Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Directed by Otto Preminger. Starring Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Karl Malden, Tom Tully, Bert Freed, Robert F. Simon, Craig Stevens, Ruth Donnelly, Don Appell, Harry von Zell.

Compelling noir of a rogue cop (Andrews, looking like he pours Jack Daniels on his breakfast cereal) who only clings to his bleak existence so he can abuse suspects and rout degenerate crooks. A rare glimmer of hope enters his life when he makes a romantic connection with an unhappily married woman (Tierney); too bad he accidentally killed her estranged husband (Stevens) and is currently trying to cover his tracks after dumping the body in a river. Preminger’s stark, no-frills direction and Joseph LaShelle’s penetrating camera invigorate this gangland saga of implications, errors, guilt, and the kind of self-loathing that turns to poison in the system. It ends on a rare note of self-destruction that’s measured and weighed instead of thrust upon the doomed antihero by his own nicotine-scorched flaws—it doesn’t feel like a requirement from the Production Code even though it comes during the epilogue. Ben Hecht’s dialogue can be a thing of gutter beauty; every line served up by Donnelly’s sardonic waitress is a tangy winner (it’s a small role, but a darn memorable one). Another scene-stealer, Merrill, makes for a memorably slimy heavy who’s not an asthmatic, but uses an inhaler anyway (speaking of the Production Code…). One of Preminger’s best, even though it’s generally considered a minor effort in his portfolio.

85/100