TCM does it again. ‘Raw Deal!‘ I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dennis O’Keefe before, or Marsha Hunt. I’ve seen Claire Trevor all of once, in Stagecoach (1939). This one is purely for the love of the genre. Wonderful cinematography, great dialogue, wonderful acting, beautiful scenery. The only thing that held it back was the plot. O’Keefe has been sent ‘up the river’, to the Big House, see. He was framed! He was the fall guy! The stool pigeon! Now he’s escaped from the ‘pen’, and he’s out to even the score with the evil mobster Raymond Burr!

1948 America in the delicious Pacific Northwest. Just wonderful. Location shooting, over the top scenes (Burr’s character feeling trapped throws a flaming Baked Alaska on his dame!). “Joe Sullivan is itching to get out of prison. He’s taken the rap for Rick, who owes him $50,000. Rick sets up an escape for Joe, knowing that Joe will be caught escaping and be shot or locked away forever. But with the help of his love-struck girl Pat and his sympathetic legal caseworker Ann, Joe gets further than he’s supposed to, and we are posed with two very important questions: Is Joe really the cold and heartless criminal he appears to be, or is there a heart of gold under that gritty exterior? And does Joe belong with the tough, street-wise Pat, or with the prim, moralizing Ann?”

Oh it’s gritty alright. Ann is getting under his skin. But its reliable old Pat that got him out! He doesn’t want to ruin the honest life of a broad like Ann, so he pushes her away! “Get out of here! That was last night! “You’re nothing to me!” Danged if Ann doesn’t get kidnapped by the evil Burr, and held for ‘insurance’! He gets Burr in the end (the fat phuck gets chucked out the window!). But he’s shot too! He dies in a studly fashion in his true love Ann’s arm’s, and poor Pat sees he loved that ‘skirt’! She had wasted her life on a guy that loved somebody else! Can you have anymore exclamation points in just 3 paragraphs?!

Great stuff. IMDB viewers gave it a 7.2 out of 10. I gave it a 9.