83 minutes of noir goodness - Highway 301

[sigp220.45]

I watch a lot of movies, and its rare that I find one I have never seen (or heard of) and it launches itself effortlessly into my top ten.

I finished a recorded Jimmy Cagney cowboy movie and the TV was on TCM and there was Eddie Mueller introducing this baby:

I won’t spoil a 73 year old movie, but a few points:

- Three actual sitting Governors give “crime doesn’t pay” warnings at the beginning of the movie, because (as long as you don’t want to live long) hanging out with these bad guys looks like a hoot.

- The main bad guy on two different occasions shoots somebody with his Detective Special, calmly removes the one spent round, pockets it, replaces it with a fresh round, and pockets the Colt.

- My favorite fake movie headline appears. If you freeze on enough shots of newspapers in old movies (I’m a loser, I know) you’ll see a filler article with the wonderful headline “110,000 Chinese living in trees as a result of floods”. Its in several movies, a few Stooges shorts, and an episode of Andy Griffith. Its always a joy to spot it. Best I could do:

- The thought of having a giant rubber stamp that says DEAD and its accompanying overlarge inkpad makes me laugh.

- The most thorough death of a villain in recent memory. No sequel for Steve Cochran. He also had a interesting death in real life.

I don’t know if TCM will show it again, but there is a crystal clear full version on archive.org

Ok, back to football!

 

[rockquarry]

I watch a lot of movies, and its rare that I find one I have never seen (or heard of) and it launches itself effortlessly into my top ten.

I finished a recorded Jimmy Cagney cowboy movie and the TV was on TCM and there was Eddie Mueller introducing this baby:

I won’t spoil a 73 year old movie, but a few points:

- Three actual sitting Governors give “crime doesn’t pay” warnings at the beginning of the movie, because (as long as you don’t want to live long) hanging out with these bad guys looks like a hoot.

- The main bad guy on two different occasions shoots somebody with his Detective Special, calmly removes the one spent round, pockets it, replaces it with a fresh round, and pockets the Colt.

- My favorite fake movie headline appears. If you freeze on enough shots of newspapers in old movies (I’m a loser, I know) you’ll see a filler article with the wonderful headline “110,000 Chinese living in trees as a result of floods”. Its in several movies, a few Stooges shorts, and an episode of Andy Griffith. Its always a joy to spot it. Best I could do:

- The thought of having a giant rubber stamp that says DEAD and its accompanying overlarge inkpad makes me laugh.

- The most thorough death of a villain in recent memory. No sequel for Steve Cochran. He also had a interesting death in real life.

I don’t know if TCM will show it again, but there is a crystal clear full version on archive.org

Ok, back to football!

Highway 301 is shown pretty regularly, but I can't remember if it has been shown on TCM or one of the other channels. I've seen it before but had to watch the Eddie Mueller commentary because his interpretations and comments on these films are unmatched.

No one played a "B" movie bad guy better than Steve Cochran and Highway 301 may have been his best. I've never seen Cochran in a loser movie and I think I've seen most, maybe all of his films.

 

[Skeet 028]

We had US 301 on the Eastern Shore of Md 1 1/2 miles from home. Lot of "contraband" travelled that road in the past. Still a lot of drugs interdicted these days

 

[bigmtnman]

I never miss recording "Noir Alley" on TCM. Eddie's backstories are a must !
Route 301 and Route 1 were the main roads on the east coast down to Florida before I 95. I remember family vacations to visit dad's foster parents in Fort Myers in the early '50's . It was Washington D.C. to Florida in a '52 Chevy down 301. The first palm tree to come into view was MIRACULOUS !!

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Sounds like the last Steve Cochran Boat Ride would make a great movie!
Just sneaked a peek.
There are 29 Steve Pics on YouTube.
Watching Tanks Are Coming- right now.

 

[GaryS]

I have it recorded and will watch later. I love a good noir film. Robert Mitchum made some really good ones early in his career. "Angel Face" with Jean Simmons is a good one.

 

[DWalt]

Strange this topic came up. For lack of anything better, I watched about half of it this morning. I also had never heard of it. It is recorded, so I will watch the rest tomorrow or sometime soon. I wish I had been able to recruit three young ladies to accompany me on a cruise to Costa Rica. But hopefully with a little more pleasant outcome.

 

[rockquarry]

I have it recorded and will watch later. I love a good noir film. Robert Mitchum made some really good ones early in his career. "Angel Face" with Jean Simmons is a good one.

"Angel Face" is a real sleeper and one you don't often hear about. Good film.

 

[Rustyt1953]

It has been quite a while since I watched that but I remember liking it.

I enjoy noir films and Mulholland Falls and L.A. Confidential are among my favorites.

 

[GaryS]

"Out Of The Past" with Jane Greer is another good Mitchum noir.

"Angel Face" is a real sleeper and one you don't often hear about. Good film.

 

[Rustyt1953]

"Out Of The Past" with Jane Greer is another good Mitchum noir.

Mitchum was and still is one of my favorite actors. What sealed the deal for me in putting him in my elite category was Cape Fear.

 

[swsig]

Another "B-movie" noir classic that is one of my favorites is Detour. Obviously made on a shoestring budget, with obscure actors, it turned out to be a great movie. Ann Savage's performance is Academy Award-worthy. If you haven't seen it, I'm sure Eddie Mueller will show it sometime this year.

Maybe my favorite "A-movie" noir classic is Dark Passage, with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Agnes Moorehead. Moorehead is so deliciously evil, she's actually kind of hot.

 

[Onomea]

Highway 301. I used to drive it a lot. Took 95 from NYC to Delaware, across the bridge, IIRCC, and then 301 down into Virginia, making a left towards the coast at Port Royal/Rt 17, if IIRCC... Used to stop at the Hornes restaurant there for coffee and chow.

Been maybe 35-40 years since I've made that run tho...

 

[Krogen]

I also caught Highway 301 last night on TCM. Interesting that so may of you enjoy film noir as well. I rarely miss Noir Alley. While it's easy enough to record at watch at my leisure, I'd rather watch it on TCM's timeline. Odd, you might say, but there's something about anticipating a good flick coming on at a specific time. Sorta like waiting for, and then watching a special program back in my childhood. It seems to enhance the magic of cinema. So I sit down Saturday evenings at 9 or 9:30 with a glass of Bourbon and watch Noir Alley.

 

[UncleEd]

Let's not forget Steve Cochran was in
one of the greatest of the noir films
"White Heat" with him and Virginia Mayo
plotting against James Cagney.

I always wondered that when he was handed
a film script if he didn't immediately flip the
pages to see when he was going to die in it.

Perhaps other movie bad guys such as Jack
Elam, Robert Wilke, Jack Lambert and
Timothy Carey did the same thing.

 

[DWalt]

This is a more detailed account of Steve Cochran’s final voyage complete with a picture of the three young Mexican maidens. Ten days with a corpse: The strange death of Steve Cochran

 

[swsig]

This is a more detailed account of Steve Cochran’s final voyage complete with a picture of the three young Mexican maidens. Ten days with a corpse: The strange death of Steve Cochran

Those "young Mexican maidens" were real beauties. Steve could sure pick 'em.

 

[Gamecock]

Yep. 301 was I-95 before there was an I-95.

In the late 60s, it was a pain in the heiny. I-95 wasn't complete between Dillon and Fayetteville. Cruise on the interstate for hours, then you get dumped back on the crummy road. Which took for ever.

 

[RetCapt]

"Out Of The Past" with Jane Greer is another good Mitchum noir.

Enjoyed the locations in this one because we used to vacation on the east side of the Sierra. At the start Mitchum is a gas station attendant in Bridgeport. Any time we went through, Bridgeport had the highest gasoline prices we had ever seen. Learned very quickly that Bridgeport was not the place for a pit stop.

Agree that Muller's comments on his 'Noir Alley' are not to be missed.

TCM is, by far, our most watched channel. Next to westerns, film noir is my favorite genre.

 

[Hair Trigger]

- Three actual sitting Governors give “crime doesn’t pay” warnings at the beginning of the movie, because (as long as you don’t want to live long) hanging out with these bad guys looks like a hoot.

- The main bad guy on two different occasions shoots somebody with his Detective Special, calmly removes the one spent round, pockets it, replaces it with a fresh round, and pockets the Colt.

- The most thorough death of a villain in recent memory. No sequel for Steve Cochran. He also had a interesting death in real life.

I watched that the other night, first time I'd seen it. I thought it was pretty funny watching the three governors give their "speeches". Maryland and Virginia did an okay job, but W.K. Scott should have had his cue cards higher up, because he was looking down the whole time he talked. And, oh, boy, that tie!
That one speech makes me wonder why he has a lake named after him in Wilkes County, when he was from Alamance County

Cochran's character reloading after every shot may have been a characteristic of the person he was playing. As free as he was about shooting someone, I guess he wanted to stay prepared, and reloading immediately after shooting would keep him from forgetting he had an almost empty revolver when it was really needed.