KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL is Inspirational

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (Blu-ray)

1952 / 99 min

Film Masters

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😺

I’m a huge Quentin Tarantino fan, and one reason is that his love for movies is obvious in every frame he’s ever shot. And he’s always worn his influences proudly, drawing inspiration from countless classic and not-so-classic films…artistic masterpieces, sleazy exploitation and everything in between.

So when Tarantino enthusiastically champions an older film, I’m always eager to check it out (though I don’t always end up sharing his admiration). And whenever a critic or historian cites a comparatively obscure title that directly or indirectly influenced one of Tarantino’s, I’m similarly intrigued. In this case, it’s 1952’s Kansas City Confidential, a semi-classic slab of film noir that was one of the apparent inspirations for Reservoir Dogs.

And you can kinda see it, at least in the basic plot, which begins with a heist. Mr. Big (Preston Foster) anonymously recruits three other career criminals to commit a daring armored car robbery. Wearing masks, none of them know the identities of the others, assuring that if one is caught, he can’t finger anyone else. The plan also involves framing a floral delivery driver, Joe Rolfe (John Payne) for the crime. Sure enough, after the crew makes off with $1.5 million, Joe is apprehended and arrested. Since he’s also an ex-con, police are sure they have their man.

When you don't bother to use your turn signal.

When his alibi checks out, Joe’s released, but has lost his job and is now determined to find those who set him up. A tip leads him to Mexico, where Mr. Big has instructed his crew to wait until they can meet and divide the money. After one of them, Pete Harris (Jack Elam), is killed by local police, Joe assumes his identity for the meeting, locking horns with the other two crew members, Boyd Kane (Neville Brand) and Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef), while awaiting the arrival of Mr. Big. However, he is already there and revealed to be retired cop Tim Foster, who has tipped off former police colleagues. But Foster’s motives aren’t quite clear. Is he working for the police, or himself?

I could’ve done without the superfluous romantic subplot between Joe and Foster’s law student daughter, Helen (Coleen Gray), whose arrival at the same Mexican village is a silly plot contrivance. But other than that, Kansas City Confidential serves up an entertaining story with a couple of cool twists, anchored by solid, economical direction by Phil Karlson. The overall performances are also good, and while Payne makes a suitably stoic antihero, the real kick is seeing three classic Hollywood bad guys in one movie (Elam, Van Cleef and Brand). 

As heist films go, Kansas City Confidential ain’t gonna make anyone forget The Killing or Rififi (or Reservoir Dogs, for that matter), but it’s pretty well put together on a limited budget. A few meandering moments notwithstanding, this is fun, fast-paced film noir that’s been given a nice Blu-ray restoration by Film Masters. And if you squint hard enough, you can kind of see its influence on Tarantino.

SUPPLEMENTAL BOOKLET - With a neat essay about Jack Elam.