Crossfire

A trifecta of tough-guy-Roberts (Ryan, Mitchum, and Young) star in this claustrophobic little police procedural noir mystery about an investigation into the murder of a Jewish war veteran. The great film editor-turned-director Edward Dmytryk (Confessions of Boston Blackie, Murder My Sweet, The Caine Mutiny) unravels the story with a smooth, calm style that captures the late evening setting and the fatigue of all the characters. The film is based on the novel The Brick Foxhole by future writer/producer/director Richard Brooks. Brooks, who learned his craft in the military, making training films and war documentaries, wrote the book as a condemnation of some stateside soldiers whose homophobia leads to murder. That theme would not make it past the production code of the era, so the homosexual element of the story was changed to anti-Semitism. This, no doubt, helped this film become the first B-movie nominated for the Best Picture Oscar alongside Gentleman's Agreement. Like Kazan's Oscar-winning social issue drama, Crossfire can be a little preachy. Still, the speeches are nonetheless effective, especially one delivered by Robert Ryan, which dissects how unnoticed or ignored bigotry acts like a cancer on institutions and individuals.