I Walk Alone

Frankie Madison did fourteen years. Before he went in he was partners with Noll Turner, and they shook hands on it: half the take is Frankie's. He comes out to collect. Noll now runs a large nightclub, has incorporated, and has lawyers. Byron Haskin directs. Burt Lancaster plays Frankie and Kirk Douglas plays Noll, with Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey. The best scene is not a fight but a lesson in accounting. When Frankie asks for his share, Noll's bookkeeper explains the corporate structure to him: holding companies, subsidiaries, liabilities. Frankie understands none of it and realises in that moment that he has lost. The passage of organised crime from a handshake to a corporate form is summarised in that one scene. It is the first film Lancaster and Douglas made together. They would appear in seven over the next thirty years, becoming one of the longest running pairings in American cinema. Who it is for: viewers who want forties noir and both actors at the beginning. Who it is not for: the story is predictable and the romantic strand is weak. The film's strength is one idea and a handful of scenes.