Rent Drive a Crooked Road (1954)

3.5 of 5 from 62 ratings
1h 23min
Rent Drive a Crooked Road (aka Little Giant) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Eddie Shannon (Mickey Rooney) is an undersized, sports-car mechanic who dreams of racing an expensive car in a European meet. He meets and falls in love with Barbara Mathews (Dianne Foster), and thinks she loves him. She introduces him to Steve Norris (Kevin McCarthy) and Harold Baker (Jack Kelly), who ask him to drive the getaway car in a bank robbery they are planning. He refuses, but changes his mind after some gentle persuasion from Barbara. The job is pulled off and, following a wild getaway, Eddie learns that Barbara was just using him and that Steve and Harold have plans to kill him. Gritty retribution is just around the corner.
Actors:
, , , , , , , , Irene Bolton, , , , , , , , , , ,
Directors:
Producers:
Jonie Taps
Writers:
Blake Edwards, Richard Quine, James Benson Nablo
Aka:
Little Giant
Genres:
Classics, Drama, Thrillers
Collections:
Heist Movies: A 20-Year Stretch, A Brief History of Film...
BBFC:
Release Date:
Not released
Run Time:
83 minutes
BBFC:
Release Date:
30/11/2020
Run Time:
83 minutes
Languages:
English LPCM Mono
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.85:1
Colour:
B & W
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • Audio commentary with Nick Pinkerton on 'Drive a Crooked Road'
  • Introduction to 'Drive a Crooked Road' by Martin Scorsese
  • The Guardian Interview with Mickey Rooney (1988): archival audio recording
  • The Guardian Interview with Kim Novak (1997): archival video recording
  • It's a Jungle Out There: archival interview with Robert Loggia
  • The Fleet That Came to Stay (1945): WWII documentary made by Budd Boetticher
  • Screen Snapshots: 'Mickey Rooney, Then and Now' (1953): promotional short
  • Man on a Bus (1955): short film directed by Joseph H Lewis
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Image galleries: promotional and publicity materials
  • Six short films starring the Three Stooges, lampooning the tropes and themes of the features included
  • World and UK premiere on Blu-ray

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Reviews (1) of Drive a Crooked Road

An engaging slow ride in the noir fast lane - Drive a Crooked Road review by KW

Spoiler Alert
20/05/2021

Mickey Rooney is Eddie Shannon, shy and mild-mannered car mechanic and wannabe racing driver. Eddie is no hit with the ladies until Barbara Matthews turns up to make his heart go faster than a Grand Prix winner. She's setting him up though, for she has friends planning a bank robbery and they need a fast driver. Whether he likes it or not, Eddie is taking a trip down the fast lane....

Mickey Rooney gives a tremendous, understated performance in this movie, which is in Volume 1 of Indicator's Columbia Noir box set series. The film is well-written by Blake Edwards with none of the jokes that featured in his later movies but plenty of the Malibu locations that did. The slow burn allows the audience to get to know Eddie - his life is simple, he deserves more but it's a dark night of fast cars and gunplay and this is a film noir so don't count on a jolly song and dance routine with Judy Garland type of ending. Those days were over!

Extras on the blu-ray disc include an introduction by Martin Scorsese, audio interview with Mickey Rooney, film commentary, a bizarre showbiz featrette with Mickey Rooney and an even more bizarre Three Stooges short in which they play airforce car mechanics who inadvertently become spies after accidentally hiding in a bomb which is then dropped on Nazi Germany. In other words, the main feature is the real draw.

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