Tag Archives: Frank DeKova

Brad takes on THE MOB (1951), starring Broderick Crawford!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

In my quest to see every movie and TV show that Charles Bronson ever appeared in, I finally decided to take on THE MOB this morning. I’ve held off for years because this early, uncredited role as a dockworker only gives Bronson a couple of lines. He looks like a natural fixture on the docks, but his screen time only adds up to a minute or two in total.

With Bronson being little more than some temporary dockside scenery, I settled in for a story about Johnny Damico (Broderick Crawford), a tough, no-nonsense cop who’s doing some rainy night ring-shopping for his girlfriend when a man is killed just outside the store. He bungles up the whole situation, and the killer gets away. It turns out the killing was a mob hit and soon Damico is going undercover as Tim Flynn from New Orleans so he can infiltrate and bust the organized crime ring operating on the waterfront. 

Broderick Crawford is so good in this role. His Damico / Flynn has a cynical sense of humor that I enjoyed. He thinks fast, he’s rough around the edges, and he even gets to slap some bad guys around a time or two. He’s one of those characters whose mouth should probably get him in more trouble. Well, now that I think about it, his mouth does almost get him killed a couple of times. Crawford and Bronson would work again together a few years later in the prison film BIG HOUSE USA (1955). 

With Crawford’s performance anchoring the movie, Director Robert Parrish delivers a tight, efficient and entertaining crime story that clocks in at just under an hour and a half. One of the things that made the film enjoyable for me is the interesting and recognizable supporting cast of actors who pop up throughout the film. I’ve already mentioned Bronson, but actors like Ernest Borgnine, Neville Brand and Frank DeKova all show up to torment our undercover cop at various points throughout the film. It’s always fun for me to see a cast full of familiar faces! 

At the end of the day, I enjoyed THE MOB. It doesn’t try to be anything more than a good crime film, and with Broderick Crawford’s excellent performance, it does its job well. 

MAN WITH A CAMERA (TV Series) – starring Charles Bronson – S1, E8: Blind Spot 

Posted on by Bradley Crain

First, I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who read this review! I’m so thankful for The Shattered Lens and the opportunity to share my love of movies, TV and pop culture with all of you! Now on with the show…

Originally airing on December 5th, 1958, “Blind Spot” opens with free-lance photographer, Mike Kovac (Charles Bronson), receiving a phone call from his best friend Terry Ross (Norman Alden), who is in Lisbon, Portugal. A very nervous Terry tells Kovac that he will be airmailing him some very important negatives for something “dynamite” that he’s working on. While they’re on the phone, an imposing man with a wide-brimmed, boater hat steps into Terry’s room and shoots him dead. Hearing the shots, Kovac is on the next plane to Lisbon to talk to the police and try to find out what happened. Apparently this is big news as the Lisbon paper even reports that Kovac is on his way. The killer, who we soon learn is named Al Alviella (Mario Alcalde), is waiting on Kovac in front of the police station and through a variety of events, is able to convince him that he was Terry’s friend and can help him in his investigation. It seems the police believe that Terry was working for an underworld espionage organization and that he got killed for it. Kovac doesn’t believe there’s any possibility that his old wartime photographer buddy could be involved in anything dirty. But with the killer Al’s false stories and leads, as well as Kovac’s discovery of Terry’s wife Renee (Chana Eden), when he didn’t even know Terry was married, Kovac begins to question how well he really knew his old friend. When the truth finally all comes to light, will Kovac be able to get out of Lisbon alive?!

After the disappointing melodrama of the previous episode, MAN WITH A CAMERA gets back on track with “Blind Spot.” First, we get a somewhat intriguing crime storyline in this episode. While we know from the beginning that Kovac’s friend was murdered and who the killer is, the story still has a few surprises up its sleeve. The final reveal and fight scenes are very well handled, with Bronson continuing to prove that no one can throw a punch quite like him. Second, the episode has an appealing theme of “friendship forged by fire,” in this case by serving together in World War II. With the circumstantial evidence mounting, Kovac begins to doubt his old friend, and it’s here that the new wife steps in and says “Terry said you were his friend… his best friend!” Kovac knows in his heart that his friend just couldn’t have done these things, no matter how bad it looks, and he keeps pushing to find out the truth. I want to have friends like that! 

Finally, “Blind Spot” contains some solid performances and an interesting guest appearance. Bronson himself is quite emotional and demonstrative in this episode. He yells at the police when they tell him they believe his old buddy is dirty. He yells at the shadowy underworld “man” who tells him that his buddy was on his payroll, and then proceeds to start punching henchmen until they get the upper hand on him. And I’ve already mentioned the coolness of the final fight scenes where he clearly does his own stunts! I also found Mario Alcalde to be charismatic as the killer Al Alviella. There’s something about him, maybe it was his voice, that kind of reminds me of Andy Garcia, an actor I really like. Alcalde appeared on most of the good TV shows of the late 50’s and 60’s, but unfortunately died at the young age of 44 in 1971. One last thing about the casting that I found interesting involves character actor Frank DeKova, who has one scene here as a shadowy, Lisbon underworld figure credited only as “The Man.” DeKova would play one scene as a shadowy underworld figure known only as “The Man” 14 years later in Bronson’s action classic THE MECHANIC! 

“Blind Spot” isn’t a perfect episode, as it does have a fairly slow build up after its entertaining opening scene. However, the excitement of the ending scenes, the more interesting storyline, and the good performances from its main players are more than enough to get a recommendation from me. 

#MondayMuggers present THE MECHANIC (1972) starring Charles Bronson & Jan-Michael Vincent!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday June 16th, we are showing THE MECHANIC (1972) starring Charles Bronson, Jan-Michael Vincent, Keenan Wynn, Jill Ireland, and Frank DeKova.

In THE MECHANIC, Charles Bronson plays a hitman who takes on a young apprentice (Jan-Michael Vincent) and trains him to be a professional assassin. But in their world, you never know when you’ll go from being the killer… to becoming the next target!

I reviewed THE MECHANIC for The Shattered Lens back on New Year’s Day!

THE MECHANIC (1972) – Celebrate the New Year with one of Charles Bronson’s most iconic roles!

Join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch THE MECHANIC! It’s on Amazon Prime. The trailer is included below:

I review THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955), starring James Stewart!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Happy Birthday, Jimmy Stewart!

I’m celebrating Jimmy Stewart’s birthday by watching his western THE MAN FROM LARAMIE! Stewart plays Will Lockhart, a man who has run into some bad luck. His brother, a U.S. cavalryman, was recently killed in an attack by Apaches using repeating rifles outside of the town of Coronado, New Mexico. In an attempt to track down the man who sold the rifles to the Indians, Lockhart has come to Coronado from Laramie, WY, to snoop around. He’s welcomed to town by Dave Waggoman (Alex Nicol), we’ll call him “Crazy Dave,” the son of powerful local rancher Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp). Accusing Lockhart of stealing salt off of their land, Crazy Dave proceeds to drag him with a rope, burn his wagons and shoot his mules. Before he can do even more damage to Lockhart, the foreman of the Waggoman ranch Vic Hansbro (Arthur Kennedy) comes along and stops him. Vic seems like a reasonable man, but he does ask Lockhart to move on down the trail before there’s any more trouble. Lockhart isn’t leaving until he finds out more about those rifles so he politely declines by going back into town, finding Crazy Dave, and kicking his ass. He then goes to see Alec and asks to be paid back for the wagons and mules that crazy Dave destroyed. Alec pays Lockhart back and then calls Vic in to come see him. Here’s where we start to get a feel for Waggoman family dynamics. You see, Alec loves his son no matter how crazy he is, and he expects Vic to keep him out of trouble. He even takes the cost of the destroyed wagons and dead mules out of Vic’s pay instead of Crazy Dave’s. We find out that Crazy Dave is jealous of Vic, and that Vic feels underappreciated by a man he has treated like a father for many years. Against this backdrop of family jealousy and insanity, Lockhart will continue to dig around until he finds out who sold the rifles that killed his brother. Could it be Vic or Crazy Dave?

THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is the last of five westerns that Stewart worked on under the direction of Anthony Mann. Their work is legendary, including the western classics WINCHESTER ‘73 (1950), BEND OF THE RIVER (1952), THE NAKED SPUR (1953), and THE FAR COUNTRY (1954). In my opinion, they may have saved their best for last. Jimmy Stewart gives a masterful performance in the role of Will Lockhart. Stewart was very smart in the way he played his parts in westerns. Tall and gangly, he would never have been a believable western star if he had played his roles more like a John Wayne or Gary Cooper. Rather, his character here is driven by an uncontrollable desire for revenge, so no matter what happens to him, outside of being killed, he’s going to keep on coming. In this movie, he’s dragged, beaten and even has his hand shot from point blank range, but that doesn’t stop him. And every so often he flashes that Jimmy Stewart smile and you can’t help but have complete sympathy for him. The supporting performances are good as well, especially from Donald Crisp as Alec Waggoman and Arthur Kennedy as Vic Hansbro. Neither are completely bad men, but they make bad decisions based on emotions that most of us can completely understand. They’re so good in the roles that we can’t help but kinda like them in spite of those bad decisions. One of the things I love about old westerns is the way they deal with honest emotions and universal truths. At one point in the film, after discovering that Vic has lied to him about something, Alec tells him, “Once you start lying, there’s no way to stop!” If you’ve ever lied about something before, you know that one lie always leads to another, and then to another. The drama in THE MAN FROM LARAMIE centers around what happens to the characters when the truth finally comes to light. In my opinion it’s great stuff, and produces one of my very favorite westerns! 

On a side note, I love this movie so much that I demanded that my wife and I stop and eat in Laramie a couple of years ago when we were visiting family in Wyoming. Here’s a pic from that wonderful day. I wanted to make sure we got the sign in the back that said Laramie!