Customer Reviews

Borderline

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Borderline is a fun, early 50s crime drama, played with some humor. The chase across Mexico plotline is similar to Robert Mitchum's The Big Steal.

In addition to moving along nicely, Borderline has three other special qualities. First, as always, Claire Trevor is great. Second, you get to see Fred McMurray and Raymond Burr play bad guys and third, this seems to be one of the only oldies.com DVDs with good quality.

This fun and funny crime caper has a great cast and lots of south-of-the-border flavor that makes it an entertaining 88 minutes at the movies. William A. Seiter's Borderline is a nifty little film that has more in common with The Big Steal than the noir film it is often advertised as. It is a blend of humor, crime and fun that grows on you more and more until its snappy ending.

It seems both the L.A.P.D. and United States Treasury Customs wants to stop a dope smuggling ring bringing narcotics across the border from Mexico. Claire Trevor is the enthusiastic if green L.A. cop Madeline Haley, a former O.S.S. agent who talks her way into the assignment of going down south in an attempt to get information on the nasty middleman Pete Ritche, hoping it will lead them to Mr. Big. TV's Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, is the heavy in the white suit, Ritche, and plays the role with menace.

Madeline sort of stumbles into Ritchie but before she can find anything out, Johnny Mackland, an unknown player working for the L.A. end of the connection, hijacks Ritchie's gold so he can make a deal for the next shipment. He ends up taking Madeline with him after the guns are drawn and the chase is on.

The chase across Mexico, as they try to avoid Ritchie and elude the cops is a lot of fun. Madeline and Johnny start telling each other tall tales and warming up to each other along the way. When Johnny's pal Miguel gets shot they have a body on their hands to deal with, complicating the chase even more. Fred MacMurray is good as Johnny, the cop who doesn't know Madeline is a cop, who doesn't know he's a cop!

Sort of a fun pulp film with more flavor than a habanero pepper, Trevor gives a cute performance as she begins to like Johnny, even getting a bit jealous of the oh so friendly young and pretty daughter of a not too smart Mexican cop. He unknowingly helps them garner a plane to Encinada for the big deal. As the two near the border, each regrets having to turn the other one in because they've fallen for each other.

Once they get straightened out on just who works for who, a rousing shoot-out with Ritchie and his gang climaxes a great ending to this very fun to watch film. A film that's meant as entertainment, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and neither should you. Fans of genre films like this will enjoy going south of the border with this one.

"I'm trying to make up my mind, whether you have a touch of class or not." That's Fred MacMurray, talking to Claire Trevor as they are speeding down a dirt road in Mexico with a parrot cage full of drugs. They are both narcotics agents, but neither realizes this about the other. Oops, here's a wagon full of hay blocking the road; that balky donkey won't go. And, wow, it just got worse: the bad guys have just arrived. Lucky that Claire has that cigarette lighter!

It's fast-paced action, clever dialogue, silly situations and innocent romance between the two talented principals as they try to get back to the border. You will watch this movie over and over, and lend it to your buddies to enjoy. Treat yourself to some fun!

Universal Pictures presents "BORDERLINE" (1950 - (88 min/B&W) Starring: Fred MacMurray, Claire Trevor, Raymond Burr, José Torvay, Morris Ankrum, Roy Roberts & Don Diamond

Directed by William A. Seiter

Customs agents are looking for information about Pete Ritchie (Raymond Burr), who is involved in smuggling drugs from Mexico into the US. Police officer Madeleine Haley (Claire Trevor) goes undercover in order to gain Ritchie's confidence, and before long she meets him through one of his associates. As she is talking with Ritchie, another undercover agent, Johnny Macklin (Fred MacMurray) and one of his men burst in, and they provoke a violent confrontation. From then on, Haley is in constant danger as she attempts to figure out everything that is happening in the smuggling operation.

An odd blend of crime melodrama with humorous undertones

* Special footnote: -- Morris Ankrum at one time went under the name of Stephen Morris, this was during Hopalong Cassidy B-Westerns days.

BIOS:
1. William A. Seiter Director)
Date of Birth: 10 June 1890 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 26 July 1964 - Beverly Hills, California

2, Fred MacMurray
Date of Birth: 30 August 1908, Kankakee, Illinois
Date of Death: 5 November 1991, Santa Monica, California

3. Claire Trevor
Date of Birth: 8 March 1910 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 8 April 2000 - Newport Beach, California

4. Raymond Burr
Date of Birth: 21 May 1917 - New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Date of Death: 12 September 1993 - Sonoma, California

5. José Torvay
Date of Birth: 28 January 1909 - Durango, Mexico
Date of Death: 1973 - Mexico

6. Morris Ankrum
Date of Birth: 28 August 1897 - Danville, Illinois
Date of Death: 2 September 1964 - Pasadena, California

7, Roy Roberts
Date of Birth: 19 March 1906 - Tampa, Florida
Date of Death: 28 May 1975 - Los Angeles, California

8. Don Diamond
Date of Birth: 4 June 1921, Brooklyn - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 19 June 2011 - Los Angeles, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 4 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 88 min on DVD ~ Universal Pictures ~ (October 21, 2003)

Well, we have ballet noir (The Car Man (Matthew Bourne)), family values noir (Home Sweet Homicide), even "Oh, come on, that's not noir" noir (The Third Man - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Edition)). Why not easy-going romantic comedy noir? Borderline, with Claire Trevor and Fred MacMurray, fills a noir niche no one seems to have noticed was empty. And not badly, either.

Pete Ritchie (Raymond Burr) is a shrewd, ruthless drug dealer. The Feds want him, but Ritchie can spot a Fed agent at ten yards. He's holed up in a dusty Mexican town where he sends drug shipments into the States using innocent tourists as well as paid mules. Ritchie's smart but he's a sucker for dames. That's where Madeleine Haley (Claire Trevor) comes in. She's an L.A. cop and, as she points out to the Feds, a female. In short order, Gladys LaRue arrives in this Mexican town and gets a job singing and dancing (badly) in a sleazy cantina that Ritchie, in a white suit, frequents. Just when she starts making progress with Ritchie in his room, Johnny Macklin, a tough guy for hire, bursts in with a gun in his hand and a plan in his head. He's been hired by another gangster to hijack one of Ritchie's drug shipments. Wait a minute...isn't that Fred MacMurray?

Then we realize -- this is no spoiler -- that there are two U.S. agents working to bag Ritchie, and neither knows about the other. It's not long before the two of them are on the road headed for the U. S, staying overnight -- coyly, of course -- in a sleazy hotel. They're toting the drug shipment Ritchie's gangster competitor assigned them, as well as a suspicious music box, a fruitcake and a parrot in a big cage. Soon there's cold cream on Gladys' face and everything from a container for fingerprint power to a camera in Macklin's coat pockets. When one goes to the lobby, the other whips out a camera to take secret photos. When one goes down the hall for a bath, the other...whips out a camera to take secret photos. And then Ritchie and his goons show up and a dangerous race, complete with cheery Mexican music and wise cracks, gets underway. Corpses are left in the dust with a tip of the sombrero to siesta time. Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer never had something like this to deal with.

There may be guns and gunzels, as well as too much noir drama at the end, but Borderline quickly becomes an easy-going romantic chase comedy with drugs, death and Raymond Burr thrown in. Most importantly, the movie has two attractive leads. Listening to Trevor and MacMurray, still unaware of who they really are, trade stories about how they got started in the crime business does credit to their ability to keep straight faces.

Borderline is a pleasant movie, even if at times it's not sure just what kind of noir it is. It may not be an A production but it's considerably better than a programmer. As much as MacMurray and Trevor work well together, Claire Trevor steals the show.

The DVD looks okay. There is one extra that gives background on the people who wrote, directed and photographed the movie.

Madeleine Haley (Claire Trevor) is an ambitious member of the Los Angeles Police Department. When the chief calls for a "tawdry dame" to infiltrate Pete Ritchie's (Raymond Burr) drug trafficking operations she pushes her way through a wall of male shoulders and lands the assignment.
Ritchie operates out of Mexico, and Madeleine contrives to throw herself at him until she sticks. Before she has a chance to let out a breath and settle into moll-dom Johnny McEvoy (Fred MacMurray) breaks in on the scene, manages to find out when "the stuff" is hitting the docks, and kidnaps Madeleine, presumably for insurance against the wrath of Ritchie.
Without giving anything away, McEvoy has a few secrets of his own, which he is able to keep from Madeleine but which the viewer is privy to early on. After Madeleine's abduction this becomes a chase movie. McEvoy and Madeleine drive north, away from Ritchie and towards customers for their "stuff." Of course, Madeleine intends to turn McEvoy over to the authorities as soon as they hit the border, so she'd better not fall for him.
MacMurray and Trevor have good chemistry together. A few of their scenes sparkle, and they're convincing as people who are trying not to believe the worst of each other. Raymond Burr is excellently sinister as the white suited bad guy. This is one menacing dude.
I've tried to understand why this one is so obscure. Good cast, nifty mistaken identity issues, interesting minor characters. BORDERLINE has a lot going for it, and I'll bet you not one in a hundred film buffs have ever heard of it, much less seen it.
Maybe it's because it doesn't quite know what it wants to be - it's kind of film noir, kind of a chase flick, kind of a light romantic comedy. Burr's character is menacing enough, but the director (William A. Seiter) never takes it to the next step. The scenes where MacMurray and Trevor are threatened by him are defused too quickly. Burr's last scene feels like the end of the movie, and it's an anti-climatic one, at that. By then the real danger is past. Maybe if the MacMurray character had been given a hard, inaccessible inner core (like Walter Neff in DOUBLE INDEMNITY, for example) we wouldn't find this one in the bargain bin at the used book store.
If not terribly memorable, BORDERLINE is entertaining enough. The cast is much better than the material they've been given.

I personally like classic movies; this one I never seen before and I enjoyed it. I recommend it to anyone, you can set back with the family because it doesn't have all the violent crimes (bloody)we normally see now a days.

Borderline, 1950 film

The film begins at a tall building at dusk. The US Treasury Department has two prisoners arrested for transporting narcotics. The man won't talk, the woman will cooperate. How does Pete Ritchie operate? Can they use a woman for undercover work? In Mexico six singing girls put on their act! Does it cross the borderline? Will Pete's henchman drink too much? Will Madeline Haley be able to gather information? John Maclin shows up to grab information on a boat shipment. A man is forced to talk. There is a dramatic shooting!

There is a plan to send a shipment north using Gladys LaRue as a "wife". The drugs are hidden in a false bottom and will go to the Los Angeles Zoo. A hidden camera records the shipment. Maclin sends a telegram with a hidden message; he has a secret! There is humor in the hotel room. But a warning sends them scurrying away. A farm cart blocks the road. Is it a trap? Shots are fired. Maclin comes up with an excuse for speeding, there a clever substitution! But they have to ditch their car. [Humor breaks the tension, but distracts from the seriousness of this story.]

They find a pilot to fly them to Ensenada. But there is a problem and they land on a beach. We learn more about the operation. There is a surprise for Maclin. Then a trap for Ritchie. There is another surprise at the Customs Office! They continue to the Los Angeles Zoo to make delivery. They meet at the Big Boss' place. The police raid the house and catch them all. A happy ending.
A film like this never asks about the social culture that creates a demand for narcotics.

The Roan edition of Borderline looks very good. Based on what else is available, the Roan disc is the only one I can recommend. There are no problems.

This is a bland little crime drama that screams for a decent story line and script. Two undercover agents(Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor)try to bust up a drug-smuggling ring in Mexico. The two not knowing the real identity of the other end up falling in love. MacMurray proves he can play any kind of role. Trevor seems out of place and wrong for the part. Raymond Burr plays a heavy in more ways than one. Also in the cast are: Jose Torvay, Roy Roberts and Don Diamond.

I would add to this that if you want great film noir with Clair Trevor then check out "Key Largo"; as for Fred Mac Murray, "Double Indemnity."