There're really two movies going on here. One is a fairly standard crime drama with a good cast and some atmospherics; the other plays like a commercial for the American Psychiatric Association starring Lee J. Cobb and his pipe. I just wish the producers had stuck with number one. That movie might not have been special, but it would have given such ace performers as Kroeger, Foch, Osterloh, Jergens, and Geray more to do. As things work out, they get to stand around and play stage props to Professor Freud and his therapy sessions. And that does get tiresome. What with Cobb acting like it's all nothing more than Lecture Hall 101, even as Holden sticks a gun in his ear.
So, will Holden finally put an end to Cobb's knows-it-all attitude and give the rest of us some relief. Not for a second. You know that from the beginning since shooting him would reflect on an entire profession for which Cobb's character obviously stands as an icon. Nonetheless, the usually boisterous Cobb does get to show his versatility as an actor. There were a number of these "home invasion" films from that period, nearly all of which are superior to this didactic 75-minutes. I especially like The Night Holds Terror (1955), a tight, no-nonsense B-movie in which a nutty John Cassavetes would have pulled the trigger in nothing flat. Probably something about his dreams.
So, will Holden finally put an end to Cobb's knows-it-all attitude and give the rest of us some relief. Not for a second. You know that from the beginning since shooting him would reflect on an entire profession for which Cobb's character obviously stands as an icon. Nonetheless, the usually boisterous Cobb does get to show his versatility as an actor. There were a number of these "home invasion" films from that period, nearly all of which are superior to this didactic 75-minutes. I especially like The Night Holds Terror (1955), a tight, no-nonsense B-movie in which a nutty John Cassavetes would have pulled the trigger in nothing flat. Probably something about his dreams.