Johnny O'Clock

One of a dozen films noir with “Johnny” in the title, Robert Rossen’s entertaining Johnny O’Clock stars the cool, calm, and collected Dick Powell in the title role as junior partner in a gambling house he co-owns with Guido Marchettis (Thomas Gomez) and crooked cop Chuck Blayden (Jim Bannon). When Blayden gets a bit too greedy, he ends up dead, and Police Inspector Koch (Lee J. Cobb) sets his sights on both O’Clock and Marchettis as suspects. Three junior league actresses brilliantly round out the cast: Nina Koch as Blayden’s rejected girlfriend who ends up committing suicide, Evelyn Keyes as her grieving sister who teams up with Johnny to uncover the truth, and Ellen Drew as Marchettis’ gorgeous, manipulative, alcoholic wife who hates her husband almost as much as she loves Johnny. (Note a very early appearance of Jeff Chandler too.) Director Rossen, who also wrote the screenplay, maintains a brisk pace, weaves in sufficient plot twists, and brings out the best of his cast.