Drive a Crooked Road

1954
Approved
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

2.1K

YOUR RATING

Mickey Rooney, Kevin McCarthy, Dianne Foster, and Jack Kelly in Drive a Crooked Road (1954)

Play trailer1:58

1 Video

41 Photos

Film Noir Crime Drama Thriller

An upright car mechanic falls in love with the girlfriend of a gangster. This forces him to participate in the criminal underworld.An upright car mechanic falls in love with the girlfriend of a gangster. This forces him to participate in the criminal underworld.An upright car mechanic falls in love with the girlfriend of a gangster. This forces him to participate in the criminal underworld.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

2.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Pretty Girl
(uncredited)

John Close

Police Officer
(uncredited)

Richard H. Cutting

Bit Role
(uncredited)

John Damler

Police Officer
(uncredited)

Linda Danson

Pretty Girl
(uncredited)

Diana Dawson

Pretty Girl
(uncredited)

Jean Engstrom

Bit Role
(uncredited)

Mike Mahoney

Police Officer
(uncredited)

Peggy Maley

Marge
(uncredited)

Patrick Miller

Teller
(uncredited)

Director
- Richard Quine
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
According to Eddie Muller, host of TCM's Noir Alley, the Malibu beach house was also in Tension (1949) and 711 Ocean Drive (1950); it is not the house from Mildred Pierce (1945) or Kiss Me Deadly (1955) which are two different houses down the road in Malibu.

Goofs
(at around 10 mins) Eddie pulls up at Barbara's apartment and parks behind a gray Ford. When Barbara drives off a few minutes later, Eddie's MG is missing, but the Ford is still there.

Quotes
Marge: Could I peel this onion? I can't stand to see a grown man cry.
Steve Norris: Take it with you, beautiful; drop it into a large martini.

Soundtracks
From Here to Eternity
by Fred Karger and Robert Wells
played instrumentally as source music

User reviews34

Featured review

7/10

The Mechanic, The Racer, The Lover and The Avenger

In California, the mechanic Eddie Shannon (Mickey Rooney) is also an excellent racing-car driver that expects someday to save money to race in Europe in Le Mans, Grand Prix and other car races driving a European car. Eddie is a short and shy man that has difficulties to date a woman. When the crooks Steve Norris (Kevin McCarthy) and Harold Baker (Jack Kelly) see the performance of Eddie in a local race, they use Steve´s girlfriend Barbara Mathews (Dianne Foster) to seduce Eddie to convince him to drive the getaway car in a bank heist. What will be Eddie´s attitude?

"Drive a Crooked Road" is a film-noir written by Blake Edwards and directed by Richard Quine. Mickey Rooney performs a dark and sad role that seems to be tailored for him. The femme fatale Dianne Foster is the key element of the story, first seducing Eddie and then triggering his anger leaving him full of hatred. The gloomy conclusion surprises, but fits perfectly to the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Valentões" ("The Bullies")