Mon 25 Oct 2010
A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND (1960).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[4] Comments
THE RISE AND FALL OF LEGS DIAMOND. Warner Brothers, 1960. Ray Danton, Karen Steele, Elaine Stewart, Jesse White, Simon Oakland, Robert Lowery, Judson Pratt, Warren Oates, Frank DeKova, Diane (Dyan) Cannon. Director: Budd Boetticher. Novelization by Otis H. Gaylord, Bantam A2079, 1960.
Rise and Fall is Budd Boetticher’s version of Richard III, with a preening megalomaniac rising to power by a combination of scheming and brutality, only to find that he has reached a rather precarious perch.
Beyond that, there’s nothing much good you can say about the film: the plotting is flat and unsurprising, the action scenes few and rather pallid (particularly from a director like Boetticher, who crafted memorable action in The Tall T and Ride Lonesome) and the photography by Lucien Ballard is surprisingly flat, making the Warners back lot look like nothing more than a Warners back lot.
Legs has one compelling virtue though, and that’s the performance of Ray Danton in the title role, perfectly realized by actor and director. Even when the film itself is plodding and predictable, Danton’s sharply-dressed, sexually magnetic hood keeps our attention.
Boetticher’s westerns were always more concerned with the macho bad guys than the nominal heroes, just as his bullfighting movies focused more on the gaudy matadors than the charging bulls, and Legs Diamond carries this on with a hero/villain to whom Image is everything.
It’s a memorable bit of acting/directing, and I just wish there were a better movie to go around it.
October 25th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
As far as I’ve been able to tell, there’s been no official DVD release of this movie, but it did come out on VHS, used copies of which will cost you $35 and up.
It has been shown on the Fox Movie Channel, or so I’ve been told, so collector-to-collector copies must be out there.
Dan, you didn’t mention Karen Steele in your review, but she definitely has a following. Her appearance in RIDE LONESOME, which I reviewed on this blog some time back, brings in quite a few visitors to that post, some of whom would like to know her measurements.
Or maybe it’s the same person, once or more a week.
October 26th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Not that it matters, but …
I seem to recall that when this picture was originally announced, circa 1959, the lead role of Legs Diamond was earmarked for Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who’d just hit big on 77 SUNSET STRIP.
Not long thereafter, Jack Warner personally squelched that casting, in the belief that casting Zimbalist as a bad guy would somehow compromise the TV show’s hit status. Thus the casting of Ray Danton, who usually played baddies anyway.
Anyway, that’s the story I heard (some versions give ABC boss Leonard Goldenson an assist).
Maybe someone else knows more … ?
October 26th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Legs Diamond? For once the guys in charge got it right.
November 12th, 2010 at 1:52 am
Danton did a few Eurospy films — notably Jesus Franco’s LUCKY INTREPID, CODE NAMED JAGUAR, and SECRET AGENT SUPER DRAGON as well as replacing Steve Reeves in one of the Sandokan films based on Emilio Saligari’s books about the 19th century Malay pirate. All but the Franco film can be found on the gray market.
One of Danton’s late projects was a bizarre pilot for a series based on Derek Flint from the OUR MAN FLINT films. It can be found among the extras on the DVD set of OUR MAN FLINT and IN LIKE FLINT, but Danton is almost unrecognizable in it.
He was very good as actor George Raft in THE GEORGE RAFT story too.