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Odd Man Out (1947, UK)
In producer/director Carol Reed's searing, taut and
suspenseful crime-chase (melo)-drama and noirish post-war thriller
with gritty black and white cinematography - a rich character study
about a doomed man-on-the-run:
- the opening crawl superimposed over an aerial view
of Belfast: "This story is told against a background of political
unrest in a city of Northern Ireland. It is not concerned with
the struggle between the law and an illegal organisation, but only
with the conflict in the hearts of the people when they become
unexpectedly involved"
- the early scene in a cramped row-house of rebellious
Irish underground leader and IRA-like nationalist gunman Johnny McQueen
(James Mason in one of his best performances), six months after escaping
from prison, planning a daring payroll robbery-holdup (presumably
in Belfast in N. Ireland) with his compatriots of a factory mill,
to fund his underground IRA organisation, while hiding out in the
house of his loving girlfriend Kathleen Sullivan (Kathleen Ryan in
her debut film) and her Grannie (Kitty Kirwan)
Johnny Suffering From Vertigo Before and During
Holdup
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Dizzyness
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Shot in Shoulder
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Murder of Armed Cashier
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- the representation of McQueen's vertigo on the way
to the robbery and during the ill-advised, unsuccessful robbery-holdup
attempt - the buildings and other passing objects were at sharp
angles, his vision blurred, and he appeared delirious; after the
heist, McQueen stumbled on the front steps as he approached the
get-away car parked outside, driven by hothead Pat (Cyril Cusack),
and as he fought off an armed cashier at the mill, he was lethally-wounded
in the left shoulder before killing the man; and then as the getaway
car sped away, he was unable to fully get into the vehicle from
the running board - he fell onto the street and had to be left
behind
- for the remainder of the film, Johnny desperately
struggled to avoid capture, and stumbled through the streets of Belfast
(disguised) while trying to hide; when not able to make it back to
Kathleen's house, Johnny sought shelter in the city's ghettos, deserted
buildings, pubs, and back alleys (and even in a junkyard bathtub
on the edge of town)
- as the British dragnet around him closed in tighter,
for eight tense hours in a series of expressionistic chase sequences,
the increasingly-delirious Johnny was pursued in a manhunt by the
police and others for eight tense hours - all with their own motives
of either helping him or turning him in to the authorities to claim
the £50,000 reward; they included Johnny's girlfriend Kathleen,
his IRA buddy-partners Dennis (Robert Beatty), Pat and Nolan (Dan
O'Herlihy) who wanted to rescue him (Pat and Nolan were gunned down
after informed upon), informer Theresa O'Brien (Maureen Delaney),
law-enforcing police Inspector (Denis O'Dea), hansom cab-driver "Gin" Jimmy
(Joseph Tomelty), bird-dealer and poor street hustler Shell (F. J.
McCormick), forgiving Catholic priest Father Tom (W. G. Fay), bar
proprietor Fencie (William Hartnell), crazed, bedeviled, and drunken
and eccentric homosexual painter Lukey (Robert Newton)
Various Characters Circling Around Johnny
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Inspector with Informant Theresa O'Brien
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Hansom Cab-Driver "Gin" Jimmy
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Bird-Dealer and Poor Street Hustler Shell
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Catholic Priest Father Tom
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Bar Proprietor Fencie
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Crazed, Drunken and Eccentric Homosexual Painter
Lukey
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- Johnny's additional imaginings of faces from conversations
of people who he had recently been confronted by, in the bubbles
of his spilled beer on the counter in Mr. Fencie's bar, and later
in Lukey's studio lined with paintings, Johnny experienced a delirious
vision of the paintings flying off the wall
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Faces in Beer Bubbles
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Flying Paintings
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- in the film's visual religious symbolism of crucifixion,
McQueen became a Christ-like figure as a condemned man slowly approaching
death - when brought to Lukey's building, McQueen was compelled
to pose for the painter for endless hours as a model for a series
of Christ paintings; the artist was obsessed with painting the
eyes of the dying man as he noted: ("there's something to
be said about him before he dies...I understand what I see in him....It's
the truth about us all....He's doomed"); he discussed his
obsession with failed ex-medical student Tober (Elwyn Brook-Jones),
Shell's house-mate, who was attempting to treat the seriously-wounded
Johnny
- the low-angled view of Johnny with a sling on his
arm, and his crazed hallucinatory recitation of the Bible (I Corinthians
13) from words he learned from Father Tom as a child: ("I remember.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I understood
as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not
charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though
I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all
knowledge and though I have all faiths so that I could remove mountains
and have not charity, I am nothing"); Lukey reacted:
"He's mad, he's out of his mind"
- in the powerful and violent finale in a very snowy
Belfast, girlfriend Kathleen finally met up with Johnny, who thought
she was another dreamy vision - he asked: "Is it really you?...If
you are real, stretch out your hand to mine"; she rushed into
his arms and embraced him; he then asked: "What d'you want with
me? Go back to life and peace" - she assured him: "I'll
stay with you, my love"; he told her: "Hold up your head.
Don't cry"
- at the sound of a foghorn of a ship announcing its
imminent departure at the waterfront, she told him that she had arranged
for escape: "That's our chance. Will you take it with me?";
he asked:
"Is it far?" and she promised: "Keep holding my hand" -
she slowly assisted him to the dock as the police manhunt closed in
on them; when he tired and fell back against an iron gate (with arms
extended in a crucifix pose), he wondered: "Kathleen, where are
you?" - and she responded: "It's all right, Johnny. I'm here";
again, he asked: "Is it far?" - she told him: "It's
a long way Johnny, but I'm coming with you - we're going away together";
she reached into her pocket, pulled out a gun seen in closeup, and
fired two shots as the police approached closer; they were both shot
dead by police in a barrage of return gunfire (off-screen), and expired
in each other's arms on the snow-covered ground; the Inspector was
informed: "There's their gun, sir" - he inspected the gun: "Two
shots fired," and was told in the film's final line of dialogue: "Yes
sir, that's when we had to fire back"
- the sound of the foghorn (with the departing ship) ended the film
as witnesses Father Tom and Shell walked away from the tragic scene
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Crucifix Pose Against Iron Gate
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"I'm coming with you"
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"We're going away together"
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Kathleen's Two Shots
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Bodies in Snow
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("Two shots fired") - "Yes sir,
that's when we had to fire back"
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Johnny McQueen
(James Mason)
Johnny's Planned Robbery Compatriots, Including Kathleen
(in back)
Kathleen
(Kathleen Ryan)
Johnny Left Behind After Robbery - Stranded in Streets of
Belfast
On the Run - As a Delirious Fugitive
Johnny Reclining in Washtub
Wandering in Snow
Lukey: "There's something to be said about him
before he dies..."
Johnny Posing As Model for Lukey, As Tober Operated
Johnny's Recitation of I Corinthians 13
Last Moments Together
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