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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of those "major classics less widely known today",
By
This review is from: Panic in the Streets (VHS Tape)
Plague is loose in New Orleans, from a sailor who smuggled gems. Jack Palance and Zero Mostel, goons who got the disease (and the gems), are unaware of their infection and think the authorities pursue them for the emeralds. Richard Widmark, the no-nonsense public health doctor, doesn't want the story leaked because people would flee and carry the disease, with modern transport - "I could leave here and I could be in Africa tomorrow," he warns. Atmospheric of new Orleans - you can almost smell the humidity - and Blackie (Palance), with his edginess and his street network of contacts and informers of diverse shapes and sizes and colors, is memorable too. (This film took a long time to become available on VHS; let's hope it doesn't take as long for DVD.)
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting Film Noir,
By "patrick_mcknight" (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Panic in the Streets (VHS Tape)
When a man is found dead from a bullet wound in the steets of New Orleans, an autopsy reveals that he had bubonic plague. Now it's a race against time for the police and health officials to find the killers before they become contagious and spread the plague across the entire city.The idea of an epidemic threatening populations seems increasingly likely in this modern time. The spread of AIDS, Ebola, and the recent West Nile virus seem to flood our television screens every day. However, this film is probably just a disguised red scare allegory. The danger of the spread of disease, the way the police hound and interrogate people for information, all this reminds me of the Cold War paranoia sweeping America at the time of the film's release (1950) and the subsequent witch hunts. Appropriately, the director Elia Kazan would name names of suspected Communists before HUAC two years later. Zero Mostel, who played one of the gangsters and plague carriers, would be blacklisted by the Hollywood studios. Fortunately, one doesn't have to read deeply into this film as it is first and foremost an exciting and entertaining suspense thriller. It was shot entirely on location in New Orleans in black and white giving it a documentary feel. One can almost feel the sounds, tastes, and smells of New Orleans of the 1950s. Kazan considered it to be his first "real" film. One can easily believe it. Before PITS, Kazan had made well acted but stagy dramas. This film truly turned him into a real director, not just a stage director as were his roots. By the time he made "On the Waterfront", Kazan had fully mastered the cinematic techniques while still managing to get great performances from his entire cast. Highly reccomended for any fan of action films, gangster dramas, and film noir.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top Notch, Timely Thriller,
By
This review is from: Panic in the Streets (VHS Tape)
This is one of the most unjustly forgotten thrillers of the 1950's, especially considering the talent involved. Widmark and Douglas are both great as the public health official and police officer who are in a literally life-and-death race to locate carriers of pneumonic plague before the disease can hit the general populace of New Orleans. The aftermath of 9/11 has given this fifty-two-year-old thriller an incredible immediacy. The villians are a memorable lot, headed by a young pre-"Shane" Jack Palance and abetted by Zero Mostel. Look for Barbara Bel Geddes ("Dallas") and young Tommy Rettig ("The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T" and "Lassie") as Widmark's wife and son.
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