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Tight Spot
A cliched and simplistic screenplay, some questionable casting, and an overripe performance from the leading lady help prevent 1955's Tight Spot from being the intense crime melodrama that it should have been.
Ginger Rogers plays Sherry Conley, a female prisoner who is taken out of jail and moved into a hotel downtown so that a government attorney (Edward G. Robinson) can convince her to testify against a mob boss (Lorne Greene), despite interference from a cop (Brian Keith) who has been assigned to protect her.
William Bowers' often silly screenplay is actually based on a play be Leonard Kantor that features just about every cliche you can think of associated with mob movies. The dialogue is so garbled with simplistic slang that it makes several characters, especially the character of Sherry, appear ignorant and uneducated. There are times when Sherry actually sounds like some kind of hillbilly, which is in stark contrast to the hard-nosed, brassy ex-gun moll that she's supposed to be.
I have garnered major respect for Ginger Rogers over the last several months, but I must confess that this performance has been the first real disappointment I have experienced from her. The performance is so garish and over the top and seems more appropriate for a comic farce, something Ginger could do in her sleep, rather than the serious crime drama intended. The whole thing of moving Sherry to a hotel seemed so silly and we can't help but laugh when Sherry begs these people to take her back to nice safe jail cell.
Two of the other leading roles seem to be miscast as well. I would have cast Greene as the government attorney and Robinson as the mob boss, but I guess that's just me. The only thing in this movie that really worked for me in this movie was the smoldering performance from Brian Keith as the cop protecting Sherry. Keith displayed solid leading man potential that would eventually come to fruition but this was an actor who was always severely underrated and he proves it here. A hit and miss effort to be sure and a rare misstep for Ginger Rogers.
A cliched and simplistic screenplay, some questionable casting, and an overripe performance from the leading lady help prevent 1955's Tight Spot from being the intense crime melodrama that it should have been.
Ginger Rogers plays Sherry Conley, a female prisoner who is taken out of jail and moved into a hotel downtown so that a government attorney (Edward G. Robinson) can convince her to testify against a mob boss (Lorne Greene), despite interference from a cop (Brian Keith) who has been assigned to protect her.
William Bowers' often silly screenplay is actually based on a play be Leonard Kantor that features just about every cliche you can think of associated with mob movies. The dialogue is so garbled with simplistic slang that it makes several characters, especially the character of Sherry, appear ignorant and uneducated. There are times when Sherry actually sounds like some kind of hillbilly, which is in stark contrast to the hard-nosed, brassy ex-gun moll that she's supposed to be.
I have garnered major respect for Ginger Rogers over the last several months, but I must confess that this performance has been the first real disappointment I have experienced from her. The performance is so garish and over the top and seems more appropriate for a comic farce, something Ginger could do in her sleep, rather than the serious crime drama intended. The whole thing of moving Sherry to a hotel seemed so silly and we can't help but laugh when Sherry begs these people to take her back to nice safe jail cell.
Two of the other leading roles seem to be miscast as well. I would have cast Greene as the government attorney and Robinson as the mob boss, but I guess that's just me. The only thing in this movie that really worked for me in this movie was the smoldering performance from Brian Keith as the cop protecting Sherry. Keith displayed solid leading man potential that would eventually come to fruition but this was an actor who was always severely underrated and he proves it here. A hit and miss effort to be sure and a rare misstep for Ginger Rogers.