Versus The Scarecrow: Eps 6 Part 2: Kansas City Confidential (1952)
VERSUS THE SCARECROW EPISODE 6: BACK 2 THA HOOD. I decided to challenge myself and really open the doors of my film knowledge and take on “The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide”. It’s 808 pages of movies and movie reviews from some of the most knowledgeable movie people you don’t know. It’s a book put together by a staff that praises, and destroys, some of our favorites and not so favorites. You can read the rest of my series here.
Just a quick refresher: each episode, I’m going to tackle three films from three different categories. Two films will be films I’ve never seen before and one will be one I’ve seen before or own. For the new films, well, new to me, I’m going to review them like a typical FTS review using the TOAST Rating system. But, for the films I’ve seen, I’m going give a quick paragraph or two about why I like or don’t like the film. We’ll try to include the poster and trailer for each film. “….and here. We. Go!”
In this episode, I’ll be taking a look at films that share one thing, amongst potential others, in common: The name of their setting/location is in the title. Although I had many to choose from, I’ll be looking at the Judy Garland classic Meet Me in St. Louis, the black and white film noir classic Kansas City Confidential and the silent film masterpiece Metropolis.
Kansas City Confidential (1952) Directed by Phil Karlson. Starring: John Payne, Coleen Gray and Preston Foster. IMDB says: ”An ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits.”
Kansas City Confidential (KCC) is an interesting film that took me a few minutes to grasp. The opening sequence feels a bit muddy and convoluted at first, but as the rest of the film unfolds, you start to piece together what just happened and why it happened. It did take a rewatch as well but maybe that’s just me. It’s the story of an ex-con Joe Rolfe (John Payne) trying to become an upstanding citizen again but falls into some trouble when he’s framed for a million dollar bank robbery. It takes him from Kansas City all the way to Mexico. With KCC being a black and white film noir classic, I was expecting to see elements I’ve seen over and over again in todays crime films. What I got was a concept and little ideas that felt new, despite the film being now 60 years old. From the way they were able to con the con, to robbing the bank, to escaping to Mexico, to the little twists along the way the film felt fresh and rewarding. Sure there were typical plot devices and deceptions, but I’m sure for it’s time in 1952, many audiences were surprised and shocked.
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