I recently caught up with
Tight Spot (1955) and must add my admiration for
Ginger Rogers' tough gal opposite summer under the stars boy
Edward G. Robinson (playing a DA), and
Brian Keith as a troubled cop she takes a shine to during the movie. I thought that
Ginger gave a pretty good rendering of a 44 year old "girl" just out of prison and whisked away to a "swanky" hotel for safekeeping when it is learned that she may have the goods on a fabled mobster boss. Emotionally hungry, toughened by her time in the joint, and still smarting from a lifetime of hard knocks, most of the people I've come across commenting on this flick seem focused on her unflattering haircut (hello, she was in prison, not beauty boot camp). I like those occasions when
Rogers, who could sometimes appear too slick in her movies, tapped into her "inner chorine" as she did so winningly here and in her sparkling work in
Stage Door, The Major and the Minor, and especially as
Roxie Hart.
Ginger Rogers, character actress, who was not seeking hairstyling advice from Edward G. Robinson. Isn't it funny that while at Warner's in the early '30s these two never did a movie together? (They both appeared separately in segments of the delightful Fox anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier, called Tales of Manhattan (1942). Eddie's part of that movie was among the best in that film, Ginger's was probably the most conventional, alas.)
While she was somewhat too flamboyant at times, (particularly in the ham-fisted scene with her sister), I thought she gave her role a great deal of flair. Her flirtation with the permanently rumpled
Brian Keith, who seemed to be
a.) guilt-ridden
b.) sleep-deprived
c.) hungover
was not credible, at least to me. His transition in the movie was pretty well done. I liked the note of comedy injected into the scene in the newlyweds' hotel room after a botched hit on
Ginger occurred when
Keith deadpanned to the jittery bride and groom whose wedding night was marred by a violent interruption that "yes, that was blood on his shirt", but he'd been shot only twice in the chest. Another detective calms the bride after
Keith leaves, explaining that he'd really been hit three times, but they hadn't broken the news to Brian just yet.
Brian Keith, who creates a credible portrait of a detective with something nagging his conscience.
I might believe that events might make him sympathetic to
Ginger Rogers' character, though I don't think an alliance was in the offing for this star-crossed pair. Gradually
Ginger confesses that she wasn't really a good time gal who saw anything while visiting a mobster's yacht, but she does like the good life, scarfing down big meals, all the perks she can get, and devouring Keith with her eyes. Her later assertion that she doesn't really know nuthin' gives
Eddie Robinson a chance to show some muted fireworks, as he vents his spleen against those who would take but not give to society.
Robinson, who was said to need the work at the time thanks to being "graylisted" by the McCarthyites, does a fine job as a somewhat non-plussed DA trying to pin something on a notorious mobster that will enable him to ship the guy back to his land of origin, (for which Italy will, of course, be really grateful).
Director
Phil Karlson does what he can, (on an obviously small budget) to open up the stagey setting of
Tight Spot's hotel room, which becomes one more cell for poor
Ginger as she tries to make up her mind whether or not she should spill the beans on Mr. Big to the grand jury.
Karlson uses long corridor shots, dramatic light and shadowing, and delightfully corrupt
Lorne Greene's apartment as the ultimate spider's web, complete with luxe moderne touches, mid-50s style. As he did in
Autumn Leaves, before he rode off to the Ponderosa,
Greene had the makings of a really enjoyable miscreant. Too bad he opted for a steady income and a kind of immortality as the most boring man in tv history.
Lorne Greene as Costain, the baddie with the hooded look who eats guys like Keith for breakfast. Too bad Greene didn't come along earlier in the film noir cycle. He might have had a more interesting career.