Brendon Jones
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Micah Lloyd
Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Quiet Muffin
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
ksf-2
Anne Jeffreys, Pat OBrien, and Walter Slezak star in the search for a missing passenger. The passenger had a map of valuable oil reserves, but didn't land with the plane in Panama. Of course they question the only other passenger, who claims he knows nothing about it. Then they bring in the private eye (OBrien) to figure out what's going on. Expert viewers will recognize Percy Kilbride as "Pop", the taxi driver, who knows more than he should. He was Pa Kettle for MANY years. It's a decent plot, but everyone keeps getting knocked off, and now Dan, the P.I. is running out of clues. The rest of the story is very typical noir... private eye against thugs, private eye against the authorities. Keeps getting into trouble, keeps getting out of it. Obrien pretty much carries the show.
Alex da Silva
Two passengers board a plane during a storm. When the journey is complete, only one passenger is left. It's a great opening sequence filled with tension, angst and progressed without any dialogue. It's pretty stylish and promises great things. However, the film doesn't live up to this gripping start and at only 80 minutes in length, this short film ends up seeming a lot longer.Apart from the excellent beginning, the dialogue is snappy and humorous and Anne Jeffreys (Maxine) sings a great song. The director puts on a good show for this offering. Unfortunately, everything falls apart with the lead actor - Pat O'Brien (Dan) - who is tasked with tracking down a map. He's unlike-able, too old, fat, balding and reminds me of a paedophile. The end sequence with him chasing after a taxi is ludicrous as we watch this fat blob running after and unrealistically keeping up with the car's journey. Ha ha. He looks ridiculous. The film somehow kills the interest and drags on. It's watchable, though.
Leofwine_draca
This typical film noir production has an unusual setting in Panama, although the fact that it's an RKO production means there aren't any exotic visuals or location shooting here. Instead this is a simply-plotted movie about the hunt for a missing map which has the location of oil highlighted on it. A private eye by the name of Dan Hammer (Mike's brother?) gets involved in the hunt and finds himself up against a criminal gang.RIFF-RAFF boasts a memorable opening sequence on board an in-flight aircraft in which a guy goes missing. However, it soon descends into your typical mystery thriller, with a few hard-knuckle fights here and there but little to distinguish it from literally hundreds of others. While Pat O'Brien was a great character actor (such as when he played the priest in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES) he's an odd choice for lead and doesn't exactly seem to be the sort of guy able to handle himself. However, Walter Slezak is better as the sleazy villain and Anne Jefferys as the youthful love interest.
jkholman
For the sake of restraint I shy away from awarding 'tens'. But Riff Raff is so well made and keeps with the beat, that it is a perfect piece of cinematic work. I was on the telephone with my girlfriend (we were arguing about something) and had the television on mute and was impressed enough with the camera work (not the argument) that I just had to record the movie on the next go-around. This is the movie that would go in a time capsule so well that it captures the genre of movie it represents. This film is the one that made me a Walter Slezak fan. If he is in it, I'll watch it (you mean he actually has a fan base?). It was actors like Slezak [and John Qualen, Peter Lorre, Thomas Gomez, Mervyn Johns, his daughter Glynnis Johns, Percy Herbert, and many more] that made movies like this so effective. It is not a good VHS copy, but until I get a better one, this will do just fine. By the way, the telephone girl and I will celebrate our thirteenth anniversary next week.
