“WANTED: ANGER MANAGEMENT IN BORDER TOWN”

By Raymond Benson

Sterling Hayden was often cast as the gangster, the hooligan, the nutsy general, the petty criminal with brawn but little brains… and yet here we have him as the hero of a sticky film noir from 1954 as the chief of police of an urban setting (southern California?) who loses his job because of allegations of police brutality. Hayden is perfectly cast, and this is said without sarcasm.

Naked Alibi was directed by Jerry Hopper, who made well over a dozen B-movies in the crime, adventure, western, and melodrama categories in the late 1940s to mid-50s, and then moved smoothly into television and helmed an abundance of television episodes for various long-running series into the 70s. Alibi does play like an extended episode of one of the late 50s TV crime dramas like Naked City, except with more violence, implied sex, and gritty adult themes.

Unfortunately, the picture doesn’t come off well, mainly due to the over-the-top and often histrionic performances of the main cast, and a needless aggression towards women. Poor Gloria Grahame gets slapped around numerous times, and yet she stoically barely flinches through most of the assaults. It’s not pretty.

Chief Joe Conroy (Hayden) has his eye set on pinning some robberies and ultimately a cop-murder on Al Willis (Gene Barry), a seemingly innocent, married-with-child baker who happens to get hot-headed and into fights when he drinks too much—an all too frequent habit. When no physical evidence supports Conroy’s pursuit, the now-ex-chief shadows Willis on his own, following him to “Border Town” in Mexico, where he discovers Willis is not so innocent (much of the movie was shot in Tijuana). Marianna (Grahame) is Willis’ mistress there, and he has fed her a load of bull about marrying her (and withholding the fact that he’s already married). Furthermore, Willis is associating with some criminal types there and has his own gang of cohorts. Conroy sets about wooing Marianna to his side, making several felonies stick to Willis, forcibly moving the hood back to the USA, and arresting him. Things become increasingly dangerous for Conroy and Marianna, and Willis grows progressively more psychotic.

This probably sounded decent on paper, but the execution is serviceable, at best. For one thing, Barry is miscast and spends most of the movie jumping from calmness to out of control at the drop of a hat, and it’s cause for some eye-rolling. Grahame, whom albeit looks hotter than the streets of the border town, seems bored and without energy through much of the picture. Again, the way she simply takes her beatings is another point of unbelievability. As for Hayden, he, too, could have used a stronger hand at direction, for he tends to chew the scenery at times when a little restraint would have been more effective.

Kino Lorber’s new high definition restoration is suitably and overly grainy if one likes one’s film noir in that condition. It comes with English subtitles for the hearing impaired, as well as an audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger. The theatrical trailer for this and other Kino Lorber titles complete the presentation.

Naked Alibi is recommended strictly for Sterling Hayden and/or Gloria Grahame fans, and for film noir completists.

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