He Ran All the Way (1951)This is a terrific film, and film noir, at its best. The first half hour is filled with ordinary scenes in post-war New York: a pool, a warehouse, and the streets, at day and night. Quite compelling stuff. John Garfield is sympathetic, if a bit over his head in this role, and Shelly Winters is superb as the girl trapped by a killer and by her sudden affection for a man that seems to have no outlet.But the film is not always at its best. The main portion is contained and static, even if there is an attempt at psychological intensity, for sure. I can't give too much away here, but want to provide a sense of the overall excitement at first that leads to a more interior film, where it flounders a bit.There a plot elements that you have to go along with, and Garfield might be partly trapped by the script, having to play an deeply conflicted and impulsive type in ways that might not make sense. So just keep going, and realize that eventually the main point is to get the protective nature of parents for their innocent child, and get the child's yearning for a real reason to love someone.And to get Garfield's dimwittedness and accept it. Maybe some people really are that foolish. The final scene with Garfield slowly realizing what matters most of all might be true is moving if you buy into all that led to it. The strongest element of all here is the photography by James Wong Howe. There are closeups and astonishing harsh lighting and a foreground/background sensibility that take noir to its heights. See it for that if nothing else.

Filmed in the Shadow of HUAC and the Communist Witch Hunt and Blacklist, this Film-Noir is a Strikingly Photographed, dreadfully Atmospheric, Downbeat of a Movie that is Pure Noir and John Garfield's Last Movie.The Pain in the Performance can be seen as a Physical (heart trouble) and Mental (hounded by the McCarthyites) Breakdown occurring On Screen and in Real Life. It is a Powerful Portrayal by Garfield.The Opening Act is Gloomy as Garfield is living with a Mom from Hell in a God-Awful apartment in the Slums. One of the opening Lines of Dialog...Mom: "If you were a Man you'd be out looking for a job."...Garfield: If you were a Man I would kick your teeth out."There is more Noir Nastiness. A botched Payroll Robbery and a Chase through the Train Yards that leads to a Public Swimming Pool, all Filmed with Gritty Noir Realism by Cinematographer James Wong Howe. The Script was Fronted but Written by Dalton Trumbo (HUAC) and Directed by John Berry (HUAC),This is as Bleak as Noir gets with an Ending that is the Genre at its most Definitive. A Must See for the fine Cast, Crackling Dialog and Shadowy Style. It is a Great Exit for Garfield and is a True representation of the Actor and the Man's Feelings articulated in His Art, Symbolic of His Philosophy and Politics.

My ultimate wish is that this film be released on DVD. If not for anything but a tribute to the genius of John Garfield. Nick Robey (Garfield) and his cohort in crime botch a robbery. The title is from the fact that he has to keep ahead of being arrested by the police. He meets Shelley Winters is who that falls in love with him. But he uses her to plot his escape. The action is fast-paced and the ending is an enigma or a prophecy. John Garfield had all intentions of continuing his film career despite his being investigated by the House Unamerican Activities Committee in the 1950's which blacklisted many film actors, directors, and writers. In fact, because Dalton Trumbo was blacklisted, his screenplay for this film went uncredited. Sadly to say also, perhaps because of the HUAC, Garfield died a year after this film's release. But he left us with his greatest masterpiece.

The uptight and dumb smalltime thief Nick Robey (John Garfield) and his partner and only friend Al Molin (Norman Lloyd) robber US$ 10,000.00 from a man, but the heist goes wrong. Al Molin is killed by a policeman and Nick shots him deadly in the spine. He hides out in a public swimming pool and meets the shy spinster Peggy Dobbs (Shelley Winters) in the water. Nick uses Peggy to lie low and leave the plunge. He offers a ride in a taxi to her and she invites him to enter in her apartment, where she introduces her family to him. When Nick discovers that he killed the cop, he decides to use Peggy's apartment as hideout to wait the police manhunt cool down, forcing the family to lodge him. When Nick finds that Peggy loves him, he invites her to leave the town with him and asks her to buy a used runaway car. However, the paranoid Nick cannot trust anybody and believes Peggy has betrayed him.The film-noir "He Ran All the Way" is the last movie of John Garfield in the role of a man that does not know the meaning of love or family, therefore he cannot believe in a woman in love with him. The storyline is very simple and claustrophobic and four years later, William Wyler made "The Desperate Hours" that has a similar storyline, with a gang that breaks in suburban house and threatens the household. This movie has not been released on Blu-ray, DVD or VHS in Brazil and is only available in cable television. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Por Amor Também Se Mata" ("For Love, It Also Kills")