The Long Wait (1954)

The Long Wait (1954)

starring Anthony Quinn, Gene Evans, Peggie Castle, Mary Ellen Kay

directed by Victor Saville

94 minutes

Johnny McBride (Anthony Quinn) loses his memory in a car accident. Two years pass and he still has yet to figure out who he was before the accident. Following a trail of information that begins (unknown to him) with a picture from a wanted poster, Johnny makes his way to Lyncastle. There he quickly finds out that he is wanted for murder. He beats the murder rap but he still doesn't remember who he is.

Johnny gets involved with four different women in Lyncastle, one of whom might be Vera, his long lost love whom he only knows by name. He has a picture of her from a few years ago but he learns that she had appearance altered leaving everyone in the dark as to which one of the four women is Vera. Servo (Gene Evans), the mob boss who runs everything in Lyncastle, hopes that Johnny will inadvertently lead him to Vera, who has something that Servo wants.

Servo eventually gets tired of the chase. He captures and threatens to kill or torture all four women, since he can't figure out which one is Vera. Johnny is forced to come forward and risk his own life rather than have one or more of the women get killed.

Thoughts

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

This film is based on a book written by Mickey Spillane but it is not a Mike Hammer story.

The fact that the main character has amnesia and suspects that most people he meets may be lying to him make this movie complicated enough. Add to that the four women and that ratchets up the potential confusion even more. One of them must be Vera, but which one? Are they trying to play him, too?

I enjoyed this movie but I wouldn't say that it is required viewing. It's okay. It pushes things a little too much and isn't grounded enough to fully satisfy me. Not bad but not great.

Notes

I've seen Anthony Quinn in a number of other movies including (in recent years) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Across 110th Street (1972).

Gene Evans was the star of a couple movies that I've seen, Park Row (1952) and The Steel Helmet (1951), both of which were directed by Sam Fuller. He made uncredited appearances in a couple other movies I've seen at Noir City DC in recent years: Storm Warning (1951) and Armored Car Robbery (1950). He appeared in one episode each of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

The only other movie in which Peggie Castle appeared that I have seen is 99 River Street (1953).