711 Ocean Drive

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Movie - 711 Ocean Drive

Year: 1950
Rated: NR
Parental Rating: Cautionary; some scenes objectionable
Country Of Origin: U.S.
Running Time: 102
Format: Black & White
Genre(s): Crime
Production: Essaness
Released By: Columbia

711 OCEAN DRIVE was one of those pictures that had more success than it deserved because it was released at precisely the right time. The US newspapers were filled with bookmaking scandals in several cities, and this movie was noted by some lawmakers in Washington for its documentary realism. O'Brien is an average Joe who works hard at his telephone company repair job. One of his calls is to a large bookmaking establishment, where he meets Kelley and Porter, the two men who run the operation. Both are slick operators and are taken by O'Brien's ingenious ways around wires. They realize that a telephone repairman can't earn all that much money, so they offer him some cash if he'll fix up a system that will bring them the race results of far-away tracks. O'Brien is seduced by the thought of riches and goes in with Kelley and Porter. It isn't long before O'Brien has eyes for Kelley's position and Porter's wife, Dru. When Kelley is mysteriously killed, O'Brien takes over. Soon enough, he is involved with Dru, and Kruger, who heads a larger bookie operation, wants a piece of the action. Porter is killed and O'Brien seems to have everything he wants until Kruger decides that he wants to muscle O'Brien out. By this time, O'Brien has murdered, cheated, and been an all-around nogoodnick, and so we don't much care when he gets his in an exciting climax filmed at Hoover Dam. When he tries to cross the dam on foot while being chased by syndicate killers, he is shot and falls to his death in the raging waters. Kruger is excellent as the oily mob chief, and St. John does his usual good work as a police detective. O'Brien's character is not unlike the undercover cop he played in WHITE HEAT, except that this time he is an unregenerate crook and killer and gets what's coming to him.

Cast

Charlie Abrahams: Mal Granger

Joanne Dru: Gail Mason

Sammy White: Chippie Evans

Dorothy Patrick: Trudy Maxwell

Barry Kelley: Vince Walters

Otto Kruger: Carl Stephans

Howard St. John: Lt. Pete Wright

Robert Osterloh: Gizzi

Bert Freed: Marshak

Carl Milletaire: Joe Gish

Charles La Torre: Rocco