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Macao, 1952
Meeting aboard a ship headed for Macao, an ex-Army man on the run from an unknown past, Nick (Robert Mitchum) and singer/hustler Julie (Jane Russell) get off to a rocky start when she lifts his wallet. Landing in Macao, Julie is hired as a singer by a casino operator named Vincent (Brad Dexter), an American who is wanted for murder back in the States. Convinced that Nick is secretly a detective sent to abduct him back to the US, the three end up in a dangerous triangle, as both men set their romantic sights on Julie.
My first impression of this film was, wow, these characters suck. Nick rescues Julie from a sexual assault aboard the boat, only to then to crowd her into "paying him back" with a kiss. What a gem! Then moments later, Julie changes her stockings, just throwing the old ones into the river. So, yeah, not a great impression of either of them.
But as the film goes on, the simple-but-effective thriller elements, combined with Mitchum and Russell's natural charms kick into gear and it's a pretty breezy ride from there on out.
While I didn't 100% buy the romantic chemistry between the characters, I did buy the dynamic between them that these are two people who have had rough times and thus can empathize with each other. They are well matched in exuding both an easy charm and a sharp wit, which gives their interactions and banter a nice rhythm.
It was also nice seeing some (but not all, unfortunately) of the Chinese characters played by actual Asian actors. There is even a nod toward the treatment of the citizen of Macao when an American gives a Chinese barber instructions in obnoxious "Chinese speak" (concluding with "chop chop"--oof!), and she retorts in perfect English, "So who do you like this year, the Giants or the Dodgers?" and then laughs at his startled response. It's not necessarily a wholly progressive portrayal of Asian characters, but frankly I was expecting to cringe the whole way through and it was nice to not be confronted with lazy, old-school racism every five minutes.
The plot itself is a bit slight. There wasn't too much that surprised me, and both the thriller aspect and the romantic aspect felt kind of underdeveloped. The film moves along at a good enough pace that you don't really feel the film drag. But it felt like there was just something missing to elevate it into a more memorable story.
An easy way to spend 90 minutes, and sure to please anyone who is a fan of Mitchum or Russell.
Macao, 1952
Meeting aboard a ship headed for Macao, an ex-Army man on the run from an unknown past, Nick (Robert Mitchum) and singer/hustler Julie (Jane Russell) get off to a rocky start when she lifts his wallet. Landing in Macao, Julie is hired as a singer by a casino operator named Vincent (Brad Dexter), an American who is wanted for murder back in the States. Convinced that Nick is secretly a detective sent to abduct him back to the US, the three end up in a dangerous triangle, as both men set their romantic sights on Julie.
My first impression of this film was, wow, these characters suck. Nick rescues Julie from a sexual assault aboard the boat, only to then to crowd her into "paying him back" with a kiss. What a gem! Then moments later, Julie changes her stockings, just throwing the old ones into the river. So, yeah, not a great impression of either of them.
But as the film goes on, the simple-but-effective thriller elements, combined with Mitchum and Russell's natural charms kick into gear and it's a pretty breezy ride from there on out.
While I didn't 100% buy the romantic chemistry between the characters, I did buy the dynamic between them that these are two people who have had rough times and thus can empathize with each other. They are well matched in exuding both an easy charm and a sharp wit, which gives their interactions and banter a nice rhythm.
It was also nice seeing some (but not all, unfortunately) of the Chinese characters played by actual Asian actors. There is even a nod toward the treatment of the citizen of Macao when an American gives a Chinese barber instructions in obnoxious "Chinese speak" (concluding with "chop chop"--oof!), and she retorts in perfect English, "So who do you like this year, the Giants or the Dodgers?" and then laughs at his startled response. It's not necessarily a wholly progressive portrayal of Asian characters, but frankly I was expecting to cringe the whole way through and it was nice to not be confronted with lazy, old-school racism every five minutes.
The plot itself is a bit slight. There wasn't too much that surprised me, and both the thriller aspect and the romantic aspect felt kind of underdeveloped. The film moves along at a good enough pace that you don't really feel the film drag. But it felt like there was just something missing to elevate it into a more memorable story.
An easy way to spend 90 minutes, and sure to please anyone who is a fan of Mitchum or Russell.