99 River Street

John Payne plays a has-been boxer and reluctant taxi driver who’s having a really bad day in Phil Karlson’s 99 River Street, a highly entertaining noir co-starring Evelyn Keyes as an ambitious actress with a soft spot for the big lug. Having just argued with his gorgeous, dissatisfied wife Pauline (Peggie Castle), who’s unimpressed by his dream of owning a gas station, Ernie Driscoll (Payne) later that night finds her making out with Victor Rawlins (Brad Dexter), a jewel thief with whom she’s been carrying on an affair. If that’s not bad enough, hours later he discovers her strangled corpse in the backseat of his cab. With his devoted helpmate and friend Linda James (Keyes), who may smell romantic opportunity with Pauline out of the way, Driscoll sets off to clear his name and track down Rawlins before he leaves the country. Payne has the lead role, but Keyes has the more memorable scenes in which she gets to act as an actor, such as her dramatic confession of murder in the empty theater and her performance as a tipsy coquette (“You play rough”) at the diner to extract information from Rawlins. As always, Payne performs well when burning behind a bitter, combustible demeanor and ferocious temper (“Spill, punk, or I’ll splash your brains out”), and violence fans will enjoy the frequent fights in which his boxing fists get to fly.