Where the Sidewalk Ends

Where the Sidewalk Ends is a gritty noir from 1950, directed by Otto Preminger and written by Ben Hecht. It takes a differing point of view--instead of a private eye, crook, or some other vantage point, our antihero is a cop. Now, there are lots of so-called noirs with cops as heroes, but in my mind those are not really noirs, because the protagonist of a noir should be in moral doubt. Here that definition is fulfilled, because the cop is also a murderer.

He's Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews), a detective who uses his fists a little too often. After getting a warning from his chief to lay off, he is trying to solve a murder that took place at a floating crap game. The suspect (Craig Stevens) slugs Andrews, who hits him back. Unfortunately, it's a punch that kills.

Andrews disposes of the body in the river and wants to frame it on an old nemesis of his, Gary Merrill, the guy running the gambling parlor. But the person who gets arrested is a harmless old taxi driver. To make things further complicated for Andrews, he's sweet on the old guy's daughter, Gene Tierney, who happened to be married to the guy Andrews killed. He doesn't want her father to go to jail, but he also doesn't want to confess to the crime.

Where the Sidewalk Ends is interesting because of this great set-up. Andrews really plays a very conflicted guy. His father was a crook, so he kind of has it in for all crooks, thus is quick with his dukes. Also, his father was the guy who set up Merrill in business in the first place.

But there's something missing from the film and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's that Tierney plays the "good girl," unlike the femme fatale she plays in Laura, involving the same talent. The relationship between the two of them didn't ring true. Oh, it's easy to see why Andrews would like her--she's beautiful and seemingly without a flaw. But her attraction to him seems too easy. A guy should have to work a lot harder to get a girl like that.

Still, this is a true noir and is shot like one, with some location shooting in New York City and a great opening credit with the leads and the name of the film written out in chalk on the sidewalk.