant KISS ME DEADLY [1955]); still, the hard-boiled dialogue (especially as delivered by the cynical Raft) is one of the main sources of entertainment throughout the film.

For most of the duration, though, Robinson takes a back seat to the criminals' activities – whose scheme is handled in a needlessly convoluted way that involves a couple of seductions (of the scientist by Raft's moll Audrey Totter, herself a noir staple, and of his prim female assistant by one of the gangster's lackeys) and, of course, leaves a trail of murder behind it! A couple of twists late in the game see Totter really falling for the naïve scientist and Raft persuaded by Robinson into doing his patriotic duty and turning against van Eyck (atypically, the climax takes place aboard ship).

For the record, I've six more Robinson films in my "To Watch" pile – three vintage titles (the compendium TALES OF MANHATTAN [1942], the sentimental family saga OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES [1945], and the noir-ish melodrama THE RED HOUSE [1947]) and three minor outings, all of which happen to be capers, from his twilight period (OPERATION ST. PETER'S [1967] THE BIGGEST BUNDLE OF THEM ALL [1968], and IT'S YOUR MOVE [1969]).

Edward Robinson and George Raft? Success (Sort Of)!

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 26 February 2013]

In Montreal, a police inspector (Edward G. Robinson) slowly discovers a plot to kidnap a nuclear physicist. American mobsters, foreign spies and a blonde seductress are all involved.

John Howard Reid considered the movie dull. He said a slow pace, one-dimensional characters, and an unconvincing climax plague the film. Sadly, I tend to think he is right. I was all invested the first ten or fifteen minutes, but found myself less interested as the movie went on.

I have a special fondness for George Raft, and an even bigger fondness for Edward G. Robinson, so you simply cannot go wrong with a film that has both men. And then adding all the film noir elements, along with spies and such, you have real potential. I just do not know if they actually reached it.

All the right elemens and even two big actors can't pull this one off

[secondtake · 5/10 · 27 October 2010]

A Bullet for Joey (1955)

There are some quirky oddball aspects to this film that keep it interesting--but only in spurts. First of all, there's George Raft, who is past his best days, but it's interesting all the same to see an actor with some great movies in his past. The whole strange premise of the movie, which gets a little lost in petty distractions, is about Communist spying, with a gangster (Raft) doing some gangstery things across the border--in Canada. The good guy is the inimitable Edward G. Robinson, who has a minor role despite his big billing.

What drags the movie is the basics--the story, and the direction. Lewis Allen has a couple of decent films to his credit--"Suddenly" is great, and so is "The Uninvited"--but the mundane settings and amorphous plot here are sometimes just dull. I think this is classic case of too many variables that didn't quite click, and Allen couldn't lift it up to something fabulous. As usual, the best scenes are good, but even the ending, with all its drama, doesn't quite click.

There are some disadvantages to being a man of intellect.

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 6/10 · 5 March 2011]

After the FBI, the Post Office, and the NYPD, we travel north of the border to Montreal; where a police inspector (Edward G. Robinson) is suspicious about several deaths and a possible attempt to kidnap a nuclear physicist.

George Raft is the mobster doing a job for unknown masters to get money and back into the US. Audrey Totter is tapped to seduce the scientist to make the job easier.

Calling this noir is really stretching it. It doesn't have any of the dark seediness that one expects. It's more a straight police procedural.

Trotter is the most interesting character in the film. The rest just seem as if they are collecting paychecks.

this is NOT film noir

[rupie · 2/10 · 22 October 2014]

I was drawn to this one, as many viewers were, by the presence of the great Edward G. Robinson and the legendary George Raft. However, not even their presence can salvage this stinker.

First off, one thing must be made clear: there seems to be, in reviews of this flick, the idea that any crime drama in black & white is "film noir," a phrase which is widely overused. This movie follows none of the conventions of film noir and cannot be called noir by any stretch of the imagination. Actually it seems to have the appearance of a made-for-TV cop drama.

Secondly, the script is simply atrocious. It is loaded with so many clichés, overripe formulations and contrived dialogue that it feels like it was written by Ed Wood. A leaden phrase like "Women are what make life a pleasure for men," comes to mind. What a howler!

Thirdly, anyone with any knowledge of espionage knows that, historically, neither the Nazis nor the Communists employed elements of the criminal underworld; they cannot be relied on.

Fourthly, this is as great an assemblage of lousy actors as I have ever seen in one flick. The level of acting is simply terrible, and that includes Robinson, who, as noted elsewhere here, phones in his performance. This is probably to be expected, with such a lousy script. Why he signed on to this effort is beyond me; he must have needed the money badly. And this flick also shows that Raft, despite his reputation, was no great actor. Audrey Totter is a familiar face, but she's nothing to write home about either.

Lastly, the concluding scene aboard the ship is so contrived, patched together and full of improbabilities as to defy belief.

To summarize in two words, skip it.

How often is one moved to tears by the great Edward G. or George Raft???

[whisper-24 · 9/10 · 2 May 2008]

Spies, counter spies, a chess-playing atomic scientist, a beautiful femme fatale/former gang moll(in the process of turning her life around to match her pearl necklace mien), an adorable and bright(but naive)brunette, one consistently intuitive, equable, and unflappable detective all surrounding a self-serving and self-centered criminal named Joey (George Raft). Watch this film with unwavering attention, stop the film 5 minutes before the end, jot down your conjecture, and THEN push play. You will be rewarded. Be careful, though. If you so much as blink you will MISS the denouement ... and a most moving cinematic moment.

Totter makes this an okay watch

[Paularoc · 6/10 · 10 September 2012]

Representatives from some unnamed country, presumably the Soviet Union, hire a deported thug (Raft) to kidnap a physicist and they sneak the thug, Joe Victor, into Montreal, Canada which is where the physicist lives. He immediately recruits members of his old gang including former moll (Audrey Totter). Early in the movie a RCMP officer patrolling near where the physicist, Dr. Macklin, lives is murdered. Edward G. Robinson plays the Montreal police lieutenant investigating the murder. The Totter character wants nothing to do with Victor and his plans but is blackmailed into helping. Her actually falling for Dr. Macklin was not sappy but believable. Robinson never gives a bad performance and he didn't in this one but he could have had a little more spark in his performance. No matter what role he is in, Raft is just not likable - he always comes across sort of smarmy. I would have given this a 7 except for the ending. I flat out don't believe that a deported thug and killer would have been swayed by a cop's two minute appeal to his patriotism and love of freedom. I do believe he would kill someone who double crossed him then plan to jump overboard and swim to safety even though his chances for success were remote.

Wait until you see this dame that I've got in mind..She'll turn anyone primitive.

[sol-kay · 5/10 · 14 December 2011]

**SPOILERS** Nowhere up to the standards you would have expected with actors Edward G. Robinson and George Raft as Montreal Police Inspector Raoul LeDuc and kicked out of the the country American hoodlum Joey Victor in the movie. The film "A Bullet for Joey" has to do with Joey Victor being hired by this shadowy rare book collector Eric Hartman, Peter Van Eyke, to do some work for him in kidnapping absent minded and a bit naive,in all the fuss about him in the movie, physics professor Dr. Carl Macklin, George Dolenz.

Prof. Marklin has invented this gizmo that's supposed to revolutionize atomic physic and it's Hartman's bosses back in the Kremlin who want to get their hands on it. This is only a guess on my part in that not once in the entire movie are we told or made to understand just whom Hartman, whom we know for sure isn't a member of the Canadian Mounties, is actually working for!

It's only later when Joey finally realizes that Hartman isn't a good guy, or hoodlum like himself, but a slime ball working for Evil Empire the Soviet Union that he change his mind and becomes for the first time in his criminal life patriotic! That's after Joey's boys just about helped Commie master spy Hartman almost get everything, like Prof. Hartman and his gizmo, he was after! Joey also shows his good side by exonerating his old girl friend who wants nothing at all to do with him Joyce Geary, Andry Totter, in a letter to the Montreal Police Department. The letter tells them that she knows nothing of what Joey and his boys,from Chicago Miami and L.A, were up to in kidnapping Prof. Macklin. Even though Joey forced, by paying the almost dead broke woman off, Joyce to get in good with the not all that interested in women Macklin, the only thing that he's interested in is his physics calculations, so she can make it possible for Joey and his friends to kidnap him! That's by Macklin dropping his guard as well as his pants when, in him being romantically involved with Joyce, Joey and the boys grab him.

***SPOILERS*** Somewhat touching final with Joey getting it, like the title of the movie suggests, in the gut from a dying Hartman whom he gunned down in the final moments of the film. That not only prevented Hartman from getting Prof. Macklin back to the USSR where his services in nuclear physics would be greatly appreciated but made Joey a hero in laying his life down for his country when it really needed him.

Best line ever from George Raft

[imdb-597 · 6 September 2001]

Not bad, but rather formulaic 50's crime/spy movie. However, it was redeemed by George Raft's delivery of one of the best and funniest lines I've ever heard. No spoilers here, but pay attention during the scenes between Robinson and Raft.

In what must be one of the dumbest movie titles ever . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 9 March 2015]

. . . A BULLET FOR JOEY features tons of bullets, but NOT ONE "Joey." If they had called this THREE BULLETS IN THE BACK FOR YVONNE, they would have been perfectly accurate. ONE BULLET APIECE FOR JACK & NICK also would have worked. TWO BULLETS AND ERIC BITES THE DUST could have summed up this flick nicely. Or CONSTABLE PERCY DID NOT HAVE A GUN, SO WE CONSERVED OUR BULLETS AND USED A CLUB might not have fit on many theater marquees, but at least it would be apt. Yet, when MGM set this A-Bomb spy yarn in Canada in 1955, the studio bravely decided to be truthful in the body of their film (if not with its title). So we learn in A BULLET FOR JOEY that: 1)Canadians are usually very boring. Check. 2)There's a reason that the Beach Boys did not give a "shout out" to Montreal or Quebec gals before the chorus of "I Wish They All Could Be California Girls." Check. 3)If you pit a Canadian cop against a post in an I.Q. test, don't bet the rent money against the post. Check-mate.

More of a character study than a slam banger..

[andersb-36022 · 6/10 · 22 June 2021]

Edward G. Is the quintessential detective and he doesn't let down in this picture. I can't help thinking of my grandfather when I watch Raft. The low deadpan voice is a dead ringer plus he has a passing resemblance. Those who are into a study of contrasts between Robinson and Raft will surely enjoy this movie. However if you are more for slam bang action at a faster pace I'd recommend skipping this one. Overall it's slightly above average for a 50s caper with a bit of intrigue, mainly because of the two leads.

Boring, bad, sleep walking performances

[Rich359 · 3/10 · 22 December 2007]

Bad film-noir, if you could call it that. Its as if the stars involved were sedated through the whole film, and lets not talk about the plot.The worst performance Edward G.Robinson ever gave in a film, with his emoting over his partners death with as much passion as if a waitress served his coffee black instead of with cream. And his bad decisions were responsible for his death to boot. And Geroge Raft-first he's sort of a good guy gangster, then he turns completely cold-blooded brushing off the death of a completely innocent 21year old woman by his partner, then he turns to be a good-guy again because the writers could'nt think of anything else. I LOVE old black and white movies, but don't waster your time with this stinker.

a bit boring

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 10 January 2021]

In Montreal, an organ grinder with a monkey kills a RCMP officer to avoid questioning. Inspector Leduc (Edward G. Robinson) slowly uncovers an international Communist plot to kidnap an important atomic physics scientist.

This is a little espionage thriller with EGR. It's ironic that he's hunting down a communist conspiracy in the movie while struggling with the communist witch-hunt in real life. It's a little slow. It's not cinematically exciting. The setting is Canada which doesn't mean much of anything visually. It could have done something with the local French but I don't think they do that back in the day. This movie needs a couple of action scenes early. There is a little bit of action at the end but it's barely anything and it's too little, too late.

Cold war cat and mouse.

[michaelRokeefe · 5/10 · 26 October 2007]

Almost forgotten film-noir with the pairing of George Raft and Edward G. Robinson. Commies, gangsters and intrigue. A communist spy concocts a plan to kidnap an important American atomic scientist. An infamous tough guy is employed to do the actual kidnapping. At the same time, a determined G-man plans to rescue the scientist; but as circumstances would have it, the communist spy sets into motion the interception of the detective to have him "bumped off". As the cat and mouse activity progresses, the gangster makes his democratic allegiance known...guess what...the world keeps right on spinning and democracy is safe for another day. Am not sure if Robinson or Raft knew who the real star was. Other players in this drama: George Dolenz, Audrey Totter, Joseph Vitale and Toni Gerry. This little escape runs 85 minutes.

Dullsville in Spades!

[JohnHowardReid · 4/10 · 10 July 2008]

Despite its fascinating writing and editing credits, this movie emerges as a surprisingly dull little "B"-grader, not only paced with the speed of a snail but full of more empty talk than a bag-pipe. The characters could not even justly be described as one-dimensional. They are mere shadows that unconvincingly act out the hollow and threadbare plot. Certainly pros like Robinson and Van Eyck do manage to breath a bit of life into their portrayals, but insufficiently virile to overcome the inertia of Mr Allen's studiously slow, uninvolving handling.

It's hard to believe tutor and text book author, Leon Barsha, had anything to do with the editing. The insertion of stock travelogue footage is clumsy in the extreme. Other credits are likewise patently routine.

Considerable pruning would definitely help the film, although Miss Totter is likely to remain a firm liability. Mr Letondal would also stay far more colorless than the screenplay demands. Last but not least, the unconvincingly patriotic climax is something not easily overcome.

Complicated and confusing

[HotToastyRag · 2/10 · 23 January 2024]

If you watch this independent Canadian flick, you're going to need all your mental faculties at the ready. I fell asleep three times and couldn't make heads or tails of it! I don't know why I found it so complicated, but it did involve a kidnapping, a group of assassins, an international conspiracy theory, and two police forces - perhaps it was just too much for me.

George Raft, Audrey Totter, William Bryant, and Peter van Eyck are the bad guys, gathered from everywhere from Germany to Brazil to get close to the people who are close to a Canadian scientist, George Dolenz. Do they just want information, or is there something more sinister going on? When the bodies start dropping like flies, that question starts answering itself. Edward G. Robinson, the head of either the Canadian or American police force (I really couldn't keep track), gets called in to crack the impossible case. He's faced with no witnesses, no fingerprints, no clues, and seemingly random bodies.

Unless what I have written really pops out at you, I don't think this movie will be your cup of tea. I love Edward G. Robinson, but he didn't seem to be very happy to be in this movie. George Raft's acting talents were pretty stinky, and even though he had the lead role, it didn't seem like he wanted to be in the movie either.

It's okay if science is your thing.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 4 October 2023]

I found this one to be bogged down with too much exposition and so little action. Plus too little of Edward G. Robinson and George Raft together, mainly at the conclusion. They apparently had clashed on their first teaming together with "Manpower" but for nostalgia's sake agreed to do this together. They're on the opposite sides of the law, with Robinson a federal agent investigating communist espionage and Raft as a mobster who has turned traitor.

The underrated Audrey Totter plays an aging femme fatale who's out for revenge when her sister (Toni Gerry) is murdered in the cover-up so she has to pretend to be on Raft's side. It's pretty boring and talky until veteran Little Caesar meets up with veteran nickel flipper Raft and the later has the chance to redeem himself. This one really didn't hold my attention like others of the era even with good character support from George Dolenz, Peter Van Ecyk, Steve Geray and future "General Hospital" star Peter Hansen.