Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** Restored to it's original pristine print in 1999 the film "The Hoodlum" is quickly becoming one of the best film noir movies of the 1940's and 50's with the in and out of the slammer, in real life as well as on the screen, Lawrence Tierney as career criminal Vincent Lubeck a man without a conscience to who he hurts even his own family members in trying to make it big time in his chosen profession. We see at the start of the movie "The Hoodlum" Lubeck being released on bail after serving six years for a stick up robbery of a local candy store. Given a chance to go straight Lubeck instead goes straight to committing crimes that ends up destroying everyone including his long suffering mother, Lisa Golm, who's recommendation and assertion of her son being greatly misunderstood to the state parole board in that he's really a "Good Boy" who fell in with the wrong crowd gave him an early parole.Given a job at his brother Johnny's, played by Tierney's real life kid brother Edward Tierney,gas station as a station attendant Lubeck finds that doing an honest job isn't in his interest. He want's to knock off the Fidelity Savings Bank across the street from the gas station and gets a number of his ex-convict friends to help he do it. In between Lubeck gets involved with Johnny's girlfriend Rosa, Allene Roberts, and after forcing himself on her gets her pregnant with his child. Ashamed in what she did, which in no way was her fault, the guilt ridden Rosa ends up jumping off a roof killing herself as well as her and Lubeck's unborn child.The well planned robbery of the Fidelity Savings Bank goes according to plan even though a number of police and robbers ended up dead wounded and captured. It's at Lubeck & Co. hideout that things really get out of hand when the stolen cash was to be split up by the surviving crooks. That's with the greedy Lubeck wanting a bigger cut of the take and ending up getting none of it in that wild shootout, between the bank robbers, that followed. A wanted man, by both the law and criminal underworld, Lubeck seeks redemption for his very uncivilized life from his dying mom who had since disowned him. As it turned out it was brother Johnny who tracked the low life rat down and in the end put him in his place where he so rightfully belonged: The city garbage dump where he originally came from.Powerful performances by Lawrence Tireney as well as Lisa Golm that really makes the movie click with all those, including myself, watching it. It's by far the scene where Lubeck goes to see his dying mom while the cops are hot on his tail that stick out far and above all the other great scenes in the movie. Knowing that he's got a short time to live, he's in no way going to be taken alive by the police, Lubeck want's his mom's forgiveness for all the terrible things that he did to her as well as everyone else in his rotten life. He, by her dying right in front of him, didn't get it. All he got was what was coming to him and It couldn't have come soon enough.

st-shot Brevity is the only strong point in this sloppy little noir featuring Laurence Tierney and brother Ed. Contrived and rushed it makes little to no attempt to establish veracity and the whole affair has the feel and look of adults acting kids playing cops and robbers in a neighborhood alleyway.Career criminal Vincent Lubeck is up for parole and while all indications point to denial his mother comes in and sobs enough to spring him. He goes to work for his brother at his filling station but still filled with rage and self pity decides to rob the bank across the street. He gets a gang together to look conspicuous then on the day of the robbery simply puts the hose back on the pump crosses the street and gets into a fierce gun battle with armored car guards. The Hoodlum is a mishmash of bad acting and crass composition with complete inattention to detail. The robbery and getaway stumbles, bordering on comic with montages of a fully mobilized LA police force and newspaper stories hitting the streets within ten minutes of the robbery still in progress by way of a three car funeral. Tierney as usual is convincingly threatening but his ticking time bomb demeanor should make it clear to everyone to stay away from the hair brained heist. The rest of the cast more or less walks on egg shells around violent Vince. Intimidating as Tierney is he remains no match for this haphazardly constructed unintentionally comic caper that collapses atop him.

MartinHafer I read on IMDb that a new restored version of this film was just released. However, my review is based only on the public domain version--which may or may not be roughly the same picture. How much restoration was done is unknown to me.The film stars Lawrence Tierney and one of his real-life brothers. For some very, very fascinating reading, read up on Tierney's life--he was an incredibly dangerous sort of guy--and a lot like the sociopathic character he played in this film. Now that Tierney has passed away, I have no trouble saying this...otherwise I'd keep my mouth shut, as even as an elderly guy he was quite the unpredictable terror! But, I should point out, that because Tierney was such a screwball, he was able to play some of the most menacing and convincing criminals in noir films such as "Born to Kill" and "Reservoir Dogs".Lawrence Tierney plays an angry man who was just paroled. Instead of learning from his mistakes, he has an incredibly bad attitude and blames everyone for his problems...everyone but himself. It's obvious that despite his family trying to help him go straight, this hoodlum is determined to return to a life of crime. After all, in his mind the world owes him something and working hard at a real job is for suckers! This unrelenting badness made the character terrific and dark even by film noir standards. He destroys his brother's girlfriend, kills with no compunction and attacks everyone around him--making him very memorable. As a result, the film takes a rather ordinary story idea with a small budget and makes it much more. It's gritty and far more realistic than a typical film of the era--and well worth seeing for fans of noir.If you do see the film, some particularly noteworthy scenes are Tierney slapping a woman as well as the final scene between him and his horrified mother and brother. Great stuff! By the way, in an interesting bit of casting, Lawrence Tierney's real-life brother, Edward, plays his brother in the film as well!

skullislandsurferdotcom Paper-thin melodrama about a newly released convict, Vincent, played by Lawrence Tierney, master of the scowling grimace, working at younger brother Johnny's gas station and not liking his contrived freedom one bit. There's a chip on Vince's shoulder the size of the bank across the street, and he wants a quick buck instead of pouring gas for complaining customers, who all act like they haven't had their morning coffee.Lawrence's real life brother Edward plays Johnny, somewhat bland in delivery but he, and Aaleen Roberts as his uptight girlfriend, who ends up falling for Vincent after a few forced smooches, provide only filler.The opening credit sequence, foreshadowing, then enveloping, the climactic brother-to-brother showdown, is a nice treat. As is the creatively-devised bank heist.But overall this is a criminal-quickie that pays off in counterfeit bills, although the time's spent decently enough. Just don't expect a classic... And prepare to box (or even spike) your ears whenever Vincent and Johnny's tear-soaked put-upon mother invades the screen: her overacting makes Una O'Connor seem subtle.