A few weeks back, Eddie Muller's selection for Noir Alley was a movie I had never heard of before, The Naked Street. I wanted something a bit shorter than what I had been watching, so recently I sat down to watch it.
Farley Granger plays Nicky Bradna, a small-time gangster who, at the start of the movie, is on death row in Sing Sing for having killed a man. He clearly did it and if you believe in capital punishment, probably deserves it, which brings up the interesting question of how the Production Code is going to handle the rest of the movie. But that's not important right now. What is important is Rosalie Regalzyk (Anne Bancroft), the kid sister of a much higher-up gangster, Phil Regal (Anthony Quinn).
Phil loves his sister, and wants what's best in life for her, and will stop at nothing to get that, which is going to mean breaking the law if necessary, something he has no compunction about doing. And Phil is greatly distressed when he learns that Rosalie had been the girlfriend of Nicky. Partly because he'd like Rosalie to escape the sort of life he has, and more importantly because she really hasn't. Indeed, she's gotten pregnant by Nicky, and the thought of Rosalie giving birth to a bastard child horrifies Phil.
So Phil does what any good big brother would do, which is to engage in some good old witness intimidation so that the witnesses who saw Nicky commit the murder will say no, they really didn't, and get Nicky sprung from prison in time for him to marry Rosalie and make a respectable woman out of Rosalie. Phil also gets a decent job for Nicky, but that's not out of the goodness of his heart. Instead, he wants to be able to keep close tabs on Nicky and make certain that Nicky stays on the straight and narrow and does right by Rosalie.
Nicky is thrilled to be out of prison and not have death hanging over him, so he accepts this bargain, and even seems to be a fairly good husband. At least, until disaster strikes in the form of the unborn child strangling itself to death on the umbilical cord. A devastated Nicky starts seeing other women, as well as taking up gambling and other stuff. It's only a matter of time before Phil discovers what's going on and vows revenge on Nicky.
The Naked Street is a movie with a plot that strains credulity, and for once that's not because of any script gymnastics the screenwriters have to do to deal with the Production Code. Instead, the idea of all of this happening in the real world seems a bit far-fetched. However, the movie is saved by good performances, to the point that you don't think that much about the unrealisticness of the plot. Also in the cast is a young Peter Graves, as a reporter who's been trying to bring down Regal and who provides the narration.
The Naked Street certainly isn't one of the all-time classics of the noir cycle, and it's also not the best movie of any of the main stars. But it's one that entertains successfully enough to be worth a watch.
Anot
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