Sexylocher Masterful Movie

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

vincentlynch-moonoi I disagree with the general trend of reviews for this film. I think it's a very strong film. However, it has the feel of a small film...but I think that's what was required here because it's a film about a very small town. Small town -- small film. That's a match.At first glance, it looks as if the plot is going to be pretty simple. Newspaper editor is arrested in a small hick town on false charges and will lead a crusade to clean up the town. Until he uncharacteristically steps back and decides to leave his town completely. Huh? Walter Pidgeon running away? Fortunately, someone takes up the crusade -- but not Pidgeon's son-in-law, a county prosecutor. Hmmmm. A family that has high ideals until they're put to the test? But someone has to lead the charge. So that falls to John Hodiak, a state prosecutor. And he faces a brick wall because everyone is afraid to testify against the small town thugs.Will the newspaper editor testify? And if not, why not? Today's audiences may not believe that there were places like this back before the 1960s. People did sometimes virtually disappear.Walter Pidgeon is quite good here as the newspaper editor; I wonder how he liked a film where for at least part of the time he appeared to be a coward. John Hodiak is very good as the state attorney. Thomas Gomez is good...and disgusting...as the crooked sheriff. Karl Malden is good as an honest cop.I don't find a lot here to criticize. The ending gets -- as a couple have already said -- a little preachy and too idealistic. And, I think they could have made more earlier in the film about the dilemma facing Walter Pidgeon.I liked it and recommend it.

dougdoepke 1951, the Kefauver congressional committee on organized crime and corruption is making headlines, and MGM under new head Dore Schary is trying to make that famously big-budget studio relevant to news of the day. The trouble is that the so-called Tiffany of studios just doesn't have the same feel for gritty material as a Warner Bros. or an RKO. Too bad this film doesn't sustain the harrowing feel of the first 15 minutes, when prominent editor Allridge (Pidgeon) is brutalized after a minor traffic infraction by corrupt Sheriff Burke (Gomez). Allridge's ordeal has the feel of a "sudden nightmare" to it, as if he's been abruptly forced into a savage new world where the old civilized rules no longer apply. It's a backwater county run by the sheriff like a private fiefdom and a jailhouse where inmates rule once the cell door slams shut. I like the way we're shown the difficulties state prosecutor Johnson (Hodiak) encounters in trying to rid the county of Burke and his outlaw regime.Still and all, the longer the movie lasts, the more momentum it loses, ending with a final 20 minutes of plodding courtroom procedure. There's still some suspense in the air (why did Allridge skip town), but the initial energy has long since dissipated. At least part of the problem lies with uninspired direction that can't sustain the early sense of tension and evil. Too bad noir maestros like Phil Karlson or Anthony Mann weren't running the show. Those reviewers contrasting this film with Karlson's similar Phenix City Story are right on target. Nonetheless, the movie does have its moments, along with a vibrant turn from the under- rated Audrey Totter who never seemed to get the recognition her talent deserved.

sol **SPOILERS**A bit over-plotted film about political corruption involving the overstuffed, in his stomach as well as ego, and arrogant Ridgewood Country Sheriff Kellwin C. Burke, Thomas Gomaz, who feels that his word is law in the county.It's when Sheriff Burke tries to put the squeeze on the Daily Intelligencer Newspaper's editor the highly respected and ethical Haven D. Allridge, Walter Pidgon, that he finally took on more then he could swallow. It's when Allridge and his friend, whom he was giving a lift home, Wilfred Johnson, Whit Bissell, were arrested by Burke on trumped up charges-in Allridge not having his drivers license on him-that Burke and his stooges got more then they bargained for.Exposing Burke's corrupt activities in Ridgewood County on the front pages of his newspaper Allridge had Burke & Co. start to play rough with him. Burke had one of the trucks delivering Allridge's paper run off the highway and its driver killed. It was then that both local Ridgewood County police Captain Buck Maxwell, Karl Malden, and Federal Prosecutor Charles "Chick" Johnson, John Hodiak, got on the case. Just when everything was going fine in getting Burke indited on a slew of Federal and local violations of the law, including murder and intimidating witnesses, that all the 55 persons who were willing to testify against him suddenly lost their memories! One of those witnesses included that right and honest as well as crusading editor of the Daily Intelligencer Haven D. Allridge!***SPOILER ALERT*** It's very obvious that Burke and his men got to Alldrige after setting a trap for him and working him over at the Amboy Bar and Grill Nightclub. But the real reason for Allridge turning yellow and attempting to leave town, to Detroit no less, was far more shocking then just a few lumps on his head! It was something very very close to home that if brought out would destroy not only himself, in Allridge not being able to do his job affectively, but his daughter Peggy, Paua Raymond, and her husband Ridgewood County prosecutor Randy Stauton, Cameron Mitchell!The film "The Sellout" shows how political corruption effects all of those that are surrounded by it even if they have to guts, like Haven Allridge, to stand up and fight against it. There's always something that the people of Ridgewood County have hidden in their closet, involving friends and relatives, that if exposed will bring the roof down on their heads. This is what kept Burke in power all these years in knowing these secrets, that in many cases he was involved in, and using them against men like Allridge who dared to stand up to him. It was in the end courageous men like Chick Johnson and Capt. Buck Maxwell who were immune for Burke's blackmailing tactic who finally brought him and his gang of murderous cut throats to the bar of justice.

John Seal Dealing with police corruption in a small American city, The Sellout isn't all that far away from films like The Phenix City Story or Kansas City Confidential. Walter Pidgeon plays a crusading journalist trying to get the goods on bent sheriff Thomas Gomez before Gomez gets the goods on him. The MGM cast is solid throughout, including John Hodiak as the reluctant out of town prosecutor, Karl Malden as the policeman assisting him, and good ol' Whit Bissell as a whistleblower. There's a small role for Audrey Totter--whose place in the credits implies a more significant part--and oily Everett Sloane is excellent as the misguided local lawyer. There's not much original here, but the film takes itself seriously and reminds the viewer of a time when it was possible for independent journalism to hang the bad guys out to dry.