Second Chance

A prime example of the word 'eccentric,' movie producer Howard Hughes did it all in his lifetime. He was in business, he flew planes, he was a movie producer and director, and in doing so became one of the richest people in the world at the time.  His studio -- RKO Pictures -- turned out quite a few interesting pictures after he took over in 1948, some in a good sense, some in a bad sense and others in a so awful it's really good sense.

As a producer, Hughes tried new things. He wanted audiences to enjoy his pictures so it was the rare classic that came from RKO (although there are some high quality films). His movies often had a little bit of cheese, a little bit of appealing to the common man, and some just pandering to what audiences wanted to see however trivial.  So in 1953, Hughes released RKO's first movie in a new fad/format that moviegoers were eating up...3-D.  Glad that went away, right? Oh, it's back? This is awkward. Anyways, his first foray into 3-D movies came with 1953's Second Chance, a typically odd Hughes film with all sorts of different elements rolled into one mess of a picture.

After accidentally killing an opponent in a boxing match in New York City, prize fighter Russ Lambert (Robert Mitchum) is hiding from the spotlight. He's traveling through Mexico and South America, taking on fighters that he can beat with his eyes closed. Nearing the end of his tour, Russ meets Clare Sinclair (Linda Darnell), a beautiful woman with a secret that she refuses to reveal to him.  Spending time together, they quickly fall for each other only to have Russ find out what's bothering Clare.  She is a former girlfriend of an American mobster, the government putting pressure on her to testify against him. Clare's on the run though with one of the mobster's hired guns, Cappy Gordon (Jack Palance), trailing her and looking to shut her up for good. What has Russ gotten himself into?

Even for a Howard Hughes produced movie, this is a weird one.  The basic plot description sounded pretty straightforward with Mitchum's boxer biting off more than he knows when he meets the pretty girl.  Mitchum in the lead? Fine by me. Darnell as the sexy femme fatale? No problem there. Palance as the possibly unhinged gunman? Perfect casting. Hughes, director Rudolph Mate and the screenplay throw all those "known" elements into the blender and just go to town, having fun with the bizarreness of it all. It's difficult to criticize the movie too much because it wasn't meant to be award-winning material, but it just gets weirder and weirder for the sake of being weird.

Throw out the gimmick of a 3D movie (I still don't get the appeal), and the best thing going for 'Chance' is that the entire movie was filmed on location in Mexico. There are some obvious indoor sets, but most of the movie was shot on the streets of Cuernavaca, and they look beautiful.  Can you have too much of a good thing though? All the on-location shooting turns into 'Howard Hughes' Tours of Mexico,' sacrificing any momentum the story had for some scenery and touristy attractions.  With just 82 minutes to begin with, it's not like there was a ton of time to waste, but the story meanders along anyways. A solid middle section of the movie completely forgets any trouble going on, focusing on a night-long date between Russ and Clare. That murdering gunman following her? Eh, forget about it while we dance.

The weird for weird's sake comes to a boiling point late when the story refocuses.  On a cable car connecting two mountaintop Mexican villages, a cable snaps with Russ, Clare and Cappy on-board, along with six or seven other passengers.  'Chance' gets points for originality, but the ending is so out of left field that you feel like you've been dropped into another movie.  More than just another movie, I thought maybe we'd time-traveled into the 1970s, decade of the disaster movie! Worse than that is the solution as to who will be saved. The passengers decide to let a little boy -- who's just seen his father plummet to his death -- get blind-folded and randomly pick the three people who will board the rescue cart. Traumatized much?  The ending on the about to fall cable car is pretty exciting. It just comes out of nowhere and completely blind sides you.  Okay, it blind sided me.

Through all the 3D and gimmicks and crazy twists, the movie kept me interested...for the most part. Mitchum is Mitchum, looking like he's sleepwalking a bit but still as cool as ever.  Darnell is incredibly sexy, getting the Jane Russell treatment with a variety of low-cut, tight outfits while also running around in high heels.  Palance is Palance, the psychotic gunman who loves Darnell's Clare but also wants to kill her.  The cast only does so much in a movie that is all over the place. It's not a bad movie -- although it certainly tries -- but it is by no means a good movie either. Somewhere in that middle ground where average movies go to die.

Second Chance <---TCM trailer (1953): **/****