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47 out of 51 people found the following review useful: A Turning Point In Film Noir, 31 March 2005 Author: gftbiloxi (gftbiloxi@yahoo.com) from Biloxi, Mississippi
There are two styles of Film Noir. Fueled by writers like James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler, the first style emerged in the 1940s and was characterized by a cynical, often witty tone; anti-heroes, dangerous women, and assorted criminal elements; and complex plots that emphasized betrayal and moral ambiguity. It was also photographed in a remarkable visual style that combined glossy production values with atmospheric emphasis on light and shadow--and films like THE MALTESE FALCON, THIS GUN FOR HIRE, MILDRED PIERCE, THE BLUE DAHLIA, and DOUBLE INDEMNITY remain great classics of their kind.But after World War II public taste began to change. Things that could only be hinted at in earlier films could now be more directly stated, and as audiences clamored for a more gritty realism the glossy sophistication of 1940s Noir fell out of fashion. The result was a new style of Noir--photographed in a grainier way, more direct, more brutal, and even less sympathetic to its characters. And the 1948 THE NAKED CITY was among the first to turn the tide. The sophisticated gumshoe, slinky gun moll, and glossy production values were gone; this film felt more like something you might read in a particularly lurid "true detective" tabloid.In an era when most films were shot on Hollywood backlots, THE NAKED CITY was actually filmed in New York--and while filmmakers could film with hidden cameras sound technology of the day posed a problem. But producer Mark Hellinger turned the problem into an asset: the film would be narrated, adding to the documentary-like style of the cinematography and story. (Hellinger performed the narrative himself, and his sharp delivery is extremely effective.) The story itself reads very much like a police report, following NYPD detectives as they seek to solve a dress model's murder.For 1948 it was innovative stuff-but like many innovative films it falters a bit in comparison to later films that improved upon the idea. The direct nature of the plot feels slightly too direct, slightly too simple. The same is true of the performances, which have a slightly flat feel, and although Barry Fitzgerald gives a sterling performance he is very much a Hollywood actor whose style seems slightly out of step alongside the deadpan style of the overall cast. Even so, the pace and drive of the film have tremendous interest, and while you might find yourself criticizing certain aspects you'll still be locked into the movie right to the very end. Particularly recommended for Film Noir addicts, who will be fascinated to see the turning point in the style.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer
42 out of 45 people found the following review useful: There are 8 Million Stories in the Naked City. This is the one that started it all, 9 August 1999 Author: JB-12 from Long Island NY
There are 8 Million Stories in the Naked City. This is the one that started it all. And what a start it was. While "The Naked City" is considered "Film-Noir" by many who have seen it, in truth it is simply a routine detective story. What makes the film as great as it is(and it is a great film)is the Oscar winning photography by William Daniels who shot the film not in a studio but on the streets and in the buildings of "The Naked City", New York City.From the very opening of the film when Producer-Narrator Mark Hellinger introduces himself and tells you that this film "is quite different from anything you've ever seen", the viewer is hooked. And it is not by the story but by the city.Hellinger's cast did not consist of any major players. Barry Fitzgerald, stars as Lieutenant Muldoon, the head of the Homicide Squad, Don Taylor is Jimmy Halloran, Muldoon"s "leg work" man. Howard Duff is the slimy Niles and Dorothy Hart, a beautiful actress who should have gone on to bigger and better things, was a model. They were all perfect. Ted De Corsia in his first screen role, played Willie Garzah the killer. His death scene at the top of the Williamsburg Bridge is memorable. He nearly steals the picture but not from the actors, but from the city who is the real "star" of the film.Hellinger was formerly a New York Newspaper man. He started his Hollywood career as a screenwriter and among his successes was the 1939 Bogart-Cagney classic, "The Roaring Twenties" another film about New York. The city was very personal to him.The sad part of the film is the tragedy of some of the major participants. Hellinger died of a heart attach shortly after the release. He was only 44.Albert Maltz who co-wrote the screenplay was blacklisted as being one of the Hollywood 10, and didn't work for decades. Jules Dassin the director fled to Europe because of threats of blacklisting. He later made the classic "Rififi" and Oscar winners, "Topkapi" and "Never On Sunday". We can only wonder what might have been had this association continued.What we do know is that "The Naked City" still lives on. You can see it in nearly every episode of the TV his "Law & Order". And as long as those skyscrapers of New York stand, there will always be a "Naked City"
31 out of 36 people found the following review useful: Shots have been fired, chloroform has been administered., 24 May 2004 Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico
This is a real original and just about everybody involved knows it. A documentary style police drama with real New York locations -- "Nothing was shot in a studio!" And it does capture New York City, circa 1947, entering a late florescent age. Many of the shots were "stolen," taken on real streets from a van with tinted windows, with only the principal actors knowing that a movie was being made.White collar workers all wear suits and ties. There is a sidewalk salesman hawking neckties. An ice man with those over-sized calipers. A milkman driving a horse and wagon. A Kosher Deli. Little girls playing jump rope -- "Out goes the doctor, out goes the nurse, out goes the lady with the alligator purse." Kids on swings. People reading newspapers over someone else's shoulder while jolting along on the subway. A shootout on a tower of the Williamsberg Bridge. A blind man and his dog. Stillman's Gym with two professional wrestlers being coached in how to register pain. Two girls gawking at a wedding dress in a shop window and mooning over "Frankie." Ethnic people -- Italians, Irish, Jewish, Polish. Accents -- "A boxer-fighter maybe? What do I know?" "Eh, bene, bene -- encore." Scrubby walnut trees in brick-strewn vacant lots. Working class accents mostly, including that of the narrator, Mark Hellinger. Nobody is black or Puerto Rican. The taxi drivers speak English. No bums or dopers. It's all here, or rather it was all there.Now, of course, it's all a little familiar because we've gotten used to location shooting and wince when shots are obviously studio made. But this was new at the time and is still enjoyable to watch.The performances are adequate. Don Taylor is bland and doesn't have any accent but he's easy to identify with, at least for me, because he's so pleasant and handsome. Barry Fitzgerald has an oddly creased face and crudely shaped cranium. His smile is almost a mile wide, a caricature of itself, a lovable guy. Howard Duff is -- well, Howard Duff, a liar and a thief. Ted deCorsia is great. We first meet him working out in his shabby apartment, flexing and admiring himself in front of the mirror, his body pale and flabby, a shock of coarse black hair over his sweating forehead. And that voice, like a coffee grinder. And check out the list of supporting actors. Wow. Arthur O'Connell, Nehemia Persoff, James Gregory, inter alia.The story itself isn't very much. Rather routine. Could have been a good radio drama of the sort that were popular at the time -- "Suspense" or "The Whistler" or "Inner Sanctum." And the narrator's voice-over sometimes creaks at the joints as it strains for hard-boiled sonority -- "Yesterday she was just another pretty face. This morning she's the marmalade on everybody's toast." (That line kills me.) And, I have to admit, that it paints a kind of pretty picture of police procedures. Barry Fitzgerald in particular is folksy, humorous, and compassionate. I kept waiting for him to remove his pipe and mutter, "Ego te absolvo." The police offices look too CLEAN. There are no dents in the wall from suspects having their heads slammed against it. Every surface seems too recently to have been painted. Suspects who shout angrily at their police interrogators and are obviously lying are just politely reasoned with. Well, okay. This might have been "gritty" at the time but now it's just an interesting picture, a little glossy maybe, but a lot of fun, and ahead of its time with that location shooting by Daniels.
20 out of 22 people found the following review useful: Tell Us a Story, 25 May 2004 Author: howdymax from Las Cruces, New Mexico
That's just what the producer, Mark Hellinger does. He tries to make it clear from the introduction that this is not your average movie. It is not. This entire production tries to accomplish one thing - authenticity. And for the most part, it succeeds.Before I get to what's right about this movie, let me mention a few of the things that are wrong. Ted DeCorsia overacts. He always overacts. Howard Duff's character, Frankie Niles, is supposed to be a streetwise grifter. How the hell could he be dumb enough to get himself in as many pickles as he did. Anybody who has ever been around the block would know better than to lie to the cops about everything. Just lie about the important things and tell the truth when it won't hurt you. If this guy is a sociopath, he's the dumbest one in town. Although most of the accents are on the money, the incidental dialogue injected into some of the scenes sounds forced and phony. In fact, it sounds like Hollywood trying to sound like New York. Mark Hellinger's narration, by comparison, is not only authentic, it's practically Damon Runyonesque.Now - what's right. Practically everything else. The location photography is the New York I remember as a kid. While I was watching some of the hot summer scenes downtown, I could practically smell the asphalt, melting tar, and garbage. Don Taylor's brick duplex in Queens was just the kind of house that every struggling family on the wrong side of Brooklyn aspired to.I won't comment on the story except to say, it's an entirely believable crime story. I seem to remember Barry Fitzgerald playing a similar role in Union Station. Reminds one of the old days when most of the cops were Irish - and New York was really New York.
18 out of 19 people found the following review useful: Taut, tense semi-documentary style with great location shooting in New York City..., 11 October 2006 Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.
THE NAKED CITY is like watching a time capsule unfold of New York City in the late '40s--the cars, the subways, the bridges, the people bustling along busy streets totally unaware of filming (scenes were shot from cars with tinted windows and two-way mirrors), and at the center of it all is a rather routine detective story. But the difference is the style that director Jules Dassin gets out of his material, giving the drama a chance to build up the proper tension before the final shootout on city streets and bridges.BARRY FITZGERALD is the detective with the very helpful sidekick DON TAYLOR, a young police officer from Queens who helps him track down the man responsible for the death of a pretty blonde in what the tabloids called "The Bathtub Murder". Both men are excellent as they follow a batch of clues to get to the bottom of the crime. HOWARD DUFF is also excellent as a man mixed up in the robberies, with DOROTHY HART as his unsuspecting sweetheart.TED DeCORSIA, making his film debut, is the athletic villain, working out in his small apartment when detective Taylor finds him--but soon making his escape which leads to the film's most breathtaking moments of a dazzling chase that fills the last ten minutes with high tension suspense.The crime itself is not that interesting, but the style used to tell the tale (with a voice-over narration telling us at the conclusion that this is just one story in a city of millions) is what makes it far superior to most detective stories. That and the fact that New York City is given the spotlight for location photography that really hits the mark.
13 out of 14 people found the following review useful: Some of the eight million stories of New York City, 12 October 2006 Author: jotix100 from New York
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Not having seen "The Naked City" in quite some time, the opportunity of watching it again was a pleasure, when TCM showed it last night. This satisfying 1948 film brings us back to the way New York, and especially Manhattan looked at that time. The Lower East Side, especially, in all its chaotic splendor offers a nostalgic look to our past.It took the genius of Jules Dassin to see the opportunities for bringing this story by Malvin Wald to the screen. Albert Maltz worked on the screen play with Mr. Wald and the result is a movie that shows the diverse culture of the city. Although the film is about crime in New York City, there are aspects of it that shows how most of what we see is interconnected. This film was the basis for a successful, and innovative television series that showed a different crime story every week and how the NYPD dealt with solving the cases.The film starts with a drunk being knocked out and thrown into the river. A woman is discovered dead in her bathtub by her maid. It's determined chloroform was involved in her death. Enter Lt. Muldoon, whose precinct gets involved in the investigation. Muldoon and his right hand man, Det. Jimmy Halleran, also find out jewelry is missing. The dead woman Jean Dexter, a fashion model, leads the police to a Dr. Stoneman, a man that loved her. At the same time, another detective discovers a cigarette case that points to another man, Frank Niles, who also appears to be involved. The drunk in the river was a jewelry thief and he, in turn, points to Harmonica Willie, a tough guy with a criminal record.All the elements come together in a great finale that involves a chase on the Williamsburg bridge. Jules Dassin decided to bring his cameras to the streets showing what a real New York looked like and got an excellent performance from most of the people that had no idea they were providing themselves as extras for the film. William Daniels, Greta Garbo's favorite cameraman, and distinguished a director himself, photographed the city in all its glory.All the principals do an excellent work in the film. Barry Fitzgerald as Lt. Muldoon shows in fine form. Don Taylor plays Jimmy Halleran. A fine performance from a young Howard Duff, as Frank Niles, is one of the best things in the picture. Ted DeCorsia is seen as a criminal who loves to keep in shape and play his harmonica.But what made the film fun for this viewer are the uncredited faces in the picture. We spotted Paul Ford, John Randolph, Nehemiah Persoff, Molly Picon, David Opatashu, and other character actors of that era. It says a lot about their generosity in appearing without being mentioned, something that today would appear unimaginable.Credit must go to Jules Dassin for this enormously satisfying movie!
12 out of 13 people found the following review useful: The merging of Film Noir with a realistic police drama, 14 March 2007 Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
This film is in many ways a good example of Film Noir--since it portrays a murder and its investigation, has a classic Noir-style ending and has some very "dark" story elements. However, unlike traditional Film Noir, the dialog and lighting are much more like a traditional film--less snappy dialog and more of an emphasis on conventional police work. This is NOT really a bad thing, as the film still was very entertaining but with a lighter and almost documentary feel to it and with a greater emphasis on the police work instead of on the sleazy Noir villains. In fact, since the film focused on the police and the day to day aspects of the investigation, it helped to usher in a style of film making that would be very popular in the 1950s on TV and in theaters (such as the show DRAGNET or the movie HE WALKED BY NIGHT).The film itself stars Barry Fitzgerald. This is a VERY unusual casting decision but it did work very well. Normally, Fitzgerald is known for cute supporting roles, like the ones he played in GOING MY WAY and THE QUIET MAN. Here, however, he's a detective who coordinates the investigation. I liked it this way because he was far from the macho cop but more like a REAL policeman--experienced, smart and not about to resort to a fist fight with his foes--avoiding the usual movie clichés to say the least! In addition, the rest of the cast also seem more like real policemen when compared to other films of the time. The criminals, likewise, seem real and aren't obviously "bad" like they usually are in crime films--again a big plus.So overall, this is a very realistic and engaging crime film with elements of Noir but certainly NOT the traditional style for the genre (the familiar Noir dialog, lighting, film angles, femme fatales, etc. are missing because they wouldn't be appropriate). It may disappoint some die-hard Noir fans, but for me it was quite acceptable and a good change of pace.
13 out of 16 people found the following review useful: A Classic of New York City Police Work, 11 September 1999 Author: Kirasjeri from Brooklyn NY
In an era when everything was recreated on a Hollywood set, or filmed on their back lots, "Naked City" was different and daring - it was shot on the streets of New York City, and the grittiness and realism was palpable. Detectives have to investigate the murder of a young woman, and scene by scene we are absorbed. The way Barry Fitzgerald as the lieutenant breaks done and rips open Howard Duff is especially memorable, as is the scene of the two parents of the dead girl breaking down. This film is marvelously constructed scene by scene. The performances are standouts, and look for a host of New York actors appearing in uncredited roles: James Gregory, Molly Picon (a giant of Yiddish theatre), David Opatashu (also of the Yiddish theater), Paul Ford, Arthur O'Connell, and others. Ted DeCorsia is great as the villain; catch his other roles."Detective Story" (see review) came out three years later and in its squad room dialogue has more in common with "NYPD Blue" than "Naked City" the movie, but for the realism of the streets and even cinema verite feel, nothing tops "Naked City". And soon a highly successful TV series was named after it. Highly recommended. You'll feel like you're back in New York City in the 1940's!
10 out of 11 people found the following review useful: The best police movie ever made ***SPOILERS***, 4 July 2004 Author: STEVEN DANKO (chesslover55@aol.com) from Brooklyn, NY
THE NAKED CITY is without equal in the history of film-making as far as gritty, realistic police procedurals shot on-location in a semidocumentary style are concerned. As a youngster growing up in Queens, New York during the 1950s, I used to watch it endlessly when it played on a show called Million Dollar Movie on New York's Channel 9. It was filmed in the summer of 1947 during a heat wave which baked the city. It had an visceral impact on me that was far-reaching and which I still feel every time I see it. It captivated me then and still captivates me today. I conservatively estimate that I have seen this film at least 150 times and I never grow tired of watching it. Even though I know everything that's going to happen, scene by scene and shot by shot, it still has the power to grab me and excite me and involve me. It's a time machine, a nostalgic look back on a world that once existed in a simpler time and age.Towards the end of the Second World War, a new style of film-making emerged in Hollywood that was influenced by the work of the combat camera crews in the various branches of the armed forces. Capturing the battles and campaigns of World War II on film and creating a permanent still photo and filmic record of that conflict, the work of these wartime cameramen helped to influence a new generation of Hollywood filmmaker. One of them was Mark Hellinger, the producer and narrator of THE NAKED CITY, who was, himself, a member of the U.S. Army Air Force's Motion Picture Unit during the war. The use of on-location filming in an urban environment combined with a semidocumentary approach was the hallmark of this new school of film-making. Although the use of on-location filming had been used earlier in American cinematography, its use was sporadic and not indicative of a trend. The postwar period saw it come into its own.The tone of THE NAKED CITY is set from the first opening shot. The City of New York is the real star of this movie. It's the backdrop against which the human drama unfolds and is played out. Aerial views of Manhattan Island are seen from a helicopter as Mark Hellinger delivers his opening narration. He introduces himself to us and informs us in a teaser that the motion picture we're about to see is "a bit different from most films you've ever seen." He goes on to say that "It was not photographed in a studio" and that the actors "played out their roles on the streets, in the apartment houses, in the skyscrapers of New York itself." And joining them were the thousands of New Yorkers captured on film going about their daily lives. "This is the city as it is- hot summer pavements, the children at play, the buildings in their naked stone, the people, without makeup." His voice-over narration will carry through the entire film at many points.The basic storyline concerns the police investigation into the death of a twenty-six year old dress model named Jean Dexter who was found drowned in the bathtub inside her apartment located at 52 W. 83rd St. on Manhattan's Upper West Side. We learn that she's the daughter of a Polish immigrant couple named Batory from Lakewood, New Jersey and that before coming to New York City, her name was Mary Batory. We will learn later on that her grieving, anguished mother blames the lure and attraction of the big city for her daughter's death. "Who knows what she ran around with?", grieves her mother. The Homicide Squad responds followed by the City Medical Examiner who ascertains rather quickly that the woman's death was not the result of an accident or suicide. She had chloroform burns around her mouth and there were bruises on her throat, shoulders, and arms. The Medical Examiner determined that she had been anesthetized after a struggle and dumped into the tub alive. The presence of white foam around her mouth led him to draw that conclusion. The Homicide Squad goes into action and we are introduced to the two lead Detectives who will be spearheading the investigation- Detective Lieutenant Dan Muldoon(BARRY FITZGERALD) and Detective Jimmy Halloran(DON TAYLOR). The Lieutenant is a wise old veteran, having been on the job for 38 years, 22 of them with the Homicide Squad. He's like a precursor to the Lieutenant Columbo character played by Peter Falk during the 1970s on TV- intelligent, methodical, hard-working, and diligent. We learn that Detective Halloran is new to the Homicide Squad, earning an assignment to that prestigious command six months before after working as a beat patrolman in the Bronx. He is a World War II veteran who served as an infantry rifleman in Europe and who lives in an attached brick house in Jackson Heights, Queens with his wife and young son. That community happens to be the same one I lived and grew up in. In the movie, he lives on 86th Street near Northern Boulevard and I grew up not very far from there. Assuming that he was hired by the Police Department right after he got out of the Army, it seems that he wasn't in uniform very long before being promoted to Detective Third Grade. He must have demonstrated some instinctive knack for police work, resulting in some good arrests, to be promoted so soon. The film depicts the investigative aspect of police work to be anything but glamorous. It is tedious, difficult, frustrating and depressing. The detectives are shown as diligent, hardworking civil servants who take their job seriously and try their best to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Their investigation takes a detour into another area of felonious behavior when they discover that the murdered woman was part of a jewel burglary ring that targeted high society types. She and her boyfriend Frank Niles(HOWARD DUFF) were the fixers. Niles is a smarmy, oily ne'er-do-well with a college degree who's a pathological liar. He lies to the police, he lies to his fiancée Ruth Morrison(DOROTHY HART) and he lies to himself. He has no scruples or shame whatsoever. He was two-timing his fiancée with Jean Dexter and she was never any the wiser. When he's brought down to the precinct in the very early stage of the investigation, he lies through his teeth when questioned. He's seemingly oblivious of the fact that one of the Detectives is sitting there writing down what he's saying and that his statements will surely be checked for veracity. He piles one lie on top of another. His statements that he's a Merchandising Consultant and a combat veteran of the South Pacific campaign are quickly revealed to be bald-faced lies. After checking him out, Lt. Muldoon tells him "I have a report in front of me that says you never were in the South Pacific, Mr. Niles. You weren't in the 77th Division. You weren't an officer. You weren't even in the Army."After reviewing some photographs of the deceased, Lt. Muldoon quickly realizes that at least two men did the murder. He comes to this conclusion by pointing out that there were finger marks on both arms. This meant that one man held her by both arms while the second applied the chloroform to render her unconscious. It turns out that Niles' alibi for the time of the murder stacks up, but the police still feel he's withholding information and knows more than he's telling. The police are not Nile's only worry. He's also being followed and watched by the killer who had been in his employ as one of the jewel burglars targeting the society people. The killer is named Willie Garzah(TED DE CORSIA) and he plans on killing Niles before he winds up spilling his guts to the police. In this he almost succeeds, invading Nile's apartment at night and rendering him unconscious. The impromptu arrival of Muldoon and Halloran, who came to question Niles further, interrupts what would have been Garzah's third murder. This guy is a one-man crime wave. He flees down the fire escape after a shootout with the Detectives and escapes. Garzah killed his partner Peter Backalis(WALTER BURKE) four hours after they murdered Jean Dexter. Backalis was a drinker and Garzah couldn't trust him to keep his mouth shut, so he follows the drunken man to the pier, knocks him unconscious with a wooden stick and tosses him into the East River. It's revealed later on that the reason Dexter was killed was because Garzah wanted a bigger cut from the proceeds of the burglaries. Apparently Dexter balked at giving him more, so he murdered her. Dr. Lawrence Stoneman(HOUSE JAMESON), Dexter's personal physician and high-living society doctor, was in on these night burglaries in a peripheral way. He was smitten with Dexter after seeing her at the dress shop where she worked and they wound up having an affair. In his own words, he was "drunk with her, lost." She was also sleeping with Niles, who was engaged to Ruth Morrison, her co-worker at the dress shop. For a story that's taking place in the more conservative 1940s, there sure seems to be a lot of sleeping around going on. Dr. Stoneman realized he was being used but felt powerless to do anything. When the police catch up to him, he tells them that his wife is a party-giver and Jean Dexter would find out from him who was going to be there. Months went by before he realized that when people came to his house parties, their apartments were robbed the same night by unknown individuals hired by Niles and Dexter. Knowing that he will be charged as an accomplice before the fact, and that his life as he knew it is now over, he attempts to jump out his office window but is pulled to safety by the police and Niles, who is technically under arrest at this point.The big break in the case comes from rookie Detective Halloran. He has a hunch that there's a connection between the deaths of Jean Dexter and Peter Backalis. He explains his reasoning to Lt. Muldoon, telling him that the two deaths were only a few hours apart and that Backalis had served two years in Sing Sing for stealing jewelry. Muldoon pooh-poohs this and asks him what Backalis' record shows in light of the fact that the jewel thefts Niles and Dexter were involved in concerned high society robberies. Halloran replies that Backalis' crime was "Small-time. Pawnshop burglary in Queens." Halloran still wants to follow his hunch though, and Muldoon finally agrees, seeing as how they're not making much headway with the investigation. Halloran pays a visit to Backalis' former parole officer in the Bronx County Courthouse and finds out the name of the arresting officer in the pawnshop burglary, a Patrolman Albert Hicks of the 108th Precinct in Long Island City. Halloran interviews Hicks(JAMES GREGORY) in the railroad yard at night and learns that Backalis had a partner with him that night named Willie. He asks what happened to him and Hicks replies "He got away by the neatest trick I've ever seen. I nailed Backalis in the back alley and he yells 'Beat it, Willie.' And this other customer throws a chair through a plate glass window, dives right after it and comes up on his feet like an acrobat. Then he's off like a streak." He also mentions that this guy was big, "like an All-American fullback" and that since one of the stolen items was a harmonica, he figured that Willie must have liked to play one. Halloran informs his Lieutenant about this development and Muldoon assigns two other Detectives to work with him in trying to ascertain Willie's identity. They canvass talent agencies, gyms and sporting arenas where hopefully someone will remember a muscular acrobat who likes to play the harmonica. They hit paydirt when a Detective visits Stillman's Gym and asks the manager on duty if he or the two wrestlers he's coaching know of a wrestler who liked to play the harmonica. The manager says "Sure. Willie the Harmonica Player. Willie Garzah. I teached him how to wrestle." The Detective asks if they know where he lives or used to live. One of the wrestlers tells him that Garzah lived on Staten Island with his brother. The Detectives track the brother down to a building under construction where he works as a laborer. He speaks disdainfully of his brother Willie and tells the Detectives that his brother has a room somewhere around the Williamsburg Bridge. They ask if he has a picture of him and he replies, "No, but when he was wrestling the newspapers printed his mug a few times." The Detectives realize that now they can put a face to the name. The police, armed with Garzah's photo, start canvassing the entire Lower East Side. Detective Halloran gets a lead and calls his command to let them know that he's located Garzah "on Norfolk Street between Rivington and Houston." He's so excited he can barely contain himself. He tracks Garzah down to the tenement building he lives in and instead of calling for backup, like he should, he races headlong into danger by going up to Garzah's room by himself. Garzah invites him in and we see Garzah exercising, wearing only trunks and sneakers. He is in very good physical condition - big, strong, muscular and well-sculpted. At the sight of him, Halloran's bravura seems to disappear and he looks kind of nervous even though he's armed with his police revolver. He tells Garzah that he works at Bellevue Hospital and that a patient, Peter Backalis, was asking after him. Garzah sees right through this and realizes that his visitor is a cop, but he plays along for the moment until he can get into position. He overpowers Halloran and pins him on the floor. He removes Halloran's gun from the shoulder holster under his suit jacket and orders him to stand up. Garzah contemptuously ridicules Halloran for his feeble attempt to con him and orders him to turn around. Halloran, fearing a bullet in the back of the head, nervously tells Garzah "Don't be a fool." Garzah replies "I'll prove I'm smart, copper. You're scared right now I'm gonna rub you out. But I ain't, 'cause I'm smart. Rub out a cop and you really get the chair. All I need to do is put you to sleep, then I'm off. Try and find me. This is a great big beautiful city. Just try and find me." With that he delivers a rabbit punch to the back of Halloran's neck, knocking him out. He flees the apartment, with Halloran pursuing him after he recovers. By this time, the general alarm has been sounded and the area is swarming with police who are looking for both men. Garzah manages to blend into the crowd and evades the police for the moment, but unduly panics at the gateway to the Williamsburg Bridge on Delancey Street when he spies the police cars closing in. He rushes up the stairs to the pedestrian walkway and in his haste, collides with a blind man with a seeing eye dog. The dog goes for Garzah, biting his left arm and holding on. Garzah shoots the dog and the gunshot brings the police running. Garzah runs along the walkway towards the Brooklyn side with the police in hot pursuit on foot and in cars. A brief shootout occurs when Garzah fires on a police car that stopped to unload some officers. The chase continues and Garzah finds himself cornered by the tower on the Manhattan side of the bridge. He looks straight up and sees the stairway that runs up the length of the tower. He hoists himself up to a metal door which leads to the stairway and goes through it. But when he tries to close it, the dooe clangs open and Halloran fires at him, hitting him in the stomach. Garzah starts his climb to the top and some of the Officers begin to follow, but Lt. Muldoon calls them back saying "We want no dead heroes. There's no place he can go to now." Ignoring entreaties by Muldoon to come down and surrender, Garzah continues his torturous climb to the top, a bullet in his gut and his left arm mangled and bloody. Reaching the end of the line, he positions himself on a narrow platform at the top of the tower. Muldoon shouts "All right, Garzah. We give you a hundred percent in acrobatics. Now will you come down under your own power or do you want a little persuasion? What do you say, Garzah?" Garzah answers by firing a shot down which almost hits Muldoon. The police duck and then return fire, hitting Garzah numerous times. Garzah, mortally wounded, loses his grip on the railing he was holding on to and in a final acrobatic performance with the city as his backdrop, falls head first down the length of the tower, screaming his life away. The last scene is an epitaph to the murdered woman, rendered by Mark Hellinger over scenes of New York at night. We see the people who knew her in life and those who gave her justice in death. He intones somberly that "These are the lights that a child born to the name of Batory hungered for. Her passion has been played out now. Her name, her face, her history were worth five cents a day for six days. Tomorrow a new case will hit the headlines. Yet some will remember Jean Dexter. She won't be entirely forgotten. Not entirely. Not altogether." He concludes with the famous tagline "There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them."
15 out of 21 people found the following review useful: Raw and naked emotions makes the city of New York the real star in this classic crime drama, 25 May 2004 Author: sol1218 from brooklyn NY
****SPOILERS**** Made on the hot and sweltering streets of New York City in the broiling summer of 1947 "The Naked City" is the first of many thousands, 4,450 according to the IMDb, of movies and TV shows that was filmed on location in the city of New York. Released in March of 1948 " The Naked City" at first became a major movie success in that year and now is considered by many to be one of the best crime/film noir/ movies ever made. In the dark and early morning hours in an apartment high-rise on the quiet and chic upper West Side of Manhattan to a blazing afternoon sun on the top of a tower over the East River on the heavily traveled crowded and noisy Williamsburg Bridge a story is played out that will lay bare and strip naked every emotion that can be packed into a motion picture. Fashion model Jean Dexter is brutally murdered in her apartment and then dumped into the bathtub to make it look like she overdosed on drugs and drowned. Later one of her killers, who had second thoughts about what he did, is murdered by his partner and then thrown into the East River. With the city medical examiner determining that Miss. Dexter's death was a homicide Lt. Muldoon & Det.Halloran, Barry Fitzgerald & Don Taylor, are put on the case. The police find a number of jewelry items in Jean's apartment that it turned out were stolen in a string of burglaries of people that she knew. Keying in on a Frank Niles(Howard Duff), who was one of Jean's close friends, who's stories about himself being a combat veteran and successful businessman turned out to be total hokum but his alibi about him being at a nightclub at the time of Jean's murder with his fiancé Ruth Morrison, Dorothy Heart, checked out. later in an emotionally packed sequence at the City Morgue with Jean's parents Mr & Mrs Batory( Adeliade Kline & Grover Burgess) Mrs. Batory who hated her daughter, for changing her name to Dexter and leaving home and mixing with the crowd that lead to her murder, breaks down and sobs uncontrollably when she and her husband are shown Jean's body for them to make a positive identification. Niles in a panic pawns off a number of stolen jewels from friends of his and Jean that he somehow came into possession of that had the police, with Niles' fiancé Ruth, go to his apartment just in time to stop him from being murdered, by Jean's murderer? As the frustrated would-be killer escapes by getting away on a city EL train. Confronted with the news of his lying and with the revelation of Niles engagement ring to Ruth being stolen from her mother and him having a plane ticket for him to skip out of the country to Mexico. Ruth, in another emotionally packed scene in the movie, break down in tears and then smacks the almost comatose Niles around so hard that Det. Halloran had to step in and stop her. The police get a big break in the Dexter murder case when Pete Backalis, Walter Burke, is found floating not far from Jean's apartment in the East River. It's determined that Backalis was killed just after Jean's murder and that he had a rap sheet of burglaries, just like the one at Jean's apartment, and worked with a fellow burglar named Willie Gazah, Ted De Corsia. The police putting all the pieces together connect Niles and Jean with the prominent physician and high society party-thrower Dr. Stoneman, House Jameson, who seems to have more then a passing acquaintance with her. Police detectives Muldoon & Halloran going to Dr.Stoneman office and taking Niels along with them. Dr. Stoneman when confronted with Niels and the news of Jean's murder in yet another emotionally charged scene in the movie, tearfully break down as the shocking truth comes out about his secret life as Jean's lover. As well as the person who tipped her off about the people who were to attend his and his wife's parties, so Jean's criminal associates can break into their homes and rob their jewelry. Dr. Stoneman reaching a state of total despair and having what seems like a complete emotional breakdown all at once attempts to jump out of his high-rise office window. Niels, who for once in his life did something good and heroic,stopped him just before he could get to the window ledge. Tracking down the elusive Garzah to his Lower East Side apartment Det. Halloran is knocked out by him when he realized that he's a cop instead a hospital worker who's checking on him about his friend Peter Backalis who Halloran tells him is alive but Garzah knows that Pete's dead because he murdered him. With the police dragnet slowly closing in on him Garzah takes off to the only avenue of escape left open to him the East River Williamsburg Bridge. Panicking when he collides on the bridges walk-path with a person who's blind, and then shoots his seeing-eye dog who attacked him, Garzah makes a run for it as the police are alerted, by the gunshot, and chase him to the bridge's Manhattan side tower. With nowhere for him to run, as the bridge is cut off on both the Manhattan and Brooklyn sides by the police, Garzah desperately climbs to the top and is shot in a blazing gun battle, when he refused to surrender. The killer falls to his death in a scene that made the Williamsburg Bridge almost as famous as the scene at the end of the movie "King Kong" that made the Empire State Building a piece of motion picture folklore. With the murder of Jean Dexter now solved, and out of the newspaper headlines and in the garbage can,the film ends with the now famous line: "There Are Eight Million Stories In The Naked City; This Has Been ONE Of THEM".
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