THE GANGSTERS ALL HERE Live Tweet movie for Sat., Sept. 12: JOHNNY O’CLOCK (1947)

After the late-1950’s grittiness of our first two Live Tweet entries, BMovieBoss has decided to go back to the land of fedoras and fast-talking hoods, with the 1947 entry Johnny O’Clock.

Former song-and-dance man Dick Powell plays the title role, a high-rolling casino co-manager who is constantly being tailed by cigar-chomping Police Inspector Koch (Lee J. Cobb, nicely underplaying for a change). Koch has plenty to investigate when Harriet, a hat-check girl who was friendly with Johnny, dies in an apparent suicide. When Harriet’s sister Nancy (Evelyn Keyes) comes to town to try and find out what really happened to Harriet, sparks and motives fly all over the place.

On a scale of 1 to 5 fannies, I rate this movie a 4. This movie has eye-catching settings and stylish dialogue to spare. Directed in best melodramatic style by Robert Rossen (who went on to direct All the King’s Men and The Hustler), you’ll hardly want to budge from your seat in order to see and hear what happens next.

If you’d like to know more about the movie, click here to read Turner Classic Movies’ program notes about the film. Below is a trailer for the movie. See you on Saturday, gangster junkies! twitter.com/BMovieBoss #GangstersAllHere