Assassinos Desalmados

By 1955 Republic was not the studio it had been during its heyday in the late 1930s and through the 1940s. They continued to produce well-made, low-budget programmers--although a lot fewer than in past years-- but their B series westerns were over, and the studio made its last two serials that year. Probably not much money or advertising was put behind HEADLINE HUNTERS, a film which after all played much like a TV show one could see for free at home. However, director William Witney--the man who helmed so many classic serials and westerns at Republic--manages to coax good performances out of Rod Cameron as an alcoholic, one-time-hotshot reporter who has lost most of his principles over the years, and Ben Cooper (whose boyish enthusiasm reminds me of the young Tab Hunter, certainly not Brando or Dean!, but who is fine nonetheless) as a college-graduate cub reporter who has principles but lacks experience. While much of the film is a predictable hard-boiled B-movie, the script sometimes rises above that and touches upon some important issues. Cooper's speech to Cameron after a joke Cameron plays on Cooper causes Cooper to be fired is an excellent statement that sounds like something out of Death of a Salesman, and the plot element about the Mexican-American man who is framed for a murder he knew nothing about, and who is taken advantage of because he doesn't speak English and because the court translator is crooked, got me hoping the film would veer off into some serious social commentary (unfortunately, it didn't). This is the kind of film which is a solid B programmer, but which has moments here and there that transcend the production-line nature of its making. Ben Cooper is actually the main star of the film, with Cameron first becoming an unintentional mentor and then a barrier to Cooper. In the end, both men grow considerably from the experience. Nothing original here, but the film is better made than it needed to be and deals with questions still relevant today. (The film also features soon-to-be Stooge JOE BESSER in a colorful role as the coroner!)