Word: widmark
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...story of a Negro intern (Sidney Poitier) who tries and fails to save the life of a white patient in a county hospital. When the patient dies, his brother (Richard Widmark), a thief and pathological Negro-hater, refuses to permit an autopsy that might vindicate the doctor. Himself a patient in the hospital, Widmark baits Poitier mercilessly, dupes the dead man's ex-wife (Linda Darnell) into igniting a race riot. Poitier, who gets the nasty job of treating the riot's white victims, finally forces an autopsy by falsely confessing to the patient's murder...
...their tormentors. A well-written exchange between the hospital's chief doctor (Stephen McNally) and its administrative head (Stanley Ridges) shows pointedly how social expediency can hobble the best intentions of intelligent men in decisions involving Negroes. Standouts in an excellent cast: the likable Poitier, a savagely villainous Widmark, and Broadway's Mildred Joanne Smith who, as the hero's wife, gives the movie some of its most touching scenes...
Night and the City (20th Century-Fox) is a gaudy melodrama showing the misadventures of a double-dealing nightclub tout (Richard Widmark) in London's lower depths. Based on a Gerald Kersh novel and filmed on location, it gets some lurid effects out of a sordid story, murky backgrounds and a gallery of grotesque characters. Unfortunately, the excitement runs down well before the picture does...
...shiftless cheat with toplofty schemes, Widmark sets out to get control of London wrestling. He crosses up several minor characters and every major one, including his girl (Gene Tierney). Then he crosses himself up. Duped by Widmark, his partner (Wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko) dies after an agonizingly filmed grudge fight with Wrestler Mike Mazurki. The dead man's avenging son sets the whale city's underworld on Widmark's heels in an overlong, anticlimactic chase...
Director Jules (The Naked City) Dassin's staging and Franz Waxman's overwrought musical score try to outdo each other in stridency. Aging (seventyish) Wrestler Zbyszko is natural and dignified in his acting debut, and Actor Widmark turns the neat trick of working up some sympathy for an unsavory character...