How sad is this?

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Blistering performances.

FALLGUY is a cheap and dreadful indie drama that feels like it was made by somebody trying to be the next Hitchcock. It's a classic wronged man premise in which a teenager stumbles upon a car accident one night and is soon involved in a plot in which he gets accused of murder and must fight to clear his name. It's a gloomy story with very little in the way of life or effort, mainly consisting of shady characters hanging around in shady locations. The dialogue sounds very creaky to the modern ear.

This extremely low budget thriller combines elements of 'M' and the Famous Five as the combined forces of a criminal syndicate aided by a corrupt chief of detectives squabble among each other and prove incapable of eliminating one kid who stumbles across a bungled attempt to eliminate a hood who looks remarkably like William Bendix.The only names in the credits I recognised were cameraman Vilis Lapenieks, responsible for the slick location photography, and composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava (who provides an extremely noisy jazz score), both of whom remained busy in films for a good many more years.

A teenager becomes the FALLGUY when he speeds away from a malt shop in his hot rod and sees an accident happen on the road ahead. He stops to help but the car wreck was actually a syndicate hit and because the police chief, a prominent doctor, and the city editor are all crooked, they plan to smear the kid in the papers, have him arrested for murder, then shoot him when he tries to "escape". No good deed goes unpunished, indeed. Like FEAR NO MORE (another film in SWV's "Weird Noir" DVD six-pack), the break-neck speed of FALLGUY precludes any pondering of possible plot holes and it's kind of exciting in a cheap-jack way, from the PSYCHO-esque opening credits to the corny conclusion. The body count's high with almost everyone either dead or wounded at the end and as another IMDb reviewer so succinctly puts it, I "couldn't take my eyes off it".

Ed Dugan became a fixture on the early court TV series. This was his first and last film. Like many actors he gave in to drink, drugs and the "Hollywood" scene. His legacy is this film. This film illustrates the transformation of late 50's cop-u-drama mixed with a hint of the modern underworld. Most of the actors never became household names although Fabian as a cop is one interesting character. Film becomes interesting as the story progresses and the love/hate relationship blossoms between the lead actors. Some great scenes illustrating LA before the population explosion. If you like a script of predictable lines and cliché' this film is one to watch!