When you’re focused on film noir, as this blog is, it’s more difficult to find a hero than a villain. It’s a greater challenge to find a fully sympathetic character than a reprehensible one. Sadists and sociopaths abound, from ruthless gangsters to femmes fatale.
For prototypical noir villains, you can’t go wrong with Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, and I love watching Richard Conte play the sadist supreme in The Big Combo. I also have a soft spot for Dan Duryea in Scarlet Street; his Johnny is so immature and self-absorbed.
When I began my prep for hosting #BNoirDetour on Twitter, however, I introduced myself to an actor who’s become for me the wildest noir villain-player of them all: Richard Widmark. Known to most as Col. Tad Lawson in Judgment at Nuremberg or Jim Bowie from The Alamo, Widmark actually boasted 76 acting roles on film and television over the course of his 83-year life.
For the noir fan, however, it is Widmark’s early villain roles that may be his most memorable, as they have recently become for me. His first screen appearance is in the supporting secondary role of psychopathic killer Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death (1947). It is difficult to top the scene in which he pushes an accomplice’s wheelchair-bound mother down a flight of stairs, with a smile and a mad sparkle in his eyes.
Less pathologically murderous and more filled with angry self-pity is Widmark’s Ray Biddle in No Way Out (1950). A racist thief born on the wrong side of the tracks, Biddle vacillates between manipulative cruelty and emotional breakdowns. Most memorable is how he spits out the N word with determined zeal throughout the film. (According to tcm.com, Widmark actually apologized to leading actor Sidney Poitier for every abusive scene between them.)
Perhaps the most sympathetic of Widmark’s noir baddies is Harry Fabian in Night and the City (1950). Fabian is less one-dimensional than Udo or Biddle, at least in part because he’s playing the lead this time. A gambling addict with delusions of grandeur, his gambling, stealing, lying, and bravado make him more villain than anti-hero. Only in the final moments of the film does he attempt a bit of selflessness, and this comes only when he knows he is going to die. (Perhaps the greatest crime in the film is the thankless girlfriend role given to Gene Tierney.)
In the end, I know there are many who will say Widmark’s acting got much stronger after these early roles. Arguably, he earned better roles in better films. But for the noir fan, he will always be Tommy Udo, Ray Biddle, or Harry Fabian, providing viewers with some of the most vicious and emotionally intense jerks of the era.
This post is a contribution to:
April 15, 2015 at 6:19 PM
I’ve read nothing but good things about Richard Widmark as a person, but I was still touched to see how he apologized to Sidney Poitier. He had76 acting roles, you say? Wow – he was a busy actor!
Admittedly, I’ve never seen this film, and your review has me wondering why that is! It’s such a famous movie, and a famous character, that I’m a bit ashamed to call myself a classic movie blogger. 😉
Thanks for joining the blogathon with this iconic character. You can’t really have a villain fest without Tommy Udo, right?
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April 15, 2015 at 7:06 PM
Glad you enjoyed the post. So love participating!
For the film you haven’t seen, do you mean No Way Out? It really is a powerful and unique film, even if Widmark chews the scenery as if he’s in a different era than the other actors/characters.
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April 15, 2015 at 7:55 PM
I really enjoyed your write-up! First off, I share your fondness for Richard Conte in The Big Combo. Of course, I could watch Conte tie his shoelaces and be perfectly happy, and I feel the same about the great Richard Widmark. His characters in all three of the films you cover are so vastly different, and so fascinating, each in their own way. I really just feel sorry for Harry Fabian, though. He just wants to be somebody!! Thanks for this first-rate post, and for contributing to the blogathon. I look forward to exploring the rest of your blog!
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April 15, 2015 at 9:46 PM
Interesting that you’re sympathetic with Fabian. I can see why in the abstract, but stealing from and neglecting his girlfriend is a deal-breaker for me. The film itself may sympathize with him more than I can, but his performance (and those suits!) are riveting.
Thanks so much for your response. So happy to be part of the blogathon. Am already working on my beach post (Key Largo). Any other blogathons I should enter? 🙂
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April 16, 2015 at 10:05 AM
First off, glad to discover the blog. I’m guessing the title is from Detour, which is among my favorite noirs.
I’ve aeen Widmark in countless films, but cannot remember his presence in noir. Thanks for sharing with us!
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April 16, 2015 at 11:28 PM
Yep, the title is from Detour. This site is mostly for announcing and discussing a weekly live tweet of noir films. For the first showing, I chose the hashtag #bnoirdetour, and decided to just keep it that.
Glad to remind you of some of Widmark’s earliest villain roles.
Thanks for reading and responding!
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April 16, 2015 at 10:58 PM
Great choice– yet another example of a real life nice guy who made such a perfect bad guy in movies. Udo is iconic but you’re right to put that alongside the other noirs, which were also fine work from him. You and I both love Duryea, another “lovable” villain. Thanks for joining us in this event, and I’m glad I discovered your blog!
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April 16, 2015 at 11:29 PM
Happy to be part of the blogathon, and thanks for reading!
Gotta love our two flaxen-haired bad boys!
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April 19, 2015 at 1:15 AM
I have enjoyed the performances of Richard Widmark, Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Conte and Dan Duyrea, however, of “memorable villians”, especially in the realm of film-noir, the versatile and very talented Robert Ryan deserves a mention. His performance as Montgomery in “Crossfire” (RKO-1947) deserverdly earned him critical recognition, while his performances as “Joe Parkson” in “Act of Violence” (MGM-1948) and “Ohlrig” in “Caught” (MGM-1949), in my opinion, cemented his entitlement to recognition in this field. “Bad Day at Black Rock” (MGM-1955), the film-noir/western was another of his “villianous” triumphs while his compelling performance as “Claggart”, in “Billy Budd” (AA-1962), ( not technically a film-noir), is evidence of his talent to present “a creature of cold, sadistic fervor”. I rest my case!
Thanks for your interesting post.
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April 19, 2015 at 1:37 AM
Thanks for reading and sharing your two cents. If I have to choose someone other than Widmark, though, it’d probably be Edward G. Robinson for his gangsters.
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April 20, 2015 at 12:04 AM
Oh, wasn’t he just the baddest of the baddies? I usually have a soft spot for those guys, but Widmark could be so bad. Even when he played a good guy I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Great choice for the blogathon!
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April 20, 2015 at 12:09 AM
I so agree. He just did sociopath so well! Thanks for reading!
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