Detective Story

Featuring an extraordinary script by legendary screenwriter Philip Yordan, William Wyler’s bleak Detective Story blurs the line between noir and drama as the gritty criminal world that surrounds Detective Jim McLeod (Kirk Douglas) at work begins to invade his home life. Perhaps too obviously adapted from a stage play, the film spans a single day in almost a single setting (McLeod’s precinct station) populated by a cast of eccentric detainees, Lee Grant’s shoplifter the shining standout. Cathy O’Donnell radiates as Susan, the friend of a hapless embezzler, and serves as an allegory for goodness in a sea of moral compromise. With unusually overt references to abortion for the time period, Wyler’s direction beautifully contrasts experience with innocence, cynicism with love.