"Road House" Review

 

by Daniel White

If Ida Lupino in a peplum doesn't get your heart racing (it had mine doing sprints), then Road House is not for you. A moody film noir with an above-average screenplay, Lupino is the main attraction here. And until Richard Widmark starts giggling maniacally and almost sinks this well-crafted flick, Road House is a near classic. Thankfully, Widmark doesn't pull his Tommy Udo schtick until the last twenty minutes or so, making the majority of this movie a winner. Directed by the gifted Jean Negulesco (check out his director's credits. Impressive), and released by Twentieth Century Fox, the story first came to the awareness of our leading lady. Newly released from her often contentious contract with Warner Brothers, she brought it to the attention of Darryl Zanuck. Lupino must have gotten pretty tired of working in the shadow of Bette Davis, and was eager to bask in her own limelight.

And she is great here, an aloof, defensive dame who has been hardened by life. When she sits down to the piano and breaks our heart with the melancholy, "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", a star is reborn. Or should have been. She would continue to work in film as both actor and director but never received the acclaim she deserved.

Lupino plays Lily Stephens, a wary, seen-it-all kind of broad who has been hired by Jefty Robbins (Widmark) to sing in his saloon/bowling alley. Jefty is obsessed with the uninterested Lily, who soon takes up with his childhood pal, Pete Morgan (Cornel Wilde). Morgan manages the establishment, but instead of engaging in barroom banter bravado, our two love-birds are soon forced to deal with their batshit crazy boss.

Filmed entirely on the back lot at Twentieth Century, the movie's artifice works to its advantage. Personally, I like painted backdrops and rear projection scenes of languid lakes, but I'm sure these dated techniques will make the film off-putting to younger generations.

Celeste Holm co-stars in the rather thankless role of Susie, fellow roadhouse employee, who carries a torch for the oblivious Pete. Fresh off her Oscar win for Gentlemen's Agreement, the talented Miss Holm would appear in a few more films, but would soon leave Hollywood to return to more rewarding work in the theater.

But this is Ida Lupino's show and she is splendid. Whether warbling the wistful "Again" (she introduces the standard here) or showing off her fabulous gams in a make-shift bathing suit, she is a movie star brimming over with moxie. Too bad Hollywood never quite knew what to do with her. Outfitted appropriately by Kay Nelson, our star looks every inch the saloon singer she plays.

With some terrific cinematography by Joseph LaShelle (Laura), and one goofball performance by O. Z. Whitehead as the ingratiating Art, Road House is available on YouTube.

"Again, this couldn't happen again... '