.a little more action please" sang Elvis Presley. Obviously, no-one had listened to this song before making this film. If only they had, we might have had a little more action. It's a very talky affair and whilst the message is strong, the overall experience is laborious. The film is way too dark – can we have some light, please? – which gives it a film-noir feel and fits with the dark subject matter. But, how about some light once in a while? We also get all the dialogue delivered by every character in a gloomy low-key manner. It reminded me of Eastenders. Who knows, the cast may well have been using this film as an audition piece for that crass soap opera? The actors are all good but the tone of the film never changes and this makes it a ploddingly dull affair and scenes drag on. Soldier Robert Ryan (Montgomery) is a great bigot, he is a scary bully and is the standout in the cast. The film almost gets interesting at the end but at the final denouement slips back into more talking and then things end very conveniently and quickly. It's a film that is way over-rated by people who think a film is good if the message is sound. They forget that the primary purpose of a film is to be entertaining. Hail the wisdom of Elvis.

Because this movie has dark shadows and the action takes place at night many reviewers have classified this film as 'noir' but I'm not so sure.Here we have no protagonist caught up in an inexorable series of circumstances leading him towards his doom. Here we have no real femme fatale influencing the outcome. Instead we have a murder story, with a Columbo-type narrative where the detective has to provoke or trick the murderer into giving himself/herself away.Robert Ryan is the main man here, giving a very good performance as a two-faced bigot. Gloria Grahame is watchable as the bar girl. Other supporting characters have more to do than Robert Mitchum here but his role has its weight in the drama as a whole.Most memorable for me is the quirky character who appears at Grahame's flat and talks to the young soldier. The scriptwriters must have had fun working on his lines! He says stuff that you don't get much in mainstream films from this period but would be perfectly at home in those indie films of the seventies. In fact I could imagine Harry Dean Stanton playing that role.All in all an enjoyable crime story which I watched when I was very tired, which is my excuse why I didn't suss out where the detective's trick (with a very slow build-up) was leading until he finally played his trump card. It was a good example of 'softly softly catchee monkey'.

In the Post WWII, Police Captain Finlay (Robert Young) investigates the murder of the Jewish Joseph "Sammy" Samuels (Sam Levene) in his apartment after a beating with his team. Out of the blue, soldier Montgomery "Monty" (Robert Ryan) comes to the apartment and tells that three soldiers – Corporal Arthur "Mitch" Mitchell (George Cooper), soldier Floyd Bowers (Steve Brodie) and himself – had been in the apartment drinking with Sammy, and Mitch would have been the last one to leave the place. Finlay finds Mitch's wallet on the couch and he becomes the prime suspect.Finlay visits Sergeant Peter Keeley (Robert Mitchum) and he tells that his friend Mitch is a sensitive artist incapable to kill a man. Keeley decides to investigate the case to protect and clear the name of his friend. When Keeley discuss the evidences with Finlay, the captain concludes that Mitch did not have the motive to kill Sammy, who was a stranger that he met in a bar. Now Captain Finlay has another suspect and he decides to plot a scheme to expose the assassin."Crossfire" is a great film-noir, with top-notch director (Edward Dmytryk) and cast with three Roberts - Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan and Robert Young; excellent story of murder and prejudice; magnificent screenplay that uses flashbacks to disclose and solve the mystery; and very impressive quotes. The theme – hatred against Jews – is unusual and this is the first time that I see a film-noir with this type of sordid story (and without the femme fatale). My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Rancor" ("Rancor")

(Movie quote) - "Hate is like a loaded gun." Released in 1947 - Crossfire stars the 3 "Roberts" - That's Mitchum, Ryan & Young.Crossfire was probably the first Hollywood picture to actually explore racial bigotry - This time in the form of anti-Semitism.Crossfire also addresses post-WW2 issues of soldiers being released from military duty with no other training besides that of being servicemen.Set in Washington, DC - A kindly, soft-spoken man named Joseph Samuels is savagely beaten to death (in his own apartment) by a drunken, recently demobilized American soldier simply because he was Jewish.Due to some incriminating evidence, an innocent soldier is mistakenly blamed for the murder. When this soldier disappears, Detective Finlay, who's investigating the case, must carefully piece together all of the clues to establish the motive behind all of the apparent senselessness.In a series of well-timed flashbacks the whole truth behind the story finally unfolds, escalating to a most brilliant climax.Crossfire is an intelligent, well-crafted film with an excellent script and wonderful performances from a real top-notch cast, especially that of Robert Mitchum as Sargeant Keeley.