Road House (1948)

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Margaret Gruen (story) and
Oscar Saul (story) ...

Release Date:

22 September 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Film-Noir | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

A night club owner becomes infatuated with a torch singer and frames his best friend/manager for embezzlement when the chanteuse falls in love with him.

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Trip | Torch Singer | Parole | Judge

Cast

Ida Lupino	...	Lily Stevens
Cornel Wilde	...	Pete Morgan
Celeste Holm	...	Susie Smith
Richard Widmark	...	Jefferson T. 'Jefty' Robbins
O.Z. Whitehead	...	Arthur
Robert Karnes	...	Mike
George Beranger	...	Lefty
Ian MacDonald	...	Police captain
Grandon Rhodes	...	Judge

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #13093) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In a 1969 interview, director Jean Negulesco recalled that when Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck gave him the assignment to direct Road House, Zanuck told him, "This is a bad script. Three directors have refused it. They don't know what they're doing, because basically it's quite good. Remember those pictures we used to make at Warner Bros., with Pat O'Brien and Jimmy Cagney, in which every time the action flagged we staged a fight and every time a man passed a girl she'd adjust her stocking or something, trying to be sexy? That's the kind of picture we have to have with 'Road House.'"

Quotes:

Susie: She does more without a voice than anybody I've ever heard!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Inventing the Abbotts (1997)

Soundtrack:

Elsa's Dream (Einsam in trüben Tagen)

" I told you she was different "

This is one of my favorite film-noirs. I could watch it every night and not get tired of it. What Ida Lupino was able to do with a cigarette, a few shrugs of her shoulder and a gravelly singing voice, well lets just say they there oughta be a law against it. The casting of this film could not have been better.Richard Widmark, Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde and Celeste Holm are all at the top of their game here. And to top it all off, it has one of the greatest bar-room brawls of all time. If you've never seen it, you're wasting valuable time here. Shut off your computer, go down to your local video store and rent it immediately. You won't be disappointed. Or better yet, try to catch it on a big screen somewhere.