Directed by George Archainbaud; produced by Lewis J Rachmil
A heroic defence of his work-place during an armed robbery puts a diner’s dish-washer (James Anderson) on the front page. Unfortunately, his picture is recognised as that of Richard Kincaid, a man put on trial for murder twelve years previously. He had escaped custody before the trial’s completion. Now re-captured, he insists that he is innocent, and it’s up to the public defender, Paul Bennett (Gig Young) to make the jury see that.
An enjoyable aspect of choosing to watch a movie based on nothing more than a one-sentence synopsis, or on who acts in it, is the chance of finding an unexpectedly good film. Hunt the Man Down is one of them. Despite the title that makes it seem like an entry in the ‘fugitive’ category of film noir, the subject of the story is already in jail. What needs hunting is the real killer, one of seven suspects from a dozen years before. Thanks to a good script and direction, Hunt the Man Down delivers a lot of entertainment in its 69 minutes.
The running time is one of the few complaints the audience may have with the movie. Usually, a short and lean length is an asset to a b-movie. In this case, another twenty minutes or so would have been an advantage. The seven suspects, first seen in flashback, are a diverse lot and might confuse the viewer since little time is devoted to the characters. We get to know them better in the present, but, not having the luxury of being able to match in every case name to face - and some having changed subtly in the meantime - the audience has to catch up with recognition as the movie goes.
This is really the only difficulty with Hunt the Man Down. A minor problem is that during the flashback scene, taking place in 1938, the characters’ clothes are no different than those of the present.
Gig Young, future Oscar-winner, is very good as the public defender, though one doubts that such an official would, in real life, have the time to play detective, even if his department’s investigators are already fully occupied. To help, Bennett brings in his father (Harry Shannon), a one-armed former cop. Their interaction is natural and, at times, humorous, and they would have made a good pairing in a tv series.
James Anderson’s most noted rôle would be that of the nasty Bob Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird, by which time Anderson’s face had become fuller and he resembled a later generation’s Robert Loggia. Also in the cast of Hunt the Man Down is his actress sister, Mary Anderson. Contrastingly, James died at 48, an end described variously as being due to a heart attack or to barbiturate poisoning. Mary lived to be 96. Both give creditable performances here. In fact, given the relatively short extent of their time on screen, most of the cast provides fine vignettes of their characters, a poignant one given by Willard Parker.
The French-born director keeps the pace going, his conversations - and in a mystery like this, most scenes largely comprise talking - concise and to the point, though he manages to throw in a short car-chase that is relevant. Archainbaud, who was responsible for some very good work, later turned to westerns and television, being associated with Gene Autry.
Hunt the Man Down is a low-budget winner, another example of how talented people can make the most out of the least.