"He Ran All the Way" Review

 

by Daniel White

In researching the life of celebrated cinematographer James Wong Howe (1899 - 1976,) I uncovered several interesting facts:

Did you know that he was a favorite of silent film star Mary Miles Minter? I certainly did not. The blue-eyed Minter was delighted that the resourceful Howe invented a way to photograph her so that her pale orbs registered dark for the camera (blue eyes were notoriously difficult to film in the early days of motion picture making). Hooray for Mr. Howe!

On a personal level, the Asian Howe caused a bit of a stir in Hollywood by marrying a white woman, writer Sanora Babb (an amazing person in her own right). Though married in Paris in 1937, their marriage was deemed unlawful in California due to miscegenation laws. They were not legally man and wife until 1948. Hooray for the courageous Howes to fall in love and have the guts to let the world know!

I can't think of a better way to honor this important figure from the Golden Age of Hollywood than to watch one of his flicks. After all, an artist should be appreciated for his work. Everything after that is secondary.

1951's He Ran All the Way is probably better known as John Garfield's last film than for being photographed by James Wong Howe. A psychological crime-drama with noirish touches, it boasts an extremely well-written screenplay. An uncredited Dalton Trumbo scripted it with Hugo Butler. Made at the height of the HUAC investigations in Hollywood, the movie stands as a Who's Who of film workers damned by the communist witch hunt. Besides its star and co-author, director John Berry would soon feel the HUAC heat and have to skedaddle to Europe to find employment. James Wong Howe didn't survive the inquisition unscathed either. Though not a communist, his wife Babb had been a party member for 11 years. He found himself cooling his heels in Mexico for a spell until a few brave souls in Tinseltown decided to employ him again.

Garfield plays Nick Robey, a small-time hood who finds himself on the lam after a robbery goes haywire. A chance encounter with a lonely young woman (Shelley Winters) leads Robey to take her and her family hostage. The title is misleading. Robey does little running, but instead finds himself holed up with Peg Dobbs (Winters) and her increasingly traumatized parents and kid brother. So while the action stops, the emotional tension builds, as gangster Garfield and his quarry struggle to maintain their sanity.

What this well-crafted story deserves and gets in abundance is a group of talented, effective players. Besides the intense Garfield as the volatile, unpredictable Robey (I imagine it was difficult for the gifted actor to play a man whose life was unraveling when his own was doing the same), Winters does a capable, finely-tuned job as the bruised, self-doubting Peg. With her break-out role that same year as the doomed Alice Tripp in A Place In the Sun, sex-pot Shelley had become A Serious Actress. She was in it for the long haul and would continue to deliver eye-popping, riveting performances for the next 50 years.

Wallace Ford and Selina Royle (another HUAC victim) offer up excellent support as Winter's frustrated, tormented parents. Especially Ford, who is desperate to save his family and patriarchal dignity at the same time.

Finally a last word about James Wong Howe. While watching this flick, I noticed how exceptionally subtle is his work here. He doesn't waylay the film with showy, ostentatious cinematography. He serves the story and by being unobtrusive, is really quite brilliant.

A gritty little picture that displays all those who worked on it at their best, He Ran All the Way is thoughtfully-executed, economic, and exciting. Distributed by United Artists, with music by Franz Waxman and nice bits by Gladys George and Norman Lloyd, He Ran All the Way is available on YouTube.