Just so...so bad

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

In Boldon, the corrupt Sheriff Titus Semple (Sydney Greenstreet) rules the town and elects whoever he wants with the support of the powerful group led by the constructor Dan Reynolds (David Brian). Now he wants to elect his deputy Fielding Carlisle (Zachary Scott), who is the son of a former judge, to the Senate. When a carnival is forced to leave Boldon, the dancer Lane Bellamy (Joan Crawford) has no place to go and stays in a tent. Titus sends Fielding to the carnival and he helps Lane to find a job as waitress in a diner and a place to stay. They have a romantic relationship, but Titus sees Lane as a liability to the political career of his protégé. So he forces her boss to fire Lane; he does not let Lane get a job; and he frames Lane to send her to prison. When she is released, she finds a job working for Lute Mae Sanders (Gladys George) in her roadhouse. She meets Dan and soon they get married and move to the fancy Flamingo Road. But the ambitious Titus has different political plans from Dan and his group and wants to elect Fielding as Governor. Dan refuses the request and Titus uses blackmail to force Dan and his group to support Fielding. Dan does not accept and Titus decides to destroy Dan and Lane. Will he succeed?"Flamingo Road" is a 1949 film that shows how politicians and corruption are a timeless combination. The story holds the attention but the conclusion is deceptive, with the situation being resolved too easily. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Caminho da Redenção" ("Path to Redemption")

"Flamingo Road" (1949) is a turgid drama involving crooked southern politicians, equally crooked policemen and women of ill-repute. It drives its points home with a sledgehammer and has plenty of fun doing it. It's also the perfect star-vehicle for Joan Crawford in her prime movie-making years. Similar to many of her other roles, Joan plays Lane Bellamy, a down-and-out waitress seeking a better life. But Joanie runs into more hard luck when she's deemed a persona-non-grata by the local police chief, played by Sidney Greenstreet at his snarling best. Old Sidney is a king-maker when it comes to state politics and he's groomed weak-willed Zachary Taylor to be the next governor. Unfortunately, Zach has fallen hard for Joan, so she's soon picked up on a fraudulent morals charge and thrown into the slammer. Out of sight and out of mind, is Greenstreet's thinking. This does not help Mr. Taylor, however, as he hits the bottle with a vengeance now that his sweetheart is out of the picture. But Joan is released from jail after 30 days and eventually hooks up with multi-millionaire David Brian. He's also politically involved and stands directly in Greenstreet's way to obtain more graft and influence. So Sidney decides that Dave and Joan both have to go. But being the resourceful woman she is, Joan is all for beating Sid to the punch. In the meantime, Zachary Taylor, after being discarded by his mentor Greenstreet, drinks himself into a stupor and kills himself. His death doesn't make much sense except to tie up a loose end of the plot as the showdown between Sidney and Joan races to its inevitable conclusion. You don't have to be a fortune teller to figure out who comes out on top during that encounter. "Flamingo Road" was a hit with the public and Ms. Crawford continued with these types of characters (and films) until they wore out their welcome. Director Michael Curtiz may have been "slumming" when he made this movie, but he probably collected a nice paycheck in the process. Gladys George has a small but pivotal part as the savvy matron of a local road house. Fred Clark also appears as a newspaper writer who actually thinks that honest politicians exist. He's the only one in this film that holds that opinion. There's plenty of drinking, understated sex and carousing going on in "Flamingo Road." The best line is delivered by David Brian. "Having fun is like an insurance policy. The older you get, the more it costs." That was true in 1949 and is still true today.

It's not a simple-minded movie full of characters etched in black and white. Greenstreet, as the sheriff of a small Florida town, is thoroughly rotten, true, and the editor of the local newspaper, the Advertiser, is thoroughly good. But the rest of the characters have more dimensions.Crawford is a hootchy-kootchy dancer abandoned in town by her traveling circus and works her way to the mink-clad top by a series of dog-leg moves motivated by her hatred for Greenstreet. Zachary Taylor is a weakling who finally takes to drink. David Brian as one of Greenstreet's local tools, falls for Crawford, rejects her, and then reforms for good. Greenstreet pays the price the code demanded at the time.I've been trying to think of another movie character that Joan Crawford reminds me of. And I finally realize it was Bruce the shark in "Jaws." That adventure could easily have shown Roy Scheider shoveling chum into Crawford's open mouth. I don't think there's every been a more grasping, ambitious, narcissistic actress. She was to everyone else in her films as the steam roller is to the soggy tar beneath it.She did finally deliver a couple of good performances -- "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane," for instance -- but for most of her career she just bulldozed her way through. Sometimes the result was ludicrous. See "Johnny Guitar," in which she packs a pistol and invites her enemies upstairs in her casino although there is "no whiskey, just bullets."Zachary Taylor had a fine role in an unusual movie, "The Texan," and nothing happened after that. Greenstreet is unbelievable as the pudgy Southrin sheriff who mangles his British accent with demotic Southernisms, "A man don't know what's best for him sometime."If anyone walks away from this with any pride, it must be David Brian, who handles a somewhat twisted and complicated role with a degree of competence.It's not a bad movie, not insulting. It's just plain typical of a romantic melodrama with social overtones.

Sydney Greenstreet is THE MAN ! Honestly, I can't remember any movies I saw him in (I did not see all, but many), where he did not dominate at least all the scenes where he was in, effortlessly in fact ! Even in "The Maltese Falcon" Bogart paled when Greenstreet was on-screen.In many movies he even dominated all the other scenes as well, where he was not on-screen.The guy made a little over 20 movies, according to the IMDb, in less than a decade, from 1941 to 49 to be precise, and FLAMINGO ROAD was his penultimate (he was even in RUTHLESS, one of the most underrated masterpieces of the 40ies !!!).Just take the intro: it's less than 5 minutes into the movie, that you see a car parking, a guy leaving it. You just see his back. What a back! You don't even have to see the guy up front, to know who he is. Massive.But what would YOU expect ?!!! Michael Curtiz, one of THE directors of that time (if not THE director of them all - look at his list of achievements) was at it. This director clearly knew not only how to get the best out of the whole cast, but also how to put them on screen the best way possible, how to introduce them properly. Greenstreet was sort-of-a-legend as character actor then already, and this was the best way to introduce him, just to show his huge back.Up he walks a veranda and gets his massive figure into an armchair, intending to put is southern hat at the table besides the armchair, but ... no table there. Not in a loud voice, just casual, he calls the (then usually black and fittingly) servant to tell him that nearly would it have happened that (again!) his hat might have fallen onto the ground and HE (= Greenstreet) would have had to pick it up, like it had "once" (!) happened in the past. He says it casual and without anger, but it is easy to see that this must have been a major disappointment to him - regardless how many years ago this happened, could have been a decade as well -, which he still remembers like the day it happened, like the day when he had his hat fallen in the dust and had to pick it up.Needless to say the servant had the table aside the armchair just seconds later.Enters Zachary Scott, a competent actor as well (also in RUTHLESS, by the way!), the deputy-sheriff, and asked by Greenstreet what he'd done the whole day, replies "been fishing". He'd actually do something for his money, says Scott, if it would lead to anything (clearly implying it would not), but hinting he'd even be sorry for doing nothing. Says Greenstreet he should not (!) worry 'bout that, there would be many other people in - whatever the name of the town was - who would get/earn a lot more money for doing a lot less than he's doing (= fishing the day, smile).Come on, ain't that a scene ?!!! Ever seen something like this in a recent movie, where a guy says not to worry about being lazy ?? Nope, that's against common sense today (poor times we're living in, aren't we?!).All that is delivered almost casually, without any effort, completely easy, just amazing !! This alone is worth watching the (whole) movie, but there are many more great Greenstreet-scenes coming, more than I can recite here. Watch it !! This movie gets a 10 out of 10 for having such a fantastic role for Greenstreet, but the movie itself is also pretty good (would rate it 7 or 8). All the other cast is VERY competent, the story holds interest throughout, the ending is a little by-the-numbers but satisfying, all in all a great achievement and NOT a minor in anybodys career.As I said, watch it, you won't be disappointed (at least if you love good decent movies and can watch a black-and-white one, smile).