A Bullet for Joey (1955)

• Year: 1955
• Released: 25 Apr 1955
• Country: United States
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047904/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_bullet_for_joey
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Spanish, Italian, French
• MPA Rating: Approved
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
• Runtime: 85 min
• Writer: James Benson Nablo, Daniel Mainwaring, A.I. Bezzerides
• Director: Lewis Allen
• Cast: Edward G. Robinson, George Raft, Audrey Totter
• Keywords: gangster, spy, film noir, police inspector,

6.0/10

A Bullet for Joey Storyline

Montreal, Canada, sometime in the 50’s. Outside the university, Doctor carl Maklin, a Professor, is seceretly photographed by someone dressed as an organ grinder, complete with monkey. A Mountie becomes suspicious. and is shot and killed for it by said Organ Grinder, who is obviously some sort of spy. When this is passed back to the boss, Erc Hartman, the organ grinder is himself killed. Portugal. Joe Victor, obviously a down on his luck crook, is approached by Raphael Garcia, with the offer of a lot of money, and being smuggled back into Canada to kidnap Dr. Maklin. Back in Canada, Maklin gathers a team to help him. This includes Joyce, with whom he obviously has a ‘history’, and smooth man Jack. Jack’s job is to seduce Yvonne, Maklins secretary, whilst Joyce is to make a play for Maklin himself. Jack succeeds in getting the required information from Yvonne, but is so obvious, she twigs she has been pumped for information and makes a run for it to tell. Jack shoots and kills her. Detective Leduc, in a standard piece of police procedural, pieces together the 3 killings and finds Maklin is the link. We gradualy come to realise Hartman’s plan is to get Maklin, and some sort of apperatus out of the country to some un named, but fairly obviously the Russians, bad guys. Hartman gets everyone onto a ship leaving the country, but Leduc manages to undermine the trust between all concerned, and awaken Patriotic pride in Victor so all works out for the best.

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A Bullet for Joey Movie Reviews

An interesting Cold War gangster film that is VERY low on energy

This is an odd little relic from the 1950s. While there were quite a few gangster films made at the time as well as anti-Communism thrillers (such as MY SON, JOHN and I MARRIED A COMMUNIST), this is the only film I can think of that merges the two genres! In a highly unusual move, the Communists enlist the aid of a deported American gangster (George Raft) to orchestrate the kidnapping of a nuclear scientist. This makes the film’s concept rather interesting, but the film itself is hampered by low-energy performances (particularly Edward G. Robinson and Raft to a lesser extent) and poor casting (almost none of the people spoke with French-Canadian accents despite the film supposedly taking place in Montreal). In fact, Robinson sounded pretty much like he was on sedatives! Perhaps the reason for this muted performance was just because this excellent actor was so badly miscast. As a result, it is STILL watchable but also quite skip-able as well.

Commies, Gangsters, and Mounties

Edward G. Robinson and George Raft team up for the second and last time in A Bullet for Joey, a cold war noir espionage thriller set in Montreal.

Their first teaming as a memorable one. They co-starred in Manpower 14 years earlier and had a fistfight on the set over the affections of co-star Marlene Dietrich. Dietrich was involved with Raft at the time and Raft got jealous of Robinson who was a very cultured man and could talk to Dietrich about things that Raft knew little about.

A whole lot of water went under the bridge in the interim and there was no reported friction between the co-stars. Marlene had gone out of Raft’s life and she was never in Robinson’s at all.

Robinson’s a Canadian R.C.M.P. inspector and he gets drawn into an investigation that involves the kidnapping of an atomic scientist George Dolenz and the device he’s working on. A whole lot of dead bodies start turning up around Dolenz including a suspicious Mountie that starts the ball rolling.

Raft is a deported American gangster, living in Lisbon, who is recruited by Communist spy Peter Van Eyck to pull off the kidnapping. Raft sneaks into Canada, gets some of his old gang back together and proceeds on the job.

A Bullet for Joey proceeds on a parallel plot track with Raft putting together the kidnapping and Robinson working on a multiple homicide investigation.

Both Robinson and Raft were now B picture players. Robinson would make a big comeback the following year in The Ten Commandments. There was not to be a comeback for George Raft however.

Look for another good performance by Audrey Totter as the gang moll who Raft recruits to entice Dolenz. Totter graced many a B film back in the day competing with Veda Ann Borg for brassiest moll.

A Bullet for Joey is good noir film with a cast headed by two guys who knew their way around the genre. It’s a cold war relic of a film, but I think can still be enjoyed by today’s audience.

Worth watching for the cast.

“A Bullet for Joey” is pretty interesting as far as film noir goes, although it doesn’t fit that neatly into the genre, being more of a straight crime drama with overtones of intrigue. Two iconic tough guys headline the drama, Edward G. Robinson as Police Inspector Leduc and George Raft as mobster Joe Victor. It takes place largely in Montreal, Canada, which only adds to the appeal of this movie for this viewer. Joe was run out of America and is now living in exile in Lisbon when dangerous men approach him with a job: kidnap a prominent nuclear physicist, Carl Macklin (George Dolenz). Joe’s just happy to be working again, content not to ask too many questions, and rounds up his old gang, including Joyce Geary (the striking Audrey Totter). Trouble brews when, for one thing, Joyce, who’s found some scruples, finds her task of diverting Macklin’s attention compromised by the fact that she genuinely likes the guy. “A Bullet for Joey” is one of those movies that may not be destined to become a classic, but is still perfectly acceptable of its kind, telling a good, straightforward story (concocted by James Benson Nablo, and scripted by Daniel Mainwaring and A.I. Bezzerides) with efficient direction by Lewis Allen (who also directed Edward G. in “Illegal” from the same year). Fans of Edward G. should know beforehand that there are chunks of the story without him, and if one is enticed by the prospect of seeing him and Raft face off, this doesn’t happen until right near the end, when Edward G. appeals to Raft’s sense of not only patriotism but decency in the hopes that the mobster will see the light. They’re both great, as is Totter as the tough looking but ultimately soft hearted dame who really doesn’t want to see any harm come to her new man. Dolenz, Peter van Eyck as the nefarious “book dealer” Eric Hartman, William Bryant, Steven Geray, and Joseph Vitale are all good in support, with Toni Gerry extremely appealing in the role of the lovestruck secretary romanced by Bryant’s scummy character as part of the plot. “A Bullet for Joey” moves along well enough and with its final theme of redemption, is 88 minutes worth of good if not great entertainment. Seven out of 10.