Manpower Reviews

Robinson and Raft are two-fisted, hard-drinking linemen who compete for the affections of hostess Dietrich in this no-holds-barred melodrama. Both brawlers are close friends and, during a storm, work desperately to repair some damaged lines. Robinson brushes against a high-voltage live wire and one of his legs becomes paralyzed. Later, Brecher, another veteran lineman, is killed and Robinson and Raft break the sad news to his daughter, Dietrich, who works as a hostess in a dingy nightclub. Both roommates are interested in her, Raft knowing her past. He had earlier accompanied Brecher to a jail when she was released for her sinful ways. Robinson is smitten by the blond bombshell, but Raft, attempting to save his friend from being hurt, tries to convince his pal that Dietrich is no good. Robinson won't hear of it; he believes Dietrich got a bad break. He hangs around the club where she warbles out her sad songs, cadging drinks for the house from suckers, not the least of whom is Robinson. So enamored is he of her that he asks her to marry him, even knowing she's more attracted to Raft. Dietrich wants to escape her miserable honky-tonk life and accepts. Just after the marriage Raft is injured on the job and Robinson insists he stay with him and Dietrich to recuperate. Dietrich takes this opportunity to tell Raft she loves him but he rejects her, reminding her that she's married to his pal Robinson. Dietrich decides to leave town, but stops off at her old club to say goodbye to the girls--Arden, Compton, and others--and gets caught in a police raid. When Raft hears that Dietrich has been arrested, he goes to the jail and bails her out. Dietrich again declares her love for him, but this time, to make his point, he slugs her. Raft then goes off to help a repair crew in trouble during a storm. Dietrich locates a roadshed where she finds Robinson and tells him that she's in love with his best friend. Robinson explodes and dashes outside into the storm. He confronts Raft and the two have a terrific fight with Robinson falling to his death. This leaves Raft and Dietrich to pursue happiness together. Though loaded with cliches, action director Walsh helms this film with such vigor that it has a dynamic virility hard to ignore. Robinson and Raft are compelling as the feuding pals and Dietrich is her unique and alluring self, here playing the barroom floozy belting out her clipjoint songs: "I'm in No Mood for Music Tonight," " He Lied and I Listened" (Frederick Hollander, Frank Loesser). Solid support is given by rough and tumble fellow linemen Hale and McHugh. Director Walsh had his hands full with this temperamental cast. Both Robinson and Raft were quite taken with Dietrich, particularly Raft. The tough, slick-haired actor refused to appear a weakling in front of the actress. One scene called for Raft to lose his grip on a strap being held by Robinson so that Robinson would fall to his death. Raft marched into Jack Warner's office and demanded that the scene be cut, that he would appear unmanly if he let Robinson slip from his hold. "Couldn't the strap break?" asked Raft. Warner shrugged his approval and said yes, scratching his head in puzzlement as Raft went off happily. But there was no joy on the set between the two tough guys. Robinson was very patronizing to Raft, telling him how to deliver his lines, and Raft responded by loudly telling Robinson to keep his advice to himself. Both men began shouting at each other and, before director Walsh could step in, several punches were thrown, with Robinson getting the worst of it. When the men were separated, Robinson walked off the set, refusing to finish the film. The argument had to be settled by the Screen Actor's Guild. When the two did resume work, their attitude toward each other was ice cold. Dietrich kept aloof and made no comment about her battling costars but she was involved with a real sock on the jaw nevertheless. Raft had balked at having to hit a lady, Dietrich, as called for in the script, and when he did throw the punch, it accidentally connected and sent her sailing down a flight of stairs, causing her to break her ankle. Raft himself had his share of mishaps, falling 38 feet from a telephone pole to land unconscious; he was sent to the hospital in shock and with three broken ribs. The Raft-Robinson feud ended some years later when the two met on stage at a benefit. They snarled at each other; Robinson pointed a finger at Raft and told him "to get out of town." Raft took out the famous coin he had flipped in SCARFACE and told Robinson that Hollywood wasn't "big enough for the both of us." The two then rushed each other, embraced, and danced off the stage together. By then, the feud had turned into a gag. Years later, hospitalized in his old age, Robinson received a telegram reading: "Get well, your pal, George Raft."