{{short description|1949 film by Robert Florey}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = The Crooked Way | image = The Crooked Way.JPG | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [[Robert Florey]] | producer = [[Benedict Bogeaus]] | screenplay = Richard H. Landau | based_on = {{based on|the radio play ''No Blade Too Sharp''|Robert Monroe}} | starring = {{plainlist| * [[John Payne (actor)|John Payne]] * [[Sonny Tufts]] * [[Ellen Drew]] }} | music = Louis Forbes | cinematography = [[John Alton]] | editing = Frank Sullivan | studio = Benedict Bogeaus Productions | distributor = [[United Artists]] | released = {{film date|1949|4|22|}} | runtime = 90 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''The Crooked Way''''' is a 1949 American [[film noir]] starring [[John Payne (actor)|John Payne]], [[Sonny Tufts]] and [[Ellen Drew]]. Directed by [[Robert Florey]] and shot by [[John Alton]], the film has a similar plot (a war hero loses his memory from a combat wound) to another film noir, ''[[Somewhere in the Night (film)|Somewhere in the Night]]''.
==Plot== After sustaining a head wound in combat, decorated [[World War II]] veteran Eddie Rice (John Payne) is treated at a [[San Francisco]] military hospital for a permanent form of [[amnesia]]. This leaves him with no knowledge of his life, family and friends prior to his enlistment. Army intelligence is unable to fill this void, as all they know about his past is that he enlisted in [[Los Angeles]]. Doctors tell him that no medical cure exists for his condition, but suggest that returning to L.A. might allow him to run into people who know him and might help fill in the blanks.
Rice does so, and promptly runs into some folks who recognize him. However, they know him as Eddie Riccardi, a dangerous gangster gone missing, whose past record generates mistrust both among the police and all those who formerly knew him. A woman, Nina Martin, appears to help him, but instead turns him over to ruthless crime boss Vince Alexander (Sonny Tufts), who was betrayed by Eddie before leaving town, and is now out for revenge. Vince tries to frame Eddie for the murder of a policeman, but Nina, who reveals to Eddie that she used to be his wife in a stormy marriage, finds her bitterness towards him changing to tenderness, and decides to help him genuinely.
==Cast== * [[John Payne (actor)|John Payne]] as Eddie Rice/Eddie Riccardi * [[Sonny Tufts]] as Vince Alexander * [[Ellen Drew]] as Nina Martin * [[Rhys Williams (actor)|Rhys Williams]] as Lieutenant Joe Williams * [[Percy Helton]] as Petey * [[John Doucette]] as Sgt. Barrett * Charles Evans as Captain Anderson (as Charlie Evans) * [[Greta Granstedt]] as Hazel Downs * Raymond Largay as Arthur Stacey, M.D. * Harry Bronson as Danny * [[Hal Baylor]] as Coke (as Hal Fieberling) * [[Don Haggerty]] as Hood * Jack Overman as Hood * Crane Whitley as Doctor Kemble/Off-Screen Narrator * [[John Harmon (actor)|John Harmon]] as Kelly * [[Garry Owen (actor)|Garry Owen]] as Man from Green Acres Mortuary
==Reception== The contemporary ''[[The New York Times]]'' film critic wrote, "''The Crooked Way'' races along as a melodrama should and it has more than enough plot to keep its hard-working actors going from one dangerous situation to another. But there is so much pointless brutality in it that one may seriously question whether the movie people are wise to go on with the making of such pictures. The human family may not be perfect, but why subject it to so-called entertainment that is only fit for savage beasts."<ref>[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E03E1DC1E3EE03BBC4D53DFBF668382659EDE ''The New York Times'']. Film review, September 5, 1949. Accessed: July 9, 2013.</ref> In the 2009 book ''100 Film Noirs'', Jim Hillier compares and contrasts the film to ''[[Somewhere in the Night (film)|Somewhere in the Night]]''. Hillier says that ''The Crooked Way'' benefited from its low budget by forcing the filmmakers to be more creative, which makes it the better film.<ref>{{cite book|title=100 Film Noirs|last=Hillier|first=Jim|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|year=2009|isbn=9781844575534|pages=59–60|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4WgdBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0041269|title=The Crooked Way}} * {{TCMDb title|id=71873|title=The Crooked Way}} * {{AFI film|25890}} * [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews20/the_crooked_way_dvd_review.htm ''The Crooked Way''] informational site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images) * {{YouTube|PTWP3IIp5aM|''The Crooked Way'' film scene}}
{{Robert Florey}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crooked Way, The}} [[Category:1949 films]] [[Category:1949 crime drama films]] [[Category:1949 American films]] [[Category:1949 English-language films]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:American crime drama films]] [[Category:English-language crime drama films]] [[Category:Films about amnesia]] [[Category:Films directed by Robert Florey]] [[Category:Film noir]] [[Category:United Artists films]]