The Come On

“Life is a racket. It rewards the strong and destroys the weak.” Russell Birdwell’s The Come On is a gritty, sleazy, bare bones little noir that opens and closes beside the ocean surf which brings both seduction and danger in equal measure. Traveling in most of the noir tropes established by this point in the cycle (“Our love of money is a disease!”), the film is no masterwork (Baxter would only do the film if her inexperienced boyfriend Birdwell was given the director’s chair), but its plot keeps the viewer engaged while the sex appeal of Baxter and Sterling Hayden (40 at the time!) is undeniable. Baxter plays Rita Kendrick, a bikini-clad con woman who seduces well-to-do men as part of a blackmail racket with a possessive husband (John Hoyt), an almost cartoonishly despicable villain (“A woman like you needs a good beating at least once a week”). When she meets fisherman Dave Arnold (Hayden), they develop an instant, primitive attraction toward each other, but will Rita’s proclaimed love turn out to be real or will Dave just become another victim? Despite a few interesting shots (Rita’s horrified face through a glass mail slot, the police sergeant at his desk from behind Rita and Dave), the film is somewhat plain and under-stylized, but its entertainment value is unmissable.