Friday

I, THE JURY (1953)



“How could you?”
“It was easy.”

Guys who get into a lot of fights, and win them, have a secret: Don’t hit a man in the jaw, or even on the nose. Hit him in the mouth, and hit him hard. People just have a thing about their teeth. If there’s a character anywhere in crime films that understands this, it’s Mike Hammer.

Hammer polarizes crime film enthusiasts. I eat my film noir hard boiled, so I guess that makes me a supporter. I can understand where others are coming from though: the chauvinism, the sadism, the uncouth vibe of Spillane’s writing is troublesome—Hammer beats women as often as he kisses them, just look at the posters. Many prefer Bogart’s Sam Spade or Dick Powell’s Phillip Marlowe: tough guys for sure, but smart ones who’ll think their way out of a jam before they’ll dust knuckles. Hammer, as his name suggests, simply browbeats and bludgeons until he gets what he’s after. Bogart’s Spade is practically omniscient; despite the aura of danger that surrounds him he sees all the angles and stays two steps ahead. Hammer, a Joe who wears his war experience on his sleeve, has a different worldview and a blunter set of skills. He doesn’t see life’s gray areas and doesn’t really care to. For Hammer, violence is the easiest way to solve problems and overcome obstacles, and since he’s a loner he’s always overmatched. One never knows how things will turn out for him, and, perhaps, that’s what makes the character so exciting.

Hammer was a big screen debutante in 1953’s I, The Jury. Biff Elliot didn’t have much of a career in films, though he had an on-and-off television career. Hammer gave him his big chance at stardom, and his never-was status is an indication of how it worked out. Elliot lacked charisma and he wasn’t a very good actor—lead roles just weren’t his cup of tea. Peggie Castle, who is remembered more for her legs than her acting chops dances rings around him as psychologist Charlotte Manning. By the final scene you are ready to throw an Oscar at her. It’s practically a shame. Biff is visibly trying hard, but his performance is just too one-dimensional to make a lasting impression—all huffing and puffing with a Boston-Irish lilt. It’s fitting that he resembles Ben Affleck.

The film remains of interest however. It’s certainly an oddity in that it was presented in 3-D, though you’d never know to watch it today—the in-your-face shots of most 3-D movies are missing, so it’s unclear what the rush of seeing this in the theater would have been. Nevertheless cinematographer John Alton delivers as usual, with a few iconic P.I. shots (not surprising considering that Elliot makes it through almost the entire film without doffing his trench coat and fedora). Alton won an Oscar the previous year for his color work on An American in Paris, but he was capable of extraordinary black and white photography. He shot countless noir pictures, including the ultra-stylized Witness to Murder. Alton succeeds in creating a cohesive film noir vision, impressive considering he was forced to compose many shots just to hide the film’s low budget. For example, there are zero establishing shots. Most scenes have Hammer coming and going through some door or window, but the camera never pulls back far enough to give the impression of where he actually is. Viewers would be left completely disoriented were it not for conveniently placed signs or plaques that read “Doctor’s Office” or “Police Headquarters.”

Alton really scores with a few shots, and bookends the movie with crackerjack death scenes. The show opens with a murder that gets Hammer revved up. His pal is shot from a towel-wrapped .45 aimed through cracked-open door. The stiff drops to the floor like a sack of spuds, and the opening titles roll over his crumpled frame, as he drags himself towards the camera and his waiting shoulder-rig. It’s only when he begins his death-crawl that we can see he’s missing an arm—his prosthesis resting on the same rickety chair as his gun. It’s a good opening that ultimately makes the rest of the picture that much more disappointing. 

The subtlest use of Alton’s camera comes mid-film, and finds Hammer and Charlotte Manning exiting his drab office building. As the couple approaches Mike’s car a sedan roars by and gunfire peppers the wall behind them. Taking their seats they notice a bullet hole in the windshield. As the psychologist settles into the passenger’s seat, the street lamps cast the shadow of the bullet hole smack dab in the middle of her forehead. It’s one of those shots that makes people fall in love with noir. 

The story also requires Mike to trudge around Manhattan and a few rural suburbs. In a clever trick that helps mask the low budget, stills of Christmas cards introduce each scene, the cards’ illustrations featuring of snow covered streets, or “Greetings From…” text alert the audience to Mike’s whereabouts. The cards also reinforce the noir sensibilities of the film—their messages of good will and peace offering stark contrast to the pervasive atmosphere of violence, as does the ironic use of carols in the soundtrack to embellish the murder scenes.

The plot is simple: Jack Williams, Hammer’s best buddy and former brother in arms, has been killed, and Hammer has to get to the bottom of it. Standing over his pal’s corpse, he vows private justice: I, The Jury. Mostly we follow Hammer around greater New York, as he tracks down everyone who attended a party that his dead friend held just before his murder. As Mike crosses off names and the bodies pile up, he eventually finds the person that he’s after and things wrap up as expected. Along the way there’s plenty of head-cracking and rat-a-tat Spillane dialog. Hammer can’t be Hammer without a girl around, and Peggie Castle makes for a stunning, if not exactly authentic mental health professional. She’s out of his league and there’s no spark between them, which is fine given that her affections are a ruse anyway—this is noir, remember. 

Make no mistake, this isn’t Kiss Me DeadlyI, The Jury is a watchable low-budget film noir with good direction, A-1 cinematography, and a dull lead propped up by a game supporting cast. But warts and all, it’s also the first screen appearance of a crime fiction icon as important as Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe. There is something primitive and compelling about the how Spillane’s Mike Hammer puts his head down and kicks the hell out of the world. He embodies the joyously stupid tough guy fantasies of American men, and he even gets the girl. Press play, let’s watch. 



I, The Jury (1953)
Director: Harry Essex
Cinematographer: John Alton
Screenplay: Harry Essex
Starring: Biff Elliot, Peggie Castle. Elisha Cook has an unbilled bit part.
Released by: United Artists
Running time: 87 minutes

9/17

10 comments:

  1. Great review. I'm gonna add the film to my NetFlix queue.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Frank, Unfortunately this isn't available on DVD, for that matter neither is the 1983 remake with Armande Assante, though it airs every few months on Fox Movie Channel. I had to really scrounge to get an old copy from overseas. Hopefully some day.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great review. I'd love to see this some day. I read the novel when I was 15, and it had a big impact on me. The Armand Assante version from the '80s was disappointing. Little of the novel made it onto the screen, and it was so ludicrous it bordered on being a spoof, but this one sounds right up my alley.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was hooked on the Mike Hammer books from the time I was 12. I agree that all the past films
    & TV Productions have not done justice to Mickey
    Spillane's character. I am hoping some day that
    a studio would take the time to capture the true
    essence of the novels.

    BJR

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice!

    If I were King of Hollywood, one of my first projects would be to make the Mike Hammer books into black-and-white movies again, with the right Hammer. Ralph Meeker was an ok Hammer, but in L.A.? I liked Spillane himself in The Girl Hunters, and I like Assante when he's doing crazy like he can. Stacy Keach, no. I think Kevin Dobson came the closest. These days, watching Tom Selleck play a great Jesse Stone makes me want remakes with casting I like.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great review, thanks! What's your take on why Spillane's wildly successful novels did so poorly on film? Also, is "I, The Jury" available on DVD or VCR yet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dan, I still don't think this has become available yet - I'm not sure what the holdup is. Same goes for 'The Long Wait' with Anthony Quinn. As for the success of the films, I think there are more concrete reasons: most importantly, they all tend to be B pictures, and second, films need a broader audience than books in order to be considered successful — so, with the way Spillane treats women, it's an uphill battle.

      Delete
  7. I have that one transfer from a 35 mm on dvd, great film noir!

    ReplyDelete
  8. at one stage, A character accuses Hammer of being always dispensing wisecracks. I must have missed those.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I recently managed to get a bootleg DVD of this from a dealer on Ebay who specializes in out-of-print items like this. Not the greatest picture or sound quality, and you can tell watching the opening credits the right edge of the picture is cut off... but it's a HELL of an upgrade from the miserable videotape I recorded off a late-night commercial station decades ago.

    You know how they say your first is your favorite? Well, I came in with Stacy Keach, and tracked down nearly every Hammer out there before seeing this. To my astonishment... THIS-- THIS!!! -- has become my FAVORITE version of Mike Hammer.

    Biff Elliot (who I first saw as the ill-fated "Shmitter" on the 1st season STAR TREK classic "Devil In The Dark") somehow to me embodies Hammer better and more authentically than any other actor I've seen play the role.

    Preston Foster makes a great Pat Chambers, a guy who in one breath warns Mike to tone it down, while simultaneously supplying his pal with a list of suspects to check out, knowing Mike will do a more thorough job than he could as a cop.

    And Margaret Sheridan-- the REAL star of "THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD"-- oh my God! She became my FAVORITE Velda, beating out even my long-favorite Tanya Roberts.

    The rest of the cast are terrific, especially Alan Reed (alias "Fred Flintsone") and Elisha Cook Jr., who performs a trifecta for also having been in a Sam Spade and a Philip Marlowe film. I don't for one second believe "Bobo" was ever a member of the gang-- he was murdered and framed... but only after he gave Mike the clue he needed to identify the serial murderer.

    Then there's The Brill Building-- scene of so many classics like "Demon With A Glass Hand" on "THE OUTER LIMITS"... or James Garner's office in "THE LITTLE SISTER" (alias "Marlowe"-- hey, Marlowe & Hammer were neighbors!).

    I couldn't figure out this mystery. HAMMER DID. What a guy! Totally honest, loyal and incorruptible.

    The REAL crime is that Spillane licensed out 3 Hammer novels to Parklane, and somehow they had 3 completely different production teams and casts of actors do them. ALL 3 should have had Elliot, Foster & Sheridan!! They were THE BEST by a mile.

    ReplyDelete