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HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Claudio Carvalho The trucker Steve Randall (Steve Brodie) is an ex-GI that has fought in the war and has been married with Anne Randall (Audrey Long) for four months. Steve has a trunking business, but he arrives home with the intention of celebrating his wedding anniversary with Anne. He receives a phone call from a client that offers a small fortune to him to transport some goods that night and he does not have how to refuse.When he arrives at the spot, he finds that he was lured by the mobster Walt Radak (Raymond Burr) that wants to use Steve's truck to transport stolen furs. Steve does not accept the deal but is forced by Walt's gangsters to drive his truck. When he sees a police officer on the street, he blinks the headlights to call his attention. There is a shooting and the police officer is murdered and Walt's young brother Al is left behind and arrested by the police. Walt tries to force Steve to assume the murder to save his brother but Steve flees from the gangsters and travels with Anne, who is pregnant, to the countryside, pursued by Walt and his gangsters and by the police. When Steve finds a safe place for Anne in the farm of her Aunt Klara (Ilka Gruning) and Uncle Jan (Paul E. Burns), he goes to the police department and tells his story to Det. Lt. Louie Ferrari (Jason Robards) that does not believe in his words but let him go. Steve returns to the farm without knowing that Ferrari released him to be a bait to catch Walt and his men."Desperate" is a film-noir by Anthony Mann with a good story of pursue and death wish, with sordid characters, like for example the mobster, the car dealer, the detective lieutenant among others and good duel between Steve Brodie and Raymond Burr. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Desesperado" ("Desperate")

bkoganbing Raymond Burr shines in Desperate an early film in his career. You could tell this man was going to be films for the long haul. Although it would have been a shame if he only was cast as thuggish gangsters for the rest of his life.But in that part he steals the film from leads Steve Brodie and Audrey Long. Brodie is a friend of Burr's since childhood and Brodie's recently returned from the war, married his sweetheart Long, and is now settling into a career as a truck-driver. Burr conceives a brilliant scheme in which he hires Brodie for his truck as part of a heist only he doesn't tell Brodie about it. When the heist is a bust and Burr's younger brother is captured and a cop killed in foiling the robbery, Burr's conceives a nasty hatred for Brodie and Brodie and Long have to flee. Suspicion is also on Brodie so the police are after him as well.It's really quite preposterous when you think about it. Burr takes the eager kid brother along on the job because the brother wants to emulate his sibling. Then when he's caught it isn't his fault, it's the fault of the guy who was tricked into it and who foiled Burr's plans. But I saw a situation like that in my own life.I knew this man who was in fact quite a lowlife himself. But he did rise to a position of some authority and insisted on bringing his equally raised lowlife son into his business. The kid was also a prize specimen with a serious drug problem and was busy in his supervisory position extorting the other employees for monies to feed his habit. The father was completely blind to his kid's problem, it was everyone else who was conspiring against his precious son. In the end the kid both lost the job and ended dying of cocaine contributed heart problems. To this day the father won't recognize his own culpability. In a nutshell that's Raymond Burr's character here.Steve Brodie had a good career as a secondary lead, this was one of his few starring roles. He was a good actor, but his height prevented him from gaining stardom and he didn't have the charisma of a James Cagney who could have really done something with this character. So could Alan Ladd over at Paramount. Audrey Long is probably best remembered for playing opposite John Wayne in Tall In The Saddle where she is in competition with Ella Raines for the Duke. Brodie and Long are fine, but this is really Raymond Burr's film.

dgabbard Saw this at the Noir Festival at the American Cinematheque. Very fast paced. This was Mann's breakthrough--the festival's programmer said Mann extensively rewrote the script, quipping he felt desperate himself to break out of the Bs. It wasn't long before Mann was launched on a long career doing westerns and spectacles.Burr is the standout, playing a gang boss whose desperation to save his brother from the gallows drives the plot. Burr plays menace like no one else can! If you like his gruff cop on the Pat Novak radio show of the same period you'll love him in this film.The ending sequence of a gunfight on a dark staircase is noir bravura, with residents of the apartment building hiding from the mayhem after peeking out. Also a standout is an earlier scene in a dark room with one light swinging back and forth as the hero is dealt a brutal beating and all you see is Burr and a grim confederate looking on as the light swings back and forth with dark puddles of shadow on their faces while you hear the violence. YEOW!

dbdumonteil ...Anthony Mann made remarkable film noirs."Desperate" is not your average "gangsters movie" .It's valid drama,and Mann's heroes are the boy-next-door and his wife.The gangsters ,most of the time,work behind the stage,and Mann makes us feel all Steve's trials ,fleeing both the Police and a gangster out for revenge (the relationship between the two brothers is only sketched ,and it's the only flaw of an excellent screenplay).Steve is a good guy,a victim,not unlike William Irish's (aka Cornell Woolrich's) characters ,and the audience sides with him all along the way.Remakable scenes: -The arrival at the aunt's farm and the wedding.-Steve's last meal and the insistent ticking of a clock.Like this? try these...."You only live once" Fritz Lang ,1936 "They live by night" Nicholas Ray ,1948 "Tomorrow is another day" Felix Feist ,1952