Raw Deal (1948)

Raw Deal (1948)

starring Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt

directed by Anthony Mann

79 minutes

Pat (Claire Trevor) helps Joe (Dennis O'Keefe), her boyfriend, break out of prison. They have to abandon their car when it runs out of gas. They turn to Ann (Marsha Hunt), Joe's attorney for help. She tries to encourage Joe to return to prison but that's out of the question as far as he and Pat are concerned.

Joe and Pat take Marsha with them as they head for San Francisco. They have tickets on a ship that's headed to South America. Joe has plans to stop and see Rick (Joe's business partner who managed to evade capture when Joe went to prison) on his way to Frisco. Rick hears about Joe's escape from prison and sends some of his men to kill Joe.

Joe and Ann complicate things further by falling in love. Pat is not on board with Ann's affection for her man. Rick captures Ann just as Joe and Pat are about to leave for South America, complicating things a little more. 

Thoughts

I saw this movie as part of the 2025 edition of the Noir City DC film festival.

There was narration by Pat at times during this movie.

I've seen Dennis O'Keefe in a few other films but this is the first one in which he was the star or has a prominent role.

I've seen Claire Trevor in a number of other films, at least three of which I saw at previous iterations of Noir City DC: Born to Kill (1947) in 2022, Key Largo (1948) in 2023, and That Velvet Touch (1948) also in 2023.

I believe this is the first movie that Marsha Hunt has been in that I have seen.

Rick was played by Raymond Burr. I've seen him in plenty of other movies including at least two that I saw at previous iterations of Noir City DC: Sleep, My Love (1948) and Ruthless (1948) both in 2023.

I liked bits and pieces of this movie but on the whole I wasn't crazy about it. Joe wasn't a particularly likeable to redeemable character. Ann (as the character caught in the middle of the Joe and Pat's attempt to flee the country) should have been the main character in this movie. That's the movie that I would rather have seen.