crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
directed by
Joseph M. Newman
Joseph M. Newman (August 17, 1909 – January 23, 2006) was an American film director most famous for his 1955 film ''This Island Earth''. His credits include episodes of ''The Twilight Zone'' and ''The Alfred Hitchcock Hour''.
He was nomin ...
and starring
Edmond O'Brien
Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
O'Brien w ...
,
Joanne Dru
Joanne Dru (born Joan Letitia LaCock;Known as Joan Lacock in th1930 United States census/ref> January 31, 1922 – September 10, 1996) was an American film and television actress, known for such films as '' Red River'', ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbo ...
and
Otto Kruger
Otto Kruger (September 6, 1885 – September 6, 1974) was an American actor, originally a Broadway matinee idol, who established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as Hitchcock's ''Saboteur''. He also appeared in CBS's ''Perry Mason'' a ...
.
Plot
Telephone technician Mal Granger, with knowledge of telephones and electronics, is hired by gangster Vince Walters to expand Walters' legitimate business that is a front for an illegal
bookmaking
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
History
The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795.
Range of events
Bookm ...
operation. The expansion is a great success, and Granger also develops a better system for gathering information at racetracks. Granger wants a cut of the action and threatens to leave unless Walters makes him a 20% partner. Walters accedes to the demand.
When Walters tries to collect from a bookie, the bookie kills first Walters, then himself. Granger takes control of the wire service and the racket, making him a target for Lieutenant Wright of the Los Angeles police.
East Coast mobster Larry Mason is sent by boss Carl Stephans to persuade Granger to join his syndicate. Granger and Mason's wife Gail are attracted to each other.
Granger decides to accept a 50/50 split with his new partners. Some of the independent bookies do not like the new arrangement (and the extra 20% "protection" fee) and refuse to go along. They are roughed up by Syndicate goons.
Granger's assistant Trudy discovers that he is being shortchanged. Granger complains and is told that the shortfall is the result of "necessary expenses." He vows to get his money.
Granger and Gail pursue their attraction. After Mason beats Gail, Granger hires a
hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may b ...
named Gizzi to kill Mason with a rifle. After the hit, Gizzi decides to blackmail Granger, who agrees to pay $25,000 at a rendezvous at the Malibu Pier, but there Gizzi announces he intends to become Granger's silent partner. Granger uses his car to crush Gizzi to death against the pier's railing, then sends the man's body over the side.
Using his telephone know-how, Granger places a call to Wright that makes it appear he is in
Palm Springs
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...
and thus has an alibi for the murder. Wright tapes the call and hears a streetcar whistle; there are no streetcars in Palm Springs, so the police deduce he was actually in town. The police eventually match the paint from Granger's damaged car to Gizzi's murder.
Granger decides to retire and escape to
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...
with Gail, but first he sets out to collect what is owed to him. With the help of Gail and Chippie, he taps into a phone line at a mob betting parlor in Las Vegas and pulls off a pass-post swindle, intercepting and taping race results to be rebroadcast after a two-minute delay, giving Gail and Chippie time to place substantial bets on the foregone winning horses. Chippie, however, is recognized by a man who bears a grudge against Granger. He tells Stephans, who has Chippie brought to him, and learns where Granger can be found. Stephans passes the information along to Wright, content to let the police rid him of a troublesome colleague.
With the police closing in, Granger and Gail flee to
Boulder Dam #REDIRECT Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression a ...
, trying to cross the state line to get out of Wright's jurisdiction, but encounter a roadblock. They join a tour group and descend into the dam. Gail collapses from fatigue while running, Granger is shot and apparently killed before he can find his way to the Arizona side.
Cast
*
Edmond O'Brien
Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
O'Brien w ...
as Mal Granger
*
Joanne Dru
Joanne Dru (born Joan Letitia LaCock;Known as Joan Lacock in th1930 United States census/ref> January 31, 1922 – September 10, 1996) was an American film and television actress, known for such films as '' Red River'', ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbo ...
as Gail Mason
*
Otto Kruger
Otto Kruger (September 6, 1885 – September 6, 1974) was an American actor, originally a Broadway matinee idol, who established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as Hitchcock's ''Saboteur''. He also appeared in CBS's ''Perry Mason'' a ...
as Carl Stephans
*
Barry Kelley
Edward Barry Kelley (August 19, 1908 – June 5, 1991) was an American actor on Broadway in the 1930s and 1940s and in films during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The heavy-set actor created the role of Ike in '' Oklahoma!'' on Broadway. His l ...
as Vince Walters
*
Dorothy Patrick
Dorothy Patrick (born Dorothea Davis; June 3, 1921 – May 31, 1987) was a Canadian-American film actress and a John Robert Powers model.
Early life
Patrick was born on June 3, 1921, in St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada, the daughter of Mr. and ...
Robert Osterloh
Robert Osterloh (May 31, 1918 – April 16, 2001) was an American actor. His career spanned 20 years, appearing in films such as '' The Dark Past'' (1948), '' The Wild One'' (1953), '' I Bury the Living'' (1958) and '' Young Dillinger'' (1965).
...
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' film critic
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
panned the film, writing: "Despite some considerable advertising of ''711 Ocean Drive'' as a daring and courageous revelation of the big bookmaking and gambling syndicates, this modest Columbia melodrama ... is no more than an average crime picture with some colorful but vague details thrown in. Certainly, no one who reads the papers with a fairly retentive eye can have any less comprehension of the gambling racket than is illustrated here. ... In short, this little picture, conventionally written but well photographed, does no more than any gangster picture in reminding us that gangsters are crooks."
However, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote well of the film: "Operations of the syndicates are given a realistic touch by the screenplay, and Joseph M. Newman's direction keeps the action at a fast pace. O'Brien is excellent as the hot-tempered, ambitious young syndicate chief."''Variety'' Staff film review, July 1, 1950. Accessed: February 15, 2011.
Director Joseph M. Newman remarked: " was a tremendously successful picture ... that got good reviews and the studios all liked it. After that picture I was in great demand." Following his work on ''711 Ocean Drive'', Newman signed a two-year contract with Twentieth Century-Fox.
Glenn Erickson
Glenn Erickson is an American film editor and film critic. A graduate of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, he started in the film industry in 1975 as an editor of low-budget films and later worked in minor technical crew capacitie ...