Finger Man (1955) Online

Frank Lovejoy, a petty criminal out after his third stretch in prison, gets lucky on a new gig hijacking a truck. The cops catch him – he dropped a cigarette pack covered with his fingerprints – but offer him a deal. If he can bring in mob kingpin Forrest Tucker, they'll let Lovejoy walk.

Not one to sing, Lovejoy turns them down until he meets up with his sister, strung out on the dope Tucker pushes. With the help of Peggie Castle, alumna of Tucker's stable of doxies, he makes himself known to the boss and gets a job running bootleg hooch. Something of a hothead, Lovejoy manages to rub Tucker's henchmen the wrong way, particularly Timothy Carey as his usual psychotic torpedo. As the movie nears its climax, the police wire Lovejoy to tape Tucker at the same time Tucker, his suspicions roused, decides to put Lovejoy on the hit list....

Coming late in the noir cycle, Fingerman avails itself of the flat, brutal style of 1950s crime dramas. So there are no unforgettable characters or characterizations, no flamboyant cinematic set-pieces. But the storytelling stays hard and unsentimental, with a fairly high quotient of violence. And the cast does well with what's written for them. Lovejoy (The Hitch-Hiker, Try and Get Me) does the laconic, low-key noir protagonist – he's good at the basically decent guy in over his head, while Carey creeps us out (his specialty).

Best of them is Peggie Castle, usually a hard-boiled blonde but here, as a woman with a past who wants a good future, she reveals an unexpected subtlety and ambiguity in her portrayal. She also gets the best shot in the film: Leaving Lovejoy's apartment, she disappears poignantly into a desolate urban nightscape. It's the last time we see her alive.

Fingerman is a good example of a 50's style crime drama. The basic plot line is: a man who has spent a lifetime committing crimes is "back at work" after his latest release from prison. While committing a hold-up by hijacking a truck, he carelessly drops a pack of cigarettes on the road with his fingerprints all over them and is nailed by the feds. Given a choice to go free if he becomes a stool-pigeon, he has to decide if he'll work for the feds to nab a crime kingpin.

Although there are no major stars, the performances are mostly good. Frank Lovejoy specialized in this type of role, a cynical protagonist caught up in circumstances beyond his control. Forrest Tucker (as the crime boss) and Peggie Castle (as Lovejoy's girlfriend) do well also. Timothy Carey (one of the most bizarre actors in screen history) is a standout as a torpedo in Tucker's employ.

The direction is decent but not outstanding, yet there are a few good moments, such as when two of Tucker's henchmen toss an informer in front of an approaching vehicle. Much of the action occurs at night, thus adding to the "noir" feel of the movie.

The film is unquestionably dated, and may bore younger viewers who need explosions or special effects every five minutes, but if you like 50's crime drama, Fingerman is a good way to kill an hour-and-a-half.

The question is asked by Lucille in her last scene, as she lies in the hospital to be detoxicated, and she is in hell. She is one of many female victims of Dutch Becker (Forest Tucker) who "owns" fallen girls "body and soul" all over the country, according to the police only in nine states. Frank Lovejoy as a frequent jailbird gets a chance for a clean slate if he helps the police to frame Dutch Becker to make it stick. That is the plot.

It's a grim film of spartan conciseness, and there are many interesting minor details that are important but risk getting bypassed by the action. All the scenes with Gladys Baker (Peggy Castle) are captivating, especially the last one, the longest shot in the film. In fact, it's all the expressive scenes with the women (and they are not many) that makes the film magic and of lasting interest beyond the limits of its time and age.

Frank Lovejoy reminds in this film very much of Eddie Constantine, the forerunner of James Bond but with a school of hard knocks behind him and a scarred face, that ultimately ruined his career. Frank Lovejoy has no scars, but he does have knuckles and uses them frequently. You simply have to love him, and the more for each trouble he starts.

The music is also outstanding, excellently composed and suited perfectly to every scene. This is a great film on a small level that will outshine most film of the period that were made to be more spectacular. This is a noir down to basics and extremely efficient as such.

Times have changed and one of the stranger examples is the poorly named film "Finger Man". While today such a movie would clearly incite giggles (especially since it starred Frank Lovejoy), back in the day it was a taut crime drama...and perhaps one worth your time.

When the story begins, ex-con Casey Martin (Lovejoy) is identified as participating in a robbery. However, instead of locking him up, the authorities offer to give him a walk...if he'll help them catch the mobster, Dutch Becker (Forrest Tucker). Martin is no squealer...but when he learns that his sister is addicted to smack...heroin provided to her by Becker, Casey decides to help bring him to justice. As he puts it, it's a choice between 'life in prison or probably a bullet in the head! However, he goes very slow...very easy in order not to scare Dutch off and so that he'll win his trust.

While the film lacks the dark look and film angles used in classic film noir, it is tough enough to be noir...and the story is well worth seeing. Not among the very best crime films of the era, but still quite good. Lovejoy was a terrific actor--too bad he died so young.

Veteran small-time criminal Frank Lovejoy gets busted for hijacking a truck he stole. Because of his prison track record, both in doing time and in refusing to be a stool pigeon, he's given the choice: life in prison or help the feds take down big-time crime boss Forrest Tucker. They also tell him to look up his sister Evelyn Eaton, who's now a drug addict, and Tucker's the supplier. Lovejoy has no choice but to accept. Through his old flame Peggy Castle, who was once employed by Tucker as a call-girl, he gets a position in Tucker's organization where he can try and find something concrete on Tucker.

There are tons of these noir(-ish) crime movies where someone infiltrates a crime ring in order to bust it from the inside out. This one's above-average. Within the confines of the Production Code it does all it can to make Tucker's business as seedy and lowlife as possible, by showing the sister's addiction as well as Tucker disposing of a prostitute he cannot use anymore. There's nothing redeeming about this crime boss, but he's also not some crazed lunatic.

The acting is solid across the board. Both Lovejoy ('The Hitch- hiker') and Castle ('99 River Street') are good, playing hardened- by-life characters but with human emotion under the exterior (in Lovejoy's case pure rage, Castle wants to settle down but knows her past will always come back to haunt her). Tucker (in his sole noir?) plays it straight and understated, giving his character a mean edge, even when he doesn't talk. Tucker's sidekick is none other than Timothy Carey ('The Killing'), who has some very nervous fingers in this movie. But as much as I like seeing Carey being Carey, his hyperactive acting felt kinda misplaced here, it's too big a contrast.

The movie looks pretty good, especially the nighttime scenes are well-done. Lovejoy does some nice voice-over narration with lines that could've been pulled straight from a 40s pulp novel. There are no surprises tho, altho there rarely are in these 'expose'-type noirs. Director Harold Schuster did a similar noir a few years late, 'Portland Expose', but this one's better. DoP William Sickner ('Cry Vengeance') does a solid job, and together they occasionally craft a beautifully-looking scene (the one where Castle walks into the night is tender and doomed at the same time).

Overall, it's not a classic, but it's a good example of this type of crime-busting movies. It's competently made and acted, looks good and does more than enough to keep one's attention. It's not a movie with a lot of re-watch value tho, what you see is what you get. Still recommended. 7/10

"Casey Martin" can take the final fall for a life of crime or cut a deal with T-Men to go undercover. It takes a tough guy, up against the wall, to tackle the assignment. The actors and script follow through to deliver a good tale. It's surprising that major studios were still making Black & White films in 1955, but the format seems to fit this story.

Frank Lovejoy is a three-time loser whose fingerprints have just turned up at the site of a truck heist. The Feds give him a choice: a lifetime in prison or help them get the dirt on mob head Forrest Tucker. Lovejoy has never talked, but when he sees what happened to his sister, Evelyn Eaton, he agrees. He gets Peggy Castle, with whom he has begun an affair, to introduce him to the big man.

Harold Schuster directs this as a straight, tough, ugly crime drama, where everyone is twitchy, except for Tucker, who talks emotionally of loyalty and honesty and has people killed. Lovejoy plays the role as a man about to explode at any moment, and knocks a few people down with his fists.

It's a very handsomely directed B, but it's too cheap and it came too late for anyone to break out. Schuster had directed some terrific westerns, and would soon get his shot in the Tarzan franchise.... and then settle down to TV work. Likewise Tucker. As for Lovejoy, he had the look and voice for the RKO B noirs, but that was five or ten years in the past; he already was performing on TV, and he would die in 1962, just 50 years old.