The Lineup (1958)

Directed by Don Siegel; produced by Jaime del Valle

A violent and inexplicable series of events at the Port of San Francisco put the police onto a big drug-smuggling operation that uses unwitting and expendable couriers. The detectives on the case face a double deadline: to find the drugs before the villains do, and to stop them from eliminating the innocent couriers.

The opening of The Lineup features a theft, speeding cars, a hit and run, a police shooting and a car wreck - all in the first two or three minutes. The pace of the beginning isn’t maintained throughout the film, nor is it meant to be; it is simply notice given to the viewer that he’s in for a tense and harsh hour and a half. This is actually a cinematic episode of the crime drama of the same name, which aired on radio and television from 1950 to 1960, though the treatment the story receives in the movie would never have passed tv censors of the time.

The Lineup is not very violent or bloody compared to films of today, and, indeed, even at the time, there were movies with more shootings and killings. But the suspense of the direction and the intensity of the main characters’ villainy are impressive.

Eli Wallach was someone who lived to act. Aside from apparently being an all-round nice guy, Clint Eastwood praised him, Marilyn Monroe learned from him and Henry Fonda asked his professional advice. Remembered principally as a supporting player (as in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), he is the star here, unusually - for a movie spin-off of a popular tv series - relegating the series stars to secondary or tertiary status.

But Wallach shows that he is fully in command of the movie. His character, Dancer, is a brutal psychopath, masquerading as a sympathetic individual, even trying to better himself socially. But there is always something just beneath the surface, a seething menace that makes the character compelling, and the actor well worth watching.

He is amply supported by Robert Keith (the lesser known father to Brian Keith), who portrays Dancer’s partner, the cool head of the duo, who functions almost as Dancer’s agent. Richard Jaeckel plays an alcoholic get-away driver, while Warner Anderson and Emile Meyer fill the roles of police detectives.

The direction (Siegel also directed the first Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Dirty Harry, as well as the pilot episode of The Lineup tv series) is sharp, and keeps the viewer trying to see what will happen next. Good use is made of San Francisco locations.

The script by Stirling Silliphant (who also wrote In the Heat of the Night) is excellent, running from the deliberately mundane talk of the police to the dangerous and slightly unreal banter between the murderers. Even so, the plotting is not neglected, and the audience is fully involved in the attempts of the police to cut off the killers before they reach their ultimate victim.

A gripping thriller that is part police procedural and part film noir, The Lineup benefits immensely from its director, its writer and, most of all, its star.