Peterman (2014)

Peterman: Directed by Mark Abraham. With Paul Niemiec, Joe Cole, Brian McCardie, Kenny Doughty. The death of his safe cracking grandfather has landed Johnny as the only one left alive who can open a safe for a degenerate crew of violent gangsters,but he’s just a junkie with little more on his mind than getting that next fix.

“Allied Artists which was Monogram Studios and mostly noted for the Bowery Boys gave us The Big Combo and they put together a stylish cast for this noir thriller. The cast is so good they cover up a lot of holes in the story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe antagonists in this film are honest police lieutenant Cornel Wilde against ruthless syndicate chief Richard Conte. Wilde is doggedly determined to get Conte whou0026#39;s an article as slick as they come. His persistence reminds me a lot of Columbo without the humor.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eConte took over from a former syndicate chief who took a Johnny Torrio like u0026#39;retirementu0026#39; to Sicily. Or what exactly is the real story there and whou0026#39;s this mysterious Alicia that throws a scare into the normally unflappable Conte?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWilde also has a personal interest in another way as heu0026#39;s kind of crushing out on Jean Wallace whou0026#39;s Conteu0026#39;s main squeeze. Thereu0026#39;s a club stripper played by Carolyn Jones whou0026#39;s sweet on Wilde and pays for it with her life.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Big Combo has made the list for cinema of gay interest because of the roles of Earl Holliman and Lee Van Cleef as a pair of gay trigger men who work for Conte. Itu0026#39;s something that during the Fifties only a small studio like Allied Artists would have on screen. Today their relationship is rather obvious. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe parts are much greater than the whole and basically what Conte has done is pull a syndicate coup du0026#39;etat. But personally as the story unfolds he did a rather sloppy job in covering it up.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRounding out the cast is syndicate banker Brian Donlevy and Wildeu0026#39;s police superior Robert Middleton. Itu0026#39;s a nice noir thriller, but it should have had a much tighter story.”