Despite being a B-movie that didn't make much money at the time of its initial release, "Pushover" will still appeal strongly to the average film noir fan. Its story about obsession, betrayal and murder contains many familiar elements but remains thoroughly engrossing throughout because it's well paced, frequently suspenseful and has a compelling plot. The atmosphere is claustrophobic and this is reinforced visually by the action being staged mostly in small, often cramped, rooms and dark rainy streets. The shadowy interiors are beautifully photographed and the ways in which the streetlights reflect on wet roads and illuminate raindrops on the cars are just a couple of examples of the superb quality of D.P. Lester White's work.
Middle-aged LAPD Detective Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray) makes the acquaintance of an attractive young blonde called Lona McLane (Kim Novak) after she has some problems with her car and the couple quickly become lovers when they spend some time together waiting for the necessary repairs to be carried out. All is not as it appears however, because this apparently random meeting was set up by Paul who'd been assigned to the task by his boss because Lona is suspected of being the girlfriend of a wanted fugitive and Paul has been told to find out whether she knows her fiancé's whereabouts. He soon reports back to Detective Lieutenant Carl Eckstrom (E.G.Marshall) that he's convinced that she is in a relationship with bank robber Harry Wheeler (Paul Richards).
Eckstrom feels confident that Wheeler will contact Lona at some point and so arranges for her phone to be tapped and for her apartment to be kept under constant surveillance. Paul and his fellow detective Rick McAllister (Philip Carey) are part of the stakeout team who occupy a room that overlooks Lona's apartment and together they wait for Wheeler to make his move. It's during this period that Lona suspects that Paul is a cop and when she confronts him on the issue, he eventually admits that she's right but assures her that his interest in her is genuine. She remarks that the $200,000 that had been stolen from the bank by Wheeler's gang could set them up nicely for the future if they could get their hands on it when Wheeler is eventually apprehended. Paul wants no part in that kind of scheme and soon returns to his stakeout duties.
Rick starts to find his work becomes a little less tedious when he starts watching Lona's attractive neighbour, Ann Stewart (Dorothy Malone) but also one of Paul's colleagues notices that he is steadily becoming more and more agitated. Completely obsessed by Lona, Paul arranges to meet her again and together they agree to carry out her plan. A telephone call that she receives on the following day than sets Paul off in pursuit of the stolen money but the complications that follow soon lead him into desperation, betrayals and murders when things suddenly start to spiral out of control.
The sequences in which the detectives spy on the women through binoculars are uncomfortably voyeuristic and very similar to certain scenes in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" which was also released in the same year as this movie. The bank robbery and an episode that takes place in Ann Stewart's apartment are played out without any dialogue and as well as being well directed are also rather Hitchcockian in style.
During his childhood, Paul had frequently witnessed his parents arguing about money and this experience led him to believe that without plenty of cash, a successful relationship with a woman would be completely impossible. As a result, he was always more vulnerable than most to being corrupted by anyone with Lona's mindset and greed. Fred MacMurray does well at portraying his character's confident and competent exterior while also giving signs along the way of how he's gradually unravelling. Kim Novak, in her first starring role, is well cast as the seductive femme fatale and Philip Carey and Dorothy Malone also contribute a couple of really good supporting performances.
Middle-aged LAPD Detective Paul Sheridan (Fred MacMurray) makes the acquaintance of an attractive young blonde called Lona McLane (Kim Novak) after she has some problems with her car and the couple quickly become lovers when they spend some time together waiting for the necessary repairs to be carried out. All is not as it appears however, because this apparently random meeting was set up by Paul who'd been assigned to the task by his boss because Lona is suspected of being the girlfriend of a wanted fugitive and Paul has been told to find out whether she knows her fiancé's whereabouts. He soon reports back to Detective Lieutenant Carl Eckstrom (E.G.Marshall) that he's convinced that she is in a relationship with bank robber Harry Wheeler (Paul Richards).
Eckstrom feels confident that Wheeler will contact Lona at some point and so arranges for her phone to be tapped and for her apartment to be kept under constant surveillance. Paul and his fellow detective Rick McAllister (Philip Carey) are part of the stakeout team who occupy a room that overlooks Lona's apartment and together they wait for Wheeler to make his move. It's during this period that Lona suspects that Paul is a cop and when she confronts him on the issue, he eventually admits that she's right but assures her that his interest in her is genuine. She remarks that the $200,000 that had been stolen from the bank by Wheeler's gang could set them up nicely for the future if they could get their hands on it when Wheeler is eventually apprehended. Paul wants no part in that kind of scheme and soon returns to his stakeout duties.
Rick starts to find his work becomes a little less tedious when he starts watching Lona's attractive neighbour, Ann Stewart (Dorothy Malone) but also one of Paul's colleagues notices that he is steadily becoming more and more agitated. Completely obsessed by Lona, Paul arranges to meet her again and together they agree to carry out her plan. A telephone call that she receives on the following day than sets Paul off in pursuit of the stolen money but the complications that follow soon lead him into desperation, betrayals and murders when things suddenly start to spiral out of control.
The sequences in which the detectives spy on the women through binoculars are uncomfortably voyeuristic and very similar to certain scenes in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" which was also released in the same year as this movie. The bank robbery and an episode that takes place in Ann Stewart's apartment are played out without any dialogue and as well as being well directed are also rather Hitchcockian in style.
During his childhood, Paul had frequently witnessed his parents arguing about money and this experience led him to believe that without plenty of cash, a successful relationship with a woman would be completely impossible. As a result, he was always more vulnerable than most to being corrupted by anyone with Lona's mindset and greed. Fred MacMurray does well at portraying his character's confident and competent exterior while also giving signs along the way of how he's gradually unravelling. Kim Novak, in her first starring role, is well cast as the seductive femme fatale and Philip Carey and Dorothy Malone also contribute a couple of really good supporting performances.