SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Amateur movie with Big budget

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a typical crime film noir of the 1940s time era - really run of the mill. Brings nothing new to the genre. Almost everyone is a crook in this one - except the news reporter (who knows he might be a crook too). Even the wife of the gangster/crook is a crook and her crooked husband was being frame for something he didn't do, but with all the lying and backstabbing in this film maybe he really did do it? You do have to pay attention to this film because there is a lot to it, a lot going on in just over an hour. It's very fast paced with lots of two faced double-talk, backstabbing, lying and murders.I found it funny that the wife was happy being a crook's wife and her husband slapped her - that's when she suddenly woke up and decided to live a straight life (at least that is what we are lead to believe in the end).I didn't like anyone in this film really - I couldn't feel sympathy with anyone. What I really wanted to do was to hand them all machine guns through the screen and let them have at it. The actors who played the characters are really flat. The story was a little bit interesting at times. At times, really good cinematography... mysterious looking.3/10

Plot-- A woman injured in a car crash that's killed her two companions relates her story in flashback to a reporter. It concerns a corrupt Asst. DA, an escaped convict, plus competing racketeers, all of which leads to murder.No one expects Oscar bait from the likes of poverty row Lippert. But as 40's thick ear, this is a pretty good one. The characters are more than one dimensional, the photography often imaginative, along with a lightning bit of jazz piano from Bob Rogers whose fingers defy gravity. Russell Wade may get top billing, but it's really Edmond MacDonald's movie. His Assistant DA may be a heckuva schemer, yet he gets pushed around as much as he does the pushing. Seems like no one's in control of much of anything, a nice departure from the usual. In fact, the only uncompromised character, reporter Mitch (Wade), is only incidental to the plot. It's not goodies vs. baddies; it's mainly clashes of self-interest getting thrashed out. Yes, the twists, turns, and pop-up names are sometimes hard to follow. Then too, I'll be darned if I know why a guy (Mitch) or gal goes walking alone in the woods at night, especially when they hear noises. Still, the effect's a perennial nail-biter. Anyway, pedestrian director Berke distinguishes himself from his usual, while the battery of craftsmen doing the visuals also come through. All in all, the results are better than expected from the likes of Lippert and an obscure cast of principals.

Shoot To Kill takes Luana Walters out of her usual western cowgirl outfits and puts her in modern dress as a woman with one incredible scheme that involves bringing down a crooked prosecutor. Doubly hard because prosecutor Edmund MacDonald is regarded as a hero with a bright future.MacDonald has brought down Robert Kent a big name hoodlum. But it was at the bidding of three others racketeers who frame Kent because they want him out of the way. Kent escapes and therein lies the tale.Walters who usually was the girl that any number of Saturday matinée cowboys would be vying for did a really good job as a woman on a mission. You'd hardly know this was the same woman as this is one hardboiled dame. Walters is aided and abetted by reporter Russell Wade who also has a big size torch for Walters. In fact the whole story is related in flashback by Walters to Wade and Wade sees for the first time how his role fit in the big picture. Shoot To Kill obviously had a different ending in mind when you see it. For whatever reason, Lippert Pictures chose the wrong one. It should have ended like Humphrey Bogart's classic The Big Shot. It really spoiled what could have been a minor noir classic. You'll see what I mean when you watch it.

Before you begin watching this movie, I suggest you keep your eyes peeled and ears open for the really neat piano number early in the film. Though this low-budget Noir film was made before the Rock 'n Roll era, this piano bit is a good example of "pre-Rock"--R&B that led to Rock in the 1950s. It reminded me of a number by Bee Bumble--and it really kicked.This is one of two films included on a DVD entitled "Forgotten Noir" and also includes the movie SHADOW MAN. Both are low-budget Noir titles and I would agree that both are forgotten--films you don't usually see on TV and that "lesser" Noir films--made by smaller studios with lesser stars. In fact, with SHOOT TO KILL, there really are no stars though there are a few faces you might recognize.The film begins with a car careening over an embankment. An escaped con as well as the District Attorney and his new wife are thrown from the car and the only survivor is the woman. When she awakes, she begins to reminisce about what led to this crazy accident.Some time back, the lady came to work with an Assistant DA and eventually he would win the coveted DA's job. However, this young and respected attorney is actually working for the mob. Along the way, he dates his secretary and eventually marries her. Here is where a GREAT twist occurs--though I'd rather not say more about the story--it would ruin the film.The bottom line is that this cheap film still has a good story and packs quite a punch. While not among the higher echelons of great Noir, this one should be better remembered as it's a very good film and well worth your time due to the complex story that is fraught with twists and turns.