The Lineup (1958) Classic San Francisco Film Soleil Polar Noir

"Sort of San Francisco's Naked City and a Tail -Fin Noir to boot."                                              (Noirsville)

Directed by Don Siegel. 

Siegel gave us  (The Big Steal, Riot in Cell Block 11, Private Hell 36, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Baby Fave Nelson, The Killers, Dirty Harry, Charlie Varric).

Written by Stirling Silliphant, Fred Eggers, and Lawrence M. Klee (original creator: Columbia Broadcasting System TV series). 

Cinematography by Hal Mohr (The Jazz Singer, Woman On The Run, Rancho Notorious, The Big Night, The Wild One, Baby Face Nelson, Underworld USA ), and Music by Mischa Bakaleinikoff. 

The film stars Eli Wallach (Baby Doll, The Misfits, The Magnificent Seven, Lord Jim, The Good The Bad, and The Ugly, ) as Dancer, Robert Keith (Edge Of Doom, Woman On the Run, Fourteen Hours) as Julian, Warner Anderson (The Arnelo Affair, High Wall, Detective Story ) reprising his role from The Lineup TV Series, as Lt. Ben Guthrie (* Tom Tully, Andersons TV partner was unavailable), he was replaced by Emile Meyer (Sweet Smell Of Success), as Inspector Al Quine. Both Tully and Meyer have very distictive voices.

Richard Jaeckel (City Across the River, Hoodlum Empire, 3:10 to Yuma) as Sandy McLain the dipso wheelman and Marshall Reed (also reprising his series TV role) as Inspector Fred Asher. 

Eli Wallach as Dancer

Robert Keith as Dancer

Warner Anderson as Lt. Ben Guthrie

Emile Meyer as Inspector Al Quine

Richard Jaeckel as Sandy Mclain

With Mary LaRoche (Run Silent Run Deep, she played Telly Savalas' wife in Twilight Zone's S5.E6 Living Doll), as Dorothy Bradshaw, William Leslie as Larry Warner, Robert Bailey as Staples, Raymond Bailey (Mr Drysdale in The Beverly Hillbillies) as Phillip Dressler, Vaughn Taylor as "The Man," Cheryl Callaway as Cindy Bradshaw, Marshall Reed as Inspector Fred Asher, Cheryl Callaway (Night of the Hunter) as Cindy, and the great City of San Francisco circa 1957.

Raymond Baily as Phillip Dressler

Mary LaRoche as Dorothy Bradshaw

Vaughn Taylor as "The Man,"

The Lineup started as a radio series created by Lawrence M. Klee as a true case dramatized police procedural program in some nameless Noirsville in 1950. In 1953 CBS ended its radio version and transferred the concept to a TV show set in San Francisco. (Now just for clarification the show eventually was sold into syndication as was renamed San Francisco Beat. Maybe the name change had something to do with giving ABC's Bourbon Street Beat competition, who knows.

The TV Show starred Warner Anderson, Tom Tully and Marshall Reed and ran from 1954 to 1960. Now Tom Tully was in a few classic Noir also he was Jean Tierney's father in Where The Sidewalk Ends, and he's the police chief in The Lady In The Lake who's on the phone with his daughter, and he's the cop with all the kids watching a Western on TV in On Dangerous Ground, and he's in a few that I haven't seen yet. Emile Meyer is a similar and quite suitable type replacement in the film. 

This film was made to capitalize on the shows enormous popularity. I don't remember watching it as a kid when it was actually on its initial run, it must have been on past my bed time, but I do foggily remember seeing some episodes of San Francisco Beat so that must have been obviously after 1960, 

They chose the right Director to masterfully showcase San Francisco's big city grittiness and sweeping vistas, something what they couldn't do on TV. To do that, they had to be able to see it hence why they filmed in September of 1957. There's no fog in this film. It's a bright September Film Soleil San Francisco. It also features one of the few great classic police car chases found in Hollywood Classic Film Noir. The other being the cab / cop chase in Side Street, and Director Siegal's own Mexican road chase in The Big Steal. 

Story

San Francisco. A ship the Ansonia, is sailing under the Golden Gate. 

Cut to Pier 41, the Embarcadero at Jefferson. The boat pulled in and passengers are in the process of disembarking. Ship personnel, porters, greeters surround the gangway. Outside, boxcars on the tracks of the The San Francisco Belt Railroad share the street with the taxi's waiting for customers.

It all happens so fast. A porter grabs the top suitcase from a hand cart and tosses it into the back window of a '55 Plymouth Plaza cab. 

The porter runs away. Phillip Dressler is the director of the San Francisco  Opera House and who owns the suitcase is wondering WTF is going on. 

The cab peels out smacking immediately into the front fender of a International Harvester semi that's just pulling out of the pier into the Embarcadero. 

The cab backs out. The semi driver yells. The cab driver puts the pedal to the metal and swerves with squealing tires around the semi and running down a cop who was just coming over to check on the initial accident. 

The cop gets off one lucky shot through the back window killing the cabby. The cab, out of control, goes off the pavement,  blows a tire on maybe a fish plate bolt on a train track and crashes into fence along the side of a railroad flatcar. This takes us to just the two minute mark. 

The title pops on the screen "The Lineup" 

Here the credits begin and so does the police procedural. Under the creds we see the switch board getting the call. A unmarked police 1957 Dodge Coronet is speeding up the Embarcadero. We see shots of other responders.  

Tail Fins - 1957 SFPD Dodge Coronet

By the time the Dodge Coronet gets to the scene. there are uniformed cops and an ambulance already there. Lt. Ben Guthrie and Inspector Al Quine get filled in on the details finding out that the dead cop is someone they know. The uniformed cops think the cabbie panicked after the accident and tried to run off. 

Guthrie and Quinn go over and look at the cab. On the seat next to the dead driver is a revolver. Guthrie remarkes that the revolver on the seat knocks out the "he was panicked theory." There's more to this.

Fred Asher another plain clothes detective, comes over and fills in more of the story telling them that a witness, Phillip Dressler, saw the whole think because it was his suitcase that was thrown into the cab. 

Guthrie he wants the suitcase dusted for prints.

After Guthrie and Quine question Dressler, we cut to police headquarters get more procedural sequences, a positive from the FBI gives them the name of the dead driver. Lefty Jenkins.  

He's been in for armed robbery and was know as the best wheelman on the coast. Guthrie asks for a run down on the guy's last know address. The lab man examining the contents of Dressler's suitcase, discovers one of the large figurines is hollow and when they open up the bottom find as plastic bag with pure heroin.

Guthrie decides to replace the heroin with milk sugar and bring the suitcase back to Dressler. They gauge his reactions to their questions ask they go over the contents with Dressler. Dressler is as cool as a cucumber. 

They ask Dressler to be at police headquarters for a lineup of all the porters at work when the incident occurred and then leave the opera house. Quine wants to arrest Dressler for possession, while Guthrie tells him they want to nail every one connected in the ring and he speaking to HQ at a call box, orders a 24 hour tail put on him and also stake out his house. 

They next visit the Customs House where Guthrie complains to the agent that a shipment of heroin got through and two man are dead. The agent tells them there no way they are going to search every traveler because they just don't have enough men, explaining that tourists and travelers unknowingly are carrying contraband in souvenirs and trinkets they buy abroad. This M.O. pretty much squares with what Dressler told them. 

The next morning Dressler is there for the lineup. The Lineup series of course had lineups in there various episodes. 

Here we get a lineup sequence by Siegel and Mohr somewhat reminiscent of the sequences in The Set-Up of the various fans facial expressions and reactions. Other's that comes to mind are the crap game sequence near the end of Mister Buddwing, and the facial expressions between stripper Hot Honey Harlow and her audience of admirers in the club in Lenny.

The Lineup 

We also see a complete typical lineup. The room is basically a raised stage behind which is a backdrop with a painted San Francisco Police Department below which is a scale that displays horizontal lines as height markers by the half foot starting at the four foot height and going to six foot six. Numbers from 1 to 6 in boxes indicated where to stand. 

The rest of the room is for seating. Between seating and lineup stage is a raised dais with a lectern upon which is a lamp and a microphone. 

It's Inspector Al Quine running this sideshow. The first six porters are called in and lined up. Quine calls out each number. He tells them to step forward then give audience a left and right profile.

He repeats this for each. While this is going on we are cutting back and forth to the facial expressions of Dressler and Guthrie, who are sitting in the audience, the apprehensive looks of the porters, and back to Quine giving them instructions. He's also stealing glances at Dressler to see if any of the porters in the line up, sparks some recognition. But it doesn't. 

After the lineup Guthrie is given a memo with an 11 Kent Street address. It's the last known one for Lefty Jenkins, the dead wheelman. Guthrie and Quine drive over in the 1957 Coronet. 

Tail Fins - 1957 SFPD Dodge Coronet 

Lefty's "kit"

At Lefty's flop Guthrie going through the chest of draws finds Lefty's wooden cigar box that holds his "kit." (You probably wouldn't have ever seen this when the MPPC was in full force).

Rubber band wrapped wooden matches, a spoon, an elastic band, cotton swabs, syringe and needle for injecting heroin. 

Lt. Ben Guthrie: You know, one thing bothers me though.

Insp. Al Quine: What's that?

Lt. Ben Guthrie: Why a well-organized operation would have a junkie as a wheelman.

Insp. Al Quine: You know, that could be the mistake that nails 'em, Ben. Folsom's full of mistakes.

Lt. Ben Guthrie: Let's prowl the rest of this place and get out of here.

Insp. Al Quine: I'm in favor of that!

They also find out he had a calendar by the mirror with two dates circled. One was yesterday the 13th the other is tomorrow the 15th. When the lab guys arrive they inform Guthrie that a 901 came over air for him and to call HQ. 

Back out on the street, Guthrie walks to a call box and gets news that the Coast Guard picked up a John Doe in the bay wearing a porters uniform. 

We cut to them on the pier identifying the body as Blinky Sims, one of the porters they actually had in the lineup. Guthrie mentions that it looks they are eliminating each other. Quine replies that there's always too more to take their place.

We are at the 22 minute mark and here we segue to a United Douglas DC-6 from Miami flying over the Golden Gate. 

Here's where we sort of depart from the TV formula and completely change gears. 

We cut to inside the cabin. We zoom out from a book titled "English Grama and Usage." It's held by a man named Dancer. He's a dark haired of average size. Next to him is Julian. Here we get an inane convo between Dancer and Julian over "the subjective" in English grammar. WTF, right? 

But then you realize it's similar to Tarantino's "Royal with cheese" convo between Vincent and Jules in Pulp Fiction, its like a dialog McGuffin. It's not really connected to the plot. It's an example verbal style. Frank Miller has does something similar with the low-rent hitmen Burt Schlubb and Douglas Klum aka "Fat Man and Little Boy, " have comically polite, and often pretentious, discussions about different topics.

They continue to talk about their upcoming day. Julian announces that it's going to be a good day, Dancer disagrees says its going to be a tight one. 

We segue to the driveway of the Bayside Motel, 2011 Bayshore Boulevard on Bayshore Heights a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere pulls to a stop. Sandy McLain, blonde haired looks about 30. The new wheelman.

He gets out of the Belvedere and straightens his jacket. He then pulls a pint bottle out of his inside pocket and takes a swig, before walking over to the motels sidewalk. 

The door he's looking for is right at the end. He knocks. Julian opens the door. He asks Julian if he's Dancer. 

Julian plays dumb, plays along, he follows Sandy out to the car. Dancer then comes out, he asks Sands a leading question about the gang in Chicago. Sandy replies I thought you were from Miami. This diffuses the situation. Sands tells them that Laski sent him because Lefty Jenkins got himself killed and he is his replacement.

This diffuses the situation. Sands tells them that Laski sent him because Lefty Jenkins got himself killed and he is his replacement. At first Dancer complains about the car but Sandy explains he rented it with a fake drivers license, and insurance papers. Dancer is pleased and says "for once we got a cool car."

"For once we got a cool car."

He pulls out an envelope with their money and offers it to Dancer who just ignores it a walks off. Julian takes it.

Back with the police procedural and we are at the morgue. Guthrie, and Quine are with Dressler, looking at the body of Blinky Sims. Dressler agrees that it's probably the porter he saw after Guthrie informs Dressler that Blinky fingerprints match the ones they lifted off his suitcase.

We cut back to Dancer, Julian, and Sandy driving down Illinois Street through Dogpatch, for the meeting at Pier 50 with Staples, the contact who is going to finger the marks for Dancer. 

Sandy McLain: How does it feel to make five G's in one day?

Julian: Dancer derives no particular feeling from it.

Sandy McLain: [Sarcastically] Oh, not too much!

Dancer: [With apparent disdain] I've been watching you. McLain. You've been comin' on big, I don't like that.

Sandy McLain: [Defensively] Look, I just...

Julian: Please, we prefer as little conversation as possible from outsiders. Dancer works better that way. You didn't know before - now you do.

When they get to the pier they park at the end of it. Dancer gets out and approaches a man wearing a hat, hornrims glasses and a trench coat. 

While Dancer is with Staples, Sandy turns to Julian. 

Sandy McLain: [Referring to Dancer] I knew a guy like him once.

Julian: No, you didn't. There's never been a guy like Dancer. He's a wonderful, pure pathological study. He's a psychopath with no inhibitions.

We cut back to Dancer and Staples. Staples pulls a plastic envelope out of his trench coat and tells Dancer to put the heroin in it.

When the passengers start disembarking Staples starts pointing them out, A husband and wife Mr. & Mrs. Sanders. Staples tells Dancer "They live at 2090 Jackson." The heroin has been hidden in the decorative handles of a set of flatware they bought. 

Mr. & Mrs. Sanders

Dorothy Bradshaw and Cindy

The next two he points out is a woman and her daughter. Dorothy Bradshaw and her daughter Cindy. The heroin is in Cindy's geisha doll from Tokyo.  They are checked into the Mark Hopkins Hotel. 

The last mark is a crewmember Larry Warner, He is staying at the Seaman's Club. His package is inside a Tang Dynasty horse from Hong Kong. He's expecting a Mr. Evan's to come to the club to pick it up.

Larry Evans

Back in the Belvedere. 

Julian: Dancer is an addict, an addict with a real big habit.

Sandy McLain: 'H' like in heroin, uh?

Julian: 'H' like in hate.

Sandy acts a bit cocky. 

He pulls out his pint and is taking a swig when it's snatched out of his hand by Julian. Julian calls him a dipso and threatens that if he ever see him with a bottle or even smells it... Sandy replies OK, OK!

Sandy McLain: [after Julian pours out Sandy's booze] Look, I drive better with it, you know. I think better, too. It's like medicine for my mind.

Julian: Your prescription has just been cancelled.

After Dancer picks up all the shipments he's to bring the plastic envelope with the stuff to Sutro's and put it in behind a sliding door in a binnacle that's sitting at the end of the marine observation deck that's overlooking both the ice skating rink and the Pacific at 4:00PM. 

Back in the car Dance tells Julian and Dandy that he wants to look the ground over. He gives the 3 addresses to Sandy, 2090 Jackson, the Mayfair Hotel and the Seaman's Club. 

We cut to the Seaman's Club where Larry Warner is checking in for a room and a steam.  

When our crew pulls up across the street Dancer slips into a phone booth. Dancer dials the desk at the Seaman's Club. He talks to the clerk, and finds out that Warner just checked in and is taking a steam. 

Dancer grabs Julian and they both cross the street and enter the club. They walk right past the un-occupied desk and head upstairs to the steam room.

      

They head to the locker room out side of the steam room. Dancer opens the steam room door and calls out Warner? I'm Evans. Warner tells him to come in for a steam and that he has the horse head up in his room. 

It goes Noirsville when, while in the steam room, Warner tells Dancer that he knows what is in the horse head and that he wants a $1,000 dollars more for smuggling it in. Dancer shoots him with a silencer and he and Julian go up to Evan's room to grab the heroin out of the Tang Dynasty horse.

Noirsville 

 

Steinhart Aquarium 

Siegles film is paced fast and he expertly weaves a typical police procedural into a twisted Film Soleil Noir. We have ablosutely no backstories on anyone. Guthrie and Asher didn't need any since they were both know from the TV series. Quine was a brand new character. We know nothing about Dancer, Julian or Sandy nore of Dorothy Bradshaw and her daughter. That's how you make a Film Noir, SHOW us the story with sparse dialog. 

The trend these days is to not just tell us the story, but also throw in a lot of back story, physcological explainations, etc., etc., this shit drags out modern films to close to two hours in lenght. The Lineup just clicks along and does it in 86 minutes.

Eli Wallach, and Robert Kieth are quite the skin of the teeth, addition to Hollywood Classic Noir stable of villains. A classic pair of enforcers with a twist. Dancer a psychopath and his "coach" Julian. Of course they steal the film. All the rest of the characters are excellent in their various portrayals. For me a 10/10.

Another good Classic Noir that features a lot San Francisco is Women on the Run filmed seven years earlier.