Raft is a police detective investigating an apparent suicide. A reprobate composer of pop songs is found with "a bullet in his noggin," a revolver in his hand, and power marks all over him. The cops are satisfied but Raft is compelled to wonder, as Lieutenant Columbo would have, why the composer sent his butler out for some bicarbonate of soda, and why he stopped writing his next song in mid-note, or rather mid-shot. Raft pushes the investigation too far, smashing up a couple of rooms and flattening one or two surly characters, and hustling one of the composer's recent lady friends until, as it must to all responsible cops, the time comes when he must forfeit his badge and gun.
The dialog has a couple of neat touches, along the lines of: "I heard you were busting up some furniture but from the looks of you I'd say the furniture won." And when Raft appears in bandages, his shirt blotched with blood, after a fight with some pituitary case, someone remarks, "I see you've been painting the town red." Raft: "The other way around." Raft looks good, with his cast-iron features and neat fedora. Lynn Bari, the girl in the picture, is one of those many B-list actresses that never got very far -- Mara Corday, Faith Domergue. No great loss to cinematic art.
The film itself is routine. Raft encounters one suspect after another, the pursuit punctuated by bouts of violence. Half-way through I figured the killer was either the piano player or the blond -- otherwise why were they getting so much screen time in unimportant roles? But I was only half right, or two times right, depending on the theory of numbers you subscribe to.
The dialog has a couple of neat touches, along the lines of: "I heard you were busting up some furniture but from the looks of you I'd say the furniture won." And when Raft appears in bandages, his shirt blotched with blood, after a fight with some pituitary case, someone remarks, "I see you've been painting the town red." Raft: "The other way around." Raft looks good, with his cast-iron features and neat fedora. Lynn Bari, the girl in the picture, is one of those many B-list actresses that never got very far -- Mara Corday, Faith Domergue. No great loss to cinematic art.
The film itself is routine. Raft encounters one suspect after another, the pursuit punctuated by bouts of violence. Half-way through I figured the killer was either the piano player or the blond -- otherwise why were they getting so much screen time in unimportant roles? But I was only half right, or two times right, depending on the theory of numbers you subscribe to.