Underworld U.S.A.

A talented actor and a star who never rose to any sort of cult or iconic status, Cliff Robertson died September 10th at the age of 88, capping a career that dated back to the 1950s. He started off like so many actors in television before making the jump to feature films. Robertson starred in over 50 movies, including most recently in the Spiderman movies when he was introduced to a new generation of moviegoers. Never a huge star, he remains one of my favorites, starring in movies like PT 109 and The Devil's Brigade.

After spending most of the 1950s in television, Robertson did turn to feature films in the 1960s, including 1961's Underworld U.S.A., one of his best roles and an impressive starring debut. The movie comes from director Sam Fuller, a WWII vet and a director who was as tough as they come both personally and in his movies. 'Underworld' would serve as a good double feature with Fuller's 1963 movie, Shock Corridor, and for all the wrong reasons. What starts as an interesting film noir gets too hammy, too over the top before all is said and done. In a cast full of relative unknowns, Robertson is the best thing going in this hyper film noir.

As a 14-year old kid, Tolly Devlin sees his father beaten to death in an alley but is only able to identify one of the four killers. He turns to a life of petty crime and ends up in prison serving an extended sentence, stumbling across the one killer he can identify, dying from a heart ailment. Now in his late 20s, Tolly (Robertson) gets the names from the dying man and upon earning his parole goes to work exacting his revenge. The three men are all higher-ups in a national crime syndicate so instead of callously gunning them down, Tolly works from the inside, rising through the ranks of the criminal underworld. He slowly climbs to a position where he can do something only to find out the D.A.'s investigator, Driscoll (Larry Gates), is closing in on the men Tolly wants to get at. Could he manipulate even the Feds into helping him finish his revenge? 

All the elements of a successful film noir movie are here; the dark, dank backstreets, the anti-hero, the damaged woman, the irredeemable baddie, the back stabbing and murder. The black and white filming gives a throwback feel to 'Underworld' to the late 1940s when noir was at the height off its popularity. In an effort to make the familiar noir formula more interesting though, Fuller amps it up to an 11 or so. It becomes too over the top, leaving even somewhat believable in the rearview mirror. A syndicate hitman (Richard Rust) revels in running over a little girl on her bike, later burning a man alive and similarly enjoying it a tad too much.

I guess it is the portrayal of the mobsters that bugged me the most. Connors (Robert Emhardt) is in charge of the national syndicate, ruling with an iron and unbending fist. They are so ridiculously over the top that the portrayal is unintentionally funny more than evil and intimidating. The syndicate is fronted by a nationwide charity that even sponsors a weekly kids swimming day at their own pool, pretending to be a reputable business. The three killers of Tolly's father include Paul Dubov, Gerald Milton and Allan Gruener, but they're not the bad guys so much as Rust's psychotic hired killer and Emhardt's Connors, who dominate the "badness" for lack of a better description. Just as the cherry on top, not only are these mobsters completely ridiculous, they're also mind-blowingly stupid, not realizing that trouble has started soon after the new guy -- Tolly -- arrived on the scene.

Through his career, Robertson had a knack for playing flawed heroes, the lead who was fighting through personal struggles. Of all the movies I've seen though, this character, Tolly Devlin, is the darkest by far. He's the anti-hero, which is a more appropriate description than 'the good guy' because he just isn't a good guy. Devlin is the lesser of two evils compared to the syndicate he's trying to take down.  He's obsessed with exacting revenge no matter the cost, including sacrificing a possible relationship with Cuddles (Dolores Dorn), a young woman caught up in the syndicate's web, and turning his back on surrogate mom, Sandy (Beatrice Kay). Robertson brings Devlin to life, giving him an obsession, a cynicism and a general darkness that can be startling to watch. He has a look in his eye that makes you think he is capable of anything. I prefer Robertson in a more traditional hero role, but it's a nice change of pace to see otherwise.

The reviews are surprisingly positive for this movie. I don't think it is a bad movie, but at the same time the effort and intention comes across much too hard in the attempt. Tap the brakes or something there, Mr. Fuller.  Just like Fuller's Shock Corridor, the effort in making a unique story is so interested in impressing the viewer that it loses all sense of reality.  The finale -- the last 20 minutes or so -- is a fitting end, one that's telegraphed basically from the beginning. You know how this movie will end. So while it's not a favorite of mine, I can appreciate 'Underworld' for Cliff Robertson's performance. RIP Cliff, you'll be missed.

Underworld U.S.A. <---TCM clips/trailer (1961): ** 1/2 /****