Johnny Eager stars Robert Taylor as Johnny Eager, Lana Turner as Lisbeth Bard, Edward Arnold as John Benson Farrell, Van Heflin as Jeff Hartnett, Robert Sterling as Jimmy Courtney, Henry O'Neil as Mr. Verne, Barry Nelson as Lew Rankin, and Charles Dingle as Marco. It is a film noir movie about Johnny Eager who is out of jail on parole and is posing as a taxi cab driver to appear legit. He has his parole officer fooled but has other issues.
He has someone in his gang that he believes is working on the other side. He also runs into Lisbeth Bard and is smitten but quickly finds out that she is related to his nemesis John Benson Farrell, who is the D.A. that put him away. Despite all of this he always seems to be one step ahead of his rivals. The main reason for this is because of his second in command Jeff Hartnett. Eager never has to question his loyalty.
When Eager admits to himself that he has fallen for Bard and he knows that she has fallen for him he uses her to get ahead and get the approval to have his dog track open. He stages a fight with one member of his gang and Bard shoots him. He uses this information to black mail Farrell but it ultimately proves his undoing.
As old gangster movies go this one wasn't half bad and I must admit that if I look at my list of films that I have watched, this may be the first one that qualifies as an old gangster film or in the genre of film noir. It is a genre that I have seen and heard references to many many times. So as firsts go it made a decent impression.
This film landed on my list because of Van Heflin in his role as Jeff Hartnett. Unlike some films that I have seen in which the only nomination is an acting role or supporting acting role, this movie was fairly good. I have watched a few where I can see why someone was nominated for a stellar performance, yet the movie as a whole was not a standout in my opinion. Oddly, the one movie that I am thinking of that fits that description, I just watched the other day and also received a best supporting actor nomination.
Heflin was stunning in his role and thoroughly deserved the nomination for his drunken and cynical portrayal of Jeff Hartnett, Eagers right hand man and confidant. He plays the perfect foil to Eager. Eager has the street smarts and Hartnett has the book smarts. He is well read and educated to the point that Eager derides him for his intelligent comments and quotes. I wish I could pick out one particular scene to hammer home my point as to how good he was, but he stole every scene he was in. Although, if I had to pick it would be the scene where he was a bit too honest with his boss and it earned him a punch. He was particularly good in this scene, but will limit the detail because it would give away too much of the movie.
This was Van Heflin's one and only Oscar nomination. Interestingly two of the other nominees that he was competing against this year obtained their one and only nomination as well. Walter Huston and Frank Morgan were the only ones that would receive multiple nominations during their careers.
Heflin was up against the following for Best Supporting Actor
- William Bendix as Smacksie Randall in Wake Island
- Walter Huston as Jerry Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy
- Frank Morgan as The Pirate in Tortilla Flat
- Henry Travers as Mr. Ballard in Mrs. Minniver
Morgan was quite good in Tortilla Flat but that is the movie I was thinking about when I mentioned the performance of one actor outweighing the film as a whole. I did not like that movie much, although I may be a bit prejudiced, but I will save that for when I blog on that movie. I will say that I thought Spencer Tracy was darn good in the movie.
But I am not here to talk about Tortilla Flat I am talking about Johnny Eager which I found to be a great movie. A bit predictable at times but overall a suspenseful and intelligent gangster classic. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars and will go out on a limb and say you must see this movie, because Van Heflin's performance is THAT GOOD!
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