# 99 River Street > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/99_River_Street > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/99_River_Street.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_River_Street > Source revision: 1348873650 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1953 film noir directed by Phil Karlson 99 River Street theatrical release poster Directed by Phil Karlson Screenplay by Robert Smith Story by George Zuckerman Based on "Crosstown" (short story, in Cosmopolitan, October 1945) by George Zuckerman Produced by Edward Small Starring John Payne Evelyn Keyes Cinematography Franz Planer Edited by Buddy Small Music by Arthur Lange Emil Newman Production company World Films (Edward Small Productions) Distributed by United Artists Release dates August 21, 1953 (1953-08-21) (LA) October 2, 1953 (1953-10-02) (NYC) October 3, 1953 (1953-10-03) (U.S.) Running time 82-83 minutes[1] Country United States Language English ***99 River Street*** is a 1953 [film noir](/source/Film_noir) directed by [Phil Karlson](/source/Phil_Karlson) and starring [John Payne](/source/John_Payne_(actor)) and [Evelyn Keyes](/source/Evelyn_Keyes). It also features [Brad Dexter](/source/Brad_Dexter), [Frank Faylen](/source/Frank_Faylen) and [Peggie Castle](/source/Peggie_Castle). The screenplay is by Robert Smith based on a short story by [George Zuckerman](/source/George_Zuckerman). The film was produced by [Edward Small](/source/Edward_Small), with cinematography by [Franz Planer](/source/Franz_Planer).[2] ## Plot Ernie Driscoll is a New York taxi driver and former boxer who retired from the ring after sustaining a severe injury. His unhappy wife Pauline is having an affair with well-heeled jewel thief Victor Rawlins. An arrangement that Rawlins made for a batch of stolen diamonds is scuttled, and his [fence](/source/Fence_(criminal)) indicates that Pauline's presence impeded the deal. Trying to save the deal, Rawlins kills Pauline and attempts to frame Driscoll for the murder. With the help of a female acquaintance, Driscoll tries to find Rawlins before he can escape the country. ## Cast [Evelyn Keyes](/source/Evelyn_Keyes) in the film's trailer - [John Payne](/source/John_Payne_(actor)) as Ernie Driscoll - [Evelyn Keyes](/source/Evelyn_Keyes) as Linda James - [Brad Dexter](/source/Brad_Dexter) as Victor Rawlins - [Frank Faylen](/source/Frank_Faylen) as Stan Hogan - [Peggie Castle](/source/Peggie_Castle) as Pauline Driscoll - [Jay Adler](/source/Jay_Adler) as Christopher - [Jack Lambert](/source/Jack_Lambert_(American_actor)) as Mickey - [Glenn Langan](/source/Glenn_Langan) as Lloyd Morgan - [Eddy Waller](/source/Eddy_Waller) as Pop Durkee - John Day as Bud - [Ian Wolfe](/source/Ian_Wolfe) as Waldo Daggett - [Peter Leeds](/source/Peter_Leeds) as Nat Finley - [William Tannen](/source/William_Tannen) as director - [Gene Reynolds](/source/Gene_Reynolds) as Chuck - [Paul Bryar](/source/Paul_Bryar) as Bartender ## Production The rights to George Zuckerman's short story "Crosstown" were originally purchased by producer [Albert Zugsmith](/source/Albert_Zugsmith), who sold them to Edward Small. In keeping with the source story, the film was originally known as *Crosstown*,[3] but the title was changed two months before the film's release.[4] [Linda Darnell](/source/Linda_Darnell) was Small's first choice to play the female lead, a role that was awarded to Evelyn Keyes.[1] ## Reception Critic Oscar Godbout of *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)* called *99 River Street* "one of those tasteless melodramas peopled with unpleasant hoods, two-timing blondes and lots of sequences of what purports to be everyday life in the underworld" and wrote: "To say that this film is offensive would be kind; to point out that it induces an irritated boredom would be accurate. The defendants in this artistic felony are Robert Smith, the scenarist, and Phil Karlson, the director. It is interesting to ponder how Mr. Karlson managed to slip some objectionable scenes past the production code. Maybe it was just artistic license."[5] In its review of the film, the *[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times)* wrote: "It's as plotty as a comic-strip serial ... And so action-thick that sometimes the actors seem to stumble over the plot. Also the tale follows the modern pattern of having the hero suffer and suffer while the heroine follows along to pick up the pieces and do the rescuing."[6] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-afi_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-afi_1-1) [*99 River Street*](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50960) at the *[AFI Catalog of Feature Films](/source/AFI_Catalog_of_Feature_Films)* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [*99 River Street*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045465/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Staff (March 13, 1953) review *[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times)* 1. **[^](#cite_ref-intro_4-0)** Muller, Eddie (April 7, 2019) Intro to the [Turner Classic Movies](/source/Turner_Classic_Movies) presentation 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Godbout, Oscar (October 3, 1953). "Melodrama of Murder". *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. p. 14. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** "'99 River Street' Thick in Melodramatic Plot". *[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times)*. September 19, 1953. p. 9. ## External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to [99 River Street](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:99_River_Street). - [*99 River Street*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045465/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [*99 River Street*](https://web.archive.org/web/1/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/13209/enwp) at the [TCM Movie Database](/source/Turner_Classic_Movies#TCMdb) (archived) - [*99 River Street*](http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/dvd_reviews53/99_river_street.htm) informational site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images) - [*99 River Street* film trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYY48zTTsDk) on [YouTube](/source/YouTube_video_(identifier)) v t e Films directed by Phil Karlson A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine (1944) G. I. Honeymoon (1945) There Goes Kelly (1945) The Shanghai Cobra (1945) Live Wires (1946) Swing Parade of 1946 (1946) Dark Alibi (1946) Behind the Mask (1946) Bowery Bombshell (1946) The Missing Lady (1946) Wife Wanted (1946) Kilroy Was Here (1947) Black Gold (1947) Louisiana (1947) Ladies of the Chorus (1948) Rocky (1948) Adventures in Silverado (1948) Thunderhoof (1948) The Big Cat (1949) Down Memory Lane (1949) The Iroquois Trail (1950) Lorna Doone (1951) The Texas Rangers (1951) Mask of the Avenger (1951) Scandal Sheet (1952) The Brigand (1952) Kansas City Confidential (1952) 99 River Street (1953) They Rode West (1954) Tight Spot (1955) Hell's Island (1955) 5 Against the House (1955) The Phenix City Story (1955) The Brothers Rico (1957) Gunman's Walk (1958) Hell to Eternity (1960) Key Witness (1960) The Secret Ways (1961) The Young Doctors (1961) Kid Galahad (1962) The Scarface Mob (1962) Rampage (1963) The Silencers (1966) A Time for Killing (1967) The Wrecking Crew (1968) Hornets' Nest (1970) Ben (1972) Walking Tall (1973) Framed (1975) v t e Films produced by Edward Small 1910-20s Who's Your Neighbor? (1917) The Sporting Lover (1926) The Cohens and Kellys (1926) The Gorilla (1927) McFadden's Flats (1927) Ladies' Night in a Turkish Bath (1928) The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris (1928) My Man (1928) Companionate Marriage (1928) Song of Love (1929) 1930s Clancy in Wall Street (1930) Igloo (1932) I Cover the Waterfront (1933) Palooka (1933) The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934) Let 'Em Have It (1935) Red Salute (1935) The Melody Lingers On (1935) The Last of the Mohicans (1936) The Bride Walks Out (1936) We Who Are About to Die (1937) Sea Devils (1937) New Faces of 1937 (1937) Super-Sleuth (1937) The Toast of New York (1937) The Duke of West Point (1938) King of the Turf (1939) The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) 1940s My Son, My Son! (1940) The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) South of Pago Pago (1940) Kit Carson (1940) International Lady (1941) The Corsican Brothers (1941) A Gentleman After Dark (1942) Twin Beds (1942) Miss Annie Rooney (1942) Friendly Enemies (1942) Up in Mabel's Room (1944) Abroad with Two Yanks (1944) Brewster's Millions (1945) Getting Gertie's Garter (1945) Temptation (1946) The Return of Monte Cristo (1946) T-Men (1947) The Black Arrow (1948) The Fuller Brush Man (1948) Raw Deal (1948) Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) Black Magic (1949) 1950s Davy Crockett, Indian Scout (1950) The Iroquois Trail (1950) Valentino (1951) Lorna Doone (1951) The Texas Rangers (1951) Indian Uprising (1952) Scandal Sheet (1952) The Brigand (1952) Cripple Creek (1952) Kansas City Confidential (1952) The Bandits of Corsica (1953) Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953) Dragon's Gold (1953) Gun Belt (1953) The Neanderthal Man (1953) 99 River Street (1953) Raiders of the Seven Seas (1953) Sabre Jet (1953) The Steel Lady (1953) Wicked Woman (1953) Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl (1954) Khyber Patrol (1954) The Lone Gun (1954) Overland Pacific (1954) Return to Treasure Island (1954) Southwest Passage (1954) Down Three Dark Streets (1954) New York Confidential (1955) The Naked Street (1955) Top Gun (1955) Comanche (1955) Gun Brothers (1956) UFO (1956) Chicago Confidential (1957) 5 Steps to Danger (1957) Gun Duel in Durango (1957) The Iron Sheriff (1957) Monkey on My Back (1957) Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) Hong Kong Confidential (1958) It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) Toughest Gun in Tombstone (1958) Witness for the Prosecution (1958) The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959) Guns, Girls and Gangsters (1959) Inside the Mafia (1959) Invisible Invaders (1959) Pier 5, Havana (1959) Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959) Solomon and Sheba (1959) Timbuktu (1959) (had name removed from credits) Vice Raid (1959) 1960s Cage of Evil (1960) A Dog's Best Friend (1960) Gunfighters of Abilene (1960) The Music Box Kid (1960) Noose for a Gunman (1960) Oklahoma Territory (1960) Three Came to Kill (1960) The Walking Target (1960) Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961) The Cat Burglar (1961) Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961) Frontier Uprising (1961) Five Guns to Tombstone (1961) The Flight That Disappeared (1961) The Gambler Wore a Gun (1961) Gun Fight (1961) Mary Had a Little... (1961) Operation Bottleneck (1961) Police Dog Story (1961) Secret of Deep Harbor (1961) The Snake Woman (1961) Three on a Spree (1961) When the Clock Strikes (1961) You Have to Run Fast (1961) The Greengage Summer (1961) Beauty and the Beast (1962) The Clown and the Kid (1962) Deadly Duo (1962) Gun Street (1962) Incident in an Alley (1962) Jack the Giant Killer (1962) Saintly Sinners (1962) Tower of London (1962) Diary of a Madman (1963) Twice Told Tales (1963) I'll Take Sweden (1965) Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966) Frankie and Johnny (1966) The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (1968) The File of the Golden Goose (1969) The Christine Jorgensen Story (1970) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [99 River Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_River_Street) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_River_Street?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.