Where the Sidewalk Ends

Plot synopsis:
New York City 16th Precinct Police Detective Dixon (Dana Andrews), who has been demoted by his superiors for his heavy-handed tactics, subjects murder suspect and gambler Ken Paine (Craig Stevens) to the third degree – he strikes the drunken Paine in self-defense and accidentally kills him. Paine, however, had a silver plate in his head, a fine war record, and newspaper friends. Dixon then dumps Paine's body in the river, and is later assigned to find his killer.
Dixon tries to place the blame on an old gangster enemy, Tommy Scalise (Gary Merrill), but inadvertently puts cab driver Jiggs Taylor (Tom Tully) under suspicion instead. Having fallen in love with Jiggs' daughter and Paine's estranged wife, Morgan Taylor-Paine (Gene Tierney), Dixon tries to clear the cabbie without implicating himself, but ultimately becomes tangled in a web of his own creation. The 16th Precinct commander and Dixon's boss, newly promoted Detective Lt. Thomas (Karl Malden), are convinced that Morgan's father is the killer.
Dixon continues to find a way to stop Jiggs from being found guilty of murdering Paine, and also tries to redeem himself. In an attempt to move the evidence away from Morgan's father and blame Scalise, Dixon comes face to face with the gangster and his cronies. A shoot-out leaves Dixon wounded, but the police arrive to arrest Scalise and his mob. Jiggs is finally cleared of the charges. At the end Dixon reassesses his life and decides to confess. He is satisfied that Morgan believes in him regardless of the outcome.

Tags: violence, sadist

Review:
Once again Otto Preminger directs, Dana Andrews stars as a police detective named Mark, and Gene Tierney is the beautiful woman who haunts him, but nothing else about WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS resembles everyone's favorite sophisticated murder mystery.
While many noirs romanticize the two-fisted tough guy, WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS offers an unflinching portrait of the reality behind the façade, a gripping and melancholy exploration of the roots and consequences of violence.Andrews was sadly underrated in his own time (he was the only one of the three protagonists in THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES not nominated for an Academy Award, though his low-key performance is far more compelling than Frederic March's hammy, Oscar-winning drunk).
"Where the Sidewalk Ends," a fairly difficult to find film -- the only copy in perhaps the best stocked video store in Manhattan was a rough bootleg from the AMC cable channel -- belongs in a category with these classics.From the moment the black cloud of opening credits pass, a curtain is drawing around rogue loner detective Marc Dixon's crumbling world, and as the moments pass, it inches ever closer, threatening suffocation.
Preminger has reunited two of his stars from the hit 'Laura' - Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, for an entirely different sort of crime film.
Laura was based around love, and this film is based around hate; as we watch police detective Mark Dixon, a copper already suffering scrutiny from his superiors for his heavy handed tactics, accidentally kill a suspect and try to pin the murder on a known criminal; a man by the name of Tommy Scalisi.
The fact that the film is set in the criminal underground means that the plot is given an excellent base to work from, and director Otto Preminger expertly captures the sleazier side of life by showing the main characters gambling, beating one another (and their women), shooting and more - and this also helps to offset the film from the earlier 'Laura', which was very much set in upper class society.The role of Mark Dixon gives Dana Andrews one of the most interesting parts of his career.
Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, and starring Dana Andrews, the king of the B-movies, this is a terrific 20th-Century Fox film noir, all heavy woollen topcoats, stylish wide-brimmed hats and skewed camera angles.
The son of a thief who was killed while attempting to shoot himself out of jail, Mark Dixon became a cop in an attempt to atone for the sins of the father, but cannot quite escape the fathers blood surging through his veins every time he strikes out at a hood, and it's his excessive use of force that gets him demoted with the threat of losing his job as detective, the only thing he ever wanted out of life.
The characters are well developed and Dana Andrews is perfect in the role of a stubborn and violent detective that falls in love with the gorgeous Morgan performed by Gene Tierney.
Karl Malden is also extremely good as the new police lieutenant on the beat, and his rush to judgment against the working stiff is unsettling (it gives one the feeling that many cases are still 'solved' in this manner); Gene Tierney, Andrews' "Laura" co-star, is perfect as the daughter of the suspect--whom Andrews is quickly falling for--yet the finale is joyless and square.
It stars Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, Tom Tully & Karl Malden, with support coming from Ruth Donnelly, Craig Stevens & Neville Brand.Tough New York cop Mark Dixon (Andrews) is constantly in trouble with his superiors for his heavy-handed treatment of suspects.
However, things don't go according to plan and not only does Dixon find himself falling in love with Paine's wife, Morgan Taylor-Paine (Tierney), but also that he is now mired in a quagmire investigation which sees Morgan's father, Jiggs (Tully), accused of the crime he himself is responsible for.Where The Sidewalk Ends was the final film noir piece that Preminger made for 20th Century Fox in the 1940s.
Then a director for hire, the film sees Preminger re-teamed with Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Joseph LaShelle, Ben Hecht and art director Lyle Wheeler, all of whom produced the excellent Laura in 1944.
It must be said that Tierney here is under-used in what amounts to more of a supporting role while the spotlight goes to Andrews.He plays a tough, hardened cop used to dealing with a bunch of thugs in too vigorous a way until one night he accidentally kills a man in the process of arresting him.
By the end, it turns into a morality tale with Andrews developing a conscience over his crime.It's fascinating as film noir with capable performances from a strong supporting cast.
Dana Andrews stands "Where the Sidewalk Ends" in this 1950 film that also stars Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Karl Malden and Neville Brand.
Andrews plays New York City Detective Sgt. Mark Dixon, a cop with a bad temper who has gotten into trouble in the past for beating suspects.
Absorbing screenplay,strong directing,superb performances,everything is perfect in this Otto Preminger movie.Dana Andrews gives one of his greatest performances.Unlike "Laura",the interest focuses on him here.At first sight ,he seems a tough cop,brutal,ruthless and disagreeable.Little by little,we learn to understand him:his past is revealed only in the last part.His stature is constantly growing .In the extraordinary letter scene (with a moving voice over),we finally side with him .Unlike the Lang hero (see Andrews's part in "beyond a reasonable doubt" 1956) ,the Preminger character can redeem himself even if the price to pay is high :here Dixon is ready to sacrifice his life partly because of his love for Tierney,but also because his heredity made him a pariah,an outcast,"half-cop,half-criminal" as a hoodlum justly says.Suspense is constant and exciting.When the old lady realizes that it cannot be Paine because he didn't wave his hand,it packs a real wallop!
In this sense it is visually and spatially satisfying, as its hero, a good cop with a bad temper, gets into very hot water when he accidentally kills a guy with a plate in his head.Dana Andrews plays the lead as if it were Hamlet, and has never been better.
The efficiency with which Preminger covers the police procedural stuff and the usual issues of guilt and redemption leaves no room for thrills or suspense, which is disappointing for a director of his class.The dialogue lacks the cut and wit required of the genre and the relationship between stony-faced tough Andrews and dewy-eyed good girl Tierney (a luminous presence, but a limited actress) fails to convince.
Otto Preminger directed this film noir that stars Dana Andrews as detective Mark Dixon, recently demoted for roughing up too many suspects.
Dixon then covers up the crime, but in the ensuing investigation, finds himself falling for the man's widow Morgan(played by Gene Tierney) whose father ends up charged with the crime he committed.
Thomas (Karl Malden), who has just gotten a promotion.Meanwhile, Tommy Scalise (Gary Merrill, in a splendidly slimy performance) has an illegal dice game going and is looking to make a sucker out of the rich Ted Morrison (Harry Von Zell), who was brought in by Ken Paine (Craig Stevens) and his beautiful wife Morgan (Gene Tierney).
"Where the Sidewalk Ends" is film noir at its best: entertaining, well-acted and directed, with a very good plot and outstanding cinematography and character depiction.
Based on the hardboiled crime novel "Night Cry" by William L Stuart (which I have not read), the film tells the story of 16th precinct New York police detective Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews).
Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney give excellent performances and are ably supported by Karl Malden (who plays the detective who is promoted at Dixon's expense) and Gary Merrill (who plays Scalise, the crook who organised the illegal crap game that brought about the events depicted in the film).
The Otto Preminger directed film has plenty of atmosphere but the story gets watered down when the dead man's wife (Gene Tierney) falls for Andrews.
Where the Sidewalk Ends is quite a good film-noir crime drama and is shot well in black and white and on location as well.A copper accidentally kills a bloke who is suspected of murder and to protect himself, he covers this up and blames it on another person he doesn't like who has committed a lot of crimes in the past.
But towards the end, he owns up but not before falling in love with a woman he meets who is the lover of the person he killed...The cast includes Dana Andrews (While the City Sleeps, Curse of the Demon), Gene Tierney (Laura, The Ghost and Mrs Muir), Gary Merrill (Mysterious Island), Karl Malden (The Streets of San Francisco, Beyond the Posidon Adventure) and Craig Stevens (The Deadly Mantis).
When he kills a suspect things go from bad to worse for him, particularly when he falls in love with the man's widow, (Gene Tierney, who else)."Where the Sidewalk Ends" may not be the classic that "Laura" was, or indeed "Fallen Angel", but once again Andrews is superb, (he was certainly one of the most underrated of great actors, brilliant at playing heroes with demons to cope with, literally in the case of "Night of the Demon").
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)*** 1/2 (out of 4) Excellent noir about the hard-nosed Detective Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) who has been warned about his hot temper and willingness to beat confessions out of hoods.
Featuring a tough cop, Where the Sidewalk Ends starts like any usual homicide investigation film-noir.
The director and two stars of LAURA (1944) were reteamed for this solid policier: Dana Andrews is the son of a criminal who becomes a cop to cut all ties with the past but cannot keep his inherited violent ways in check while interrogating suspects and, one night, he goes too far; Gene Tierney is the estranged wife of his victim, a decorated war hero who has become involved with the town's leading racketeer and Andrews' No. 1 nemesis, Gary Merrill (who had himself been the protégé of Andrews Snr.)!
As usual with Preminger, this is a well-crafted movie with a notable opening credits sequence and enlivened by a good cast that also includes Karl Malden (as Andrews' incumbent superior), Tom Tully (as Tierney's motor-mouth taxi driver dad) and Neville Brand (as Merrill's chief thug), with notable support also coming from Craig Stevens (as the slimy, wife-beating victim), Bert Freed (as Andrews' sympathetic partner) and Robert F.
Andrews and Tierney are reunited with director Preminger in a film noir that is as effective as "Laura," their earlier collaboration.
Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, who were both so memorable in 1944's "Laura, re-teamed for this excellent 1950 film-noir.An embittered policeman, Andrews as Mark, can't get over the fact that his father was a hoodlum who died in a police shootout while trying to break out of jail.
It's this inability that leads to the accidental death of a small-time hood.(Craig Stevens)In trying to frame gangster Gary Merrill, Mark unintentionally puts the heat on innocent cab-drive, Tom Tully, who is the father of Gene Tierney, who was separated by Stevens.This is a well-thought out film dealing with the conscience of a basically decent human being.The ending is not exactly upbeat as Mark will have to face the music.
****SPOILERS**** Highly contrived movie about a tough cop who likes to do things his way getting involved in a homicide that he tries to pin on a mobster that he had it for and end's up getting his girlfriend's, the dead man's ex-wife, father arrested for the killing that he committed.
When Det. Dixon's love-interest in the film Morgan's, Gene Tierney, the dead man's ex-wife's father Jiggs Taylor, Tom Tully, is picked up by the police and booked for Paine's murder it shows Det. Dixon that no matter how much you dislike a person and no matter how guilty you think that he is that by framing him it will only make things worse, much worse.
In the end Det. Dixon's conscious gets the best of him even though by then got away Scott-free with what he did.Good acting as well as on-location New York City photography makes the movie a success but it's story is just too contrived to be taken seriously.
"Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1950), is a film noir directed by Otto Preminger and stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney with Karl Malden.
The plot follows tough cop Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) who accidentally kills a murder suspect and his subsequent attempts to cover it up.
Stuart, is meaty stuff and Dana Andrews, who along with Gene Tierney starred in Preminger's earlier "Laura" (1944), clearly relishes the chance to play such a morally ambiguous leading character, and Preminger and his cinematographer, Academy Awarding winner Joseph LaShelle, shooting on location in New York City really capture the seediness and ominous atmosphere that is so important to get in a film like this.
Splendid virtuoso noir film of only superior qualities right through, while names like Ben Hecht as the script writer, Otto Preminger's direction, Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews guarantee something truly worth while.
Not only is the lighting in this movie is a classic example of the film noir style, but the fact that it revolves around a crime scene and Detective Mark Dixon.
With Otto Preminger (Laura, Anatomy of a Murder) directing a Ben Hecht (The Scoundrel, Underworld) script, you know there is little chance of disappointment.Add Dana Andrews (The Best Years of Our Lives, The Ox-Bow Incident) and Gene Tierney (Leave Her to Heaven), both of whom also starred in Preminger's Laura, and you can't fail.Det. Mark Dixon (Andrews) is a cop fighting demons rooted in the past.
He is an abusive cop and manages to kill a man by accident.Karl Malden (On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire) plays a police lieutenant, a job her would reprise years later in The Streets of San Francisco.Ruth Donnelly (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Bells of St. Mary's) provided comic relief as she tried to get Andrews & Tierney together.Excellent cast and excellent film..
With a pedigree team of director Otto Preminger and screen-writer Ben Hecht, not to mention close to A-List casting (Andrews, Tierney and Malden), this film noir was always going to deliver.
Perhaps the most gripping and intelligent of crooked cop movies is Otto Preminger's 'Where the Sidewalks Ends,' from a really excellent script by Ben Hecht based on the novel 'Night Cry' by Frank Rosenberg...Dana Andrews is the honest, tough New York policeman, always in trouble with his superiors because he likes his own strong-arm methods as much as he detests crooks...
In Where The Sidewalk Ends, Otto Preminger reunites Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, surely in hopes of recapturing the magic of his Laura.
Andrews panics and assumes they won't believe him so he tries to cover up the death--though instead an innocent man is ultimately blamed for the crime.There's a lot more to the film than this--including a plot involving a slimy villain (Gary Merrill) and a love interest for Andrews (Gene Tierney).
Dana Andrews is a less than good cop who accidentally kills a man only to have it potentially pinned on the father of the girl he loves.
WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS – 1950 Director Otto Preminger reunites with Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney in this top flight film noir.
When his quick temper leaves a murder suspect dead, Dixon finds himself becoming the very father whom he despised, a cheap criminal who'll cheat and lie to cover up his offence.'Where the Sidewalk Ends' was the only film to reunite Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney and director Otto Preminger after the superb 'Laura (1944),' though the two films, as far as noir goes, couldn't be further apart.
It allows us, for example, to put ourselves in the shoes of a mature, regular moviegoer in 1950 and speculate what we would have made of a 20th Century Fox movie released that year, directed by Otto Preminger in which Dana Andrews plays a Manhattan-based detective named Mark and falls in love with Gene Tierney in the course of investigating a murder in which she is a key figure.
I find the build of the movie to be a perfect example of a film noir but the biggest thing that keeps me from thoroughly enjoying the movie is the acting of Dana Andrews as Det.Mark Dixon.
Otto Preminger directs a script by Ben Hecht, with much of the same team behind his previous masterwork "Laura." This time he takes it right into the mean streets of New York, with Dana Andrews starring as Detective Mark Dixon, a no-nonsense cop who's just a bit too enthusiastic to bust a particular criminal kingpin (Gary Merill) who was once associated with his thieving father.
Along the way he becomes involved with a lovely innocent (Gene Tierney) whose father (Tom Tully) is accused of a crime that Dixon himself committed.The character played by Andrews is very similar to that played by Robert Ryan in the Nick Ray film "On Dangerous Ground." His boss (Bert Freed) accuses him of getting sadistic pleasure from beating up bad guys, moreso than he does from detecting crime.
Along the way he gets involved with the estranged wife of the man he killed (Gene Tierney) and also has to try to get her father off the hook for the murder.Stunningly photographed by Joseph LaShelle, with hard and sparkling dialogue by Ben Hecht and a truly powerful ending with elements of tragedy and found grace in just a minute or two of time, this is another noir for the ages and might be my favorite Preminger film thus far -- it's every bit as good as the more-heralded Laura..
Film-Noir, Preminger, Andrews and Tierney.
Detective Mark Dixon(Dana Andrews)is a hard-line cop trying to get past his father's criminal reputation.