"Sorry, Wrong Number" with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster (1948)

I caught this movie on television the other night by accident. Well, maybe it wasn’t such an accident because I was clicking around looking for something to watch; which is always easier said than done. And, as often happens to me, I was hit with a black and white screen; bringing an instant halt to my clicking. Black and white really grabs me.

I was only 15 minutes into the 1948 film noir classic “Sorry, Wrong Number” with Barbara Stanwyk and Burt Lancaster. They play the ill-fated couple Henry and Leona Stevenson; she as the hypochondriac bed ridden wife, and he as the henpecked husband driven to despair by his wife’s imagined illness, as well as being a victim of his own demons.

Henry Stevenson is a man with secrets. He lives sort of a double life; caring for his stricken wife; and also as a philandering and a thief. But all of his secrets come tumbling out one night when his wife; who is addicted to her phone, as it is her only link to the outside world; hears 2 men on the line plotting a murder.

At first she tries to contact the police, but since there is no identity to the men she refers to there is little that they can do. During her attempts to trace the call and find the intended victim she becomes privy to her husband’s secret life; including his infidelity with Sally Hunt Lord; played by Ann Richards. She also learns that he has stolen some money and must make good or face some serious consequences.

During the flashbacks, as she recounts her life with her husband, she realizes that there were many clues she chose to ignore. And when she finds out about the money she is ready to forgive him instantly; she really does love him. But by this time it’s too late to stop a series of events already in motion, set to happen at 11:15 PM.

As the film closes; with Henry talking on the phone to a frantic Leona; all of the pieces fall neatly into place and leave you wondering how both of them could have been so stupid so as not to see the beauty in the lives they had; trading them for a guaranteed appointment with a hell of their own making.

Outstanding performances by both Burt Lancaster and Barbara Stanwyck, and superb direction by Anatole Litvak, combined with a screenplay by the original author of the play, Lucille Fletcher, make this a classic you don’t want to overlook.

"Lucky You" with Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall (2007)

Eric Bana plays Huck Cheever, the son of a great poker player named L.C. Cheever in this father and son drama set in Las Vegas amid the world of high stakes poker. Huck has inherited his father’s gift for cards. He can compute the other player’s hands in his head and make sharp bets. He also has a reckless side which keeps him from ever really being the big winner his father was, and still is. Huck wants to show him up and become the big winner himself.

In the weeks leading up to the big Las Vegas Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Series Chuck must find a way to raise the entry fee of $10,000 in order to play. He will do anything to play in this game, if only to show his Dad that he can do it. He embarks on a week- long spree in which he begs, borrows, gambles and even “steals” in order to come up with the money.

When Huck meets up with his Dad, L.C., played by Robert Duvall, he is a bit shaken, the man is a legend. But with a new love in his life, Billie, played by Drew Barrymore, he is more determined than ever to be a winner. He gets his chance to show his famous Dad up by winning the series in which the old man plays against him, but will he be able to do it? L.C. claims that Huck lets his emotions get in the way, preventing him from winning. Is he right?

This is a much nuanced film with an ending that will make you smile to yourself when you realize that winning takes many different forms.

"Dark Harbor" by Nathan Ward

In this colorful and enjoyable history, Nathan Ward has brilliantly tied together the story of corruption along the New York waterfront of the 1930's through the 1950's with the iconic film "On the Waterfront." Utilizing the Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles by New York Sun reporter Malcom Johnson, Mr. Ward has pieced together the facts behind the thinly disguised fiction of the Elia Kazan film. Working with playwright Arthur Miller, and actor Marlon Brando, gave that film a reality that still has a bite, even now when viewed almost 60 years later.

The author takes the reader on a pier by pier journey through the corruption that ate away at the social fabrics of whole neighborhoods, gobbling up livelihoods, and often lives, as it swallowed the promise of the American Dream based on hard work.

The "shape-up", the humiliating practice of having men bribe, and beg, for a day’s work, is explored in detail. The real life characters that were the basis for the main players in "On the Waterfront" are all exposed here through the real life experiences of the working men, and their families, who were all victims to the thugs and organized criminal enterprises who ran the docks. There really were Johnny Friendly's and Kayo Dugan’s, just as there were real life Terry Malloy's, all caught up in the struggle to provide either pinky rings for themselves, or food and shelter for their families. There really was a Crime Commission investigating the labor practices along the waterfront, and witnesses were killed for testifying before them.

Of special interest in this book are the preparations for the filming of "On the Waterfront", with both Arthur Miller and Marlon Brando walking the streets of Red Hook, where the movie takes place, in order to capture the real feel of the time and place. Brando didn't think he could walk the streets unrecognized as Marlon Brando. Donning his costume, and carrying his cargo hook, he strode through the neighborhood, without raising an eyebrow. That's when he knew he was ready.

From Albert Anastasia, in the area of the Fulton Street Fish Market, to Charlie Yanowsky, in Jersey City, the cast of characters is colorful in this engaging book which chronicles the sordid history of New York's waterfront. In 1948 it was written that "the New York waterfront produces more murders per square foot than any other one section of the country."