The Phenix City Story

The Phenix City Story is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Phil Karlson[3] for Allied Artists, written by Daniel Mainwaring and Crane Wilbur and starring John McIntire, Richard Kiley and Kathryn Grant.[4] It had an unusual "triple premiere" held on July 19, 1955[5] in Phenix City, Alabama, Columbus, Georgia and Chicago, Illinois (the AFI incorrectly lists the date as July 9).

The Phenix City Story
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPhil Karlson
Produced bySamuel Bischoff
David Diamond
Screenplay byDaniel Mainwaring
Crane Wilbur
StarringJohn McIntire
Richard Kiley
Kathryn Grant
Music byHarry Sukman
CinematographyHarry Neumann
Edited byGeorge White
Production
company
Distributed byAllied Artists Pictures
Release date
  • August 14, 1955 (1955-08-14) (United States)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$350,000[1]
Box office$2.2 million (US)[2]

Plot

In a corrupt Alabama town near the Army's Fort Benning, the law can do little to stop the criminal activities of Rhett Tanner, particularly in the wide-open "red-light district" area known for prostitution, taverns, and crooked gambling. Most of the police do not even try, since they are on Tanner's payroll.

Local attorney, Albert "Pat" Patterson, initially neutral and complacent, is urged to run for State Attorney General and clean up Phenix City, but he wants no part of a thankless, impossible job. He is content to welcome home his son John from military service. However, soon violence breaks out trying to silence the reform-minded citizens committee. John gets caught in the middle when Clem Wilson, a thug who works for Tanner, and others assault innocent citizens.

Patterson finally agrees to get involved in reforming the town, but as soon as he is elected nominee, he is killed. It is up to John to avenge his father, but his own family ends up at risk.

Cast

Production

The film depicts the real-life 1954 assassination of Albert Patterson, who had just been nominated as the Democratic candidate for Alabama Attorney General on a platform of cleaning up Phenix City, a city controlled by organized crime. Patterson was murdered in Phenix City, and the subsequent outcry resulted in the imposition of martial law by the state government. Some prints of the film include a 13-minute newsreel-style preface including newsman Clete Roberts interviewing many of the actual participants.

Reception

Critical response

When the film was released in 1955, Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times, gave it a positive review, writing, "In a style of dramatic documentation that is as sharp and sure as was that of On the Waterfront--or, for a more appropriate comparison, that of the memorable All the King's Men--scriptwriters Crane Wilbur and Dan Mainwaring and director Phil Karlson expose the raw tissue of corruption and terrorism in an American city that is steeped in vice. They catch in slashing, searching glimpses the shrewd chicanery of evil men, the callousness and baseness of their puppets and the dread and silence of local citizens. And, through a series of excellent performances, topped by that of John McIntyre as the eventually martyred crusader, they show the sinew and the bone of those who strive for decent things."[6]

Film critic Bruce Eder wrote, "One of the most violent and realistic crime films of the 1950s, The Phenix City Story pulses with the bracing energy of actual life captured on the screen in its establishing shots and key scenes, and punctuates that background with explosively filmed action scenes. Director Phil Karlson showed just how good he was at merging well-told screen drama with vivid verisimilitude and leaving no seams to show where they joined. Filmed on location in Alabama with a documentary-like look, the movie captured the ambiance and tenor of its Deep South setting better than almost any other fact-based movie of its era."[7]

Accuracy

Ray Jenkins, one of the two reporters who covered the Phenix City story for the Columbus Ledger, whose coverage won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, has contended that the film departed significantly from reality. Jenkins writes, "For starters, the film was a rush job intended to capture public interest while the story was still unfolding. As a result, the film leaves the impression that the local mafia that ran the vice industry in Phenix City killed Albert Patterson. Subsequent indictments and trials demonstrated beyond doubt that the assassination was politically motivated. Also, the film depicts an inflammatory scene in which the mob kills a young black girl and tosses the body onto the lawn of the Patterson home as a warning. Nothing remotely like this episode actually happened."[8]

Legacy

In 2019, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[9][10]

In other media

It was also featured in the 1995 documentary film A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies.[11]

DVD release

Warner Bros. released the film on DVD on July 13, 2010, in its Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 5.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Raw Headlines Box Office Bait, Per 'Phenix'". Variety. November 23, 1955. p. 1. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  2. 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956
  3. TV Guide
  4. TCM.com
  5. Motion Picture Daily, July 11, 1955
  6. Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, "Sin in the South; The Phenix City Story Has Debut at State," September 3, 1955. Last accessed: February 23, 2008.
  7. Eder, Bruce. The Phenix City Story at AllMovie.
  8. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ray Jenkins dies at 89|Ledger-Enqurier
  9. Chow, Andrew R. (December 11, 2019). "See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks". Time. New York, NY. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  10. 'Purple Rain', 'Clerks', 'Old Yeller' among National Film Registry's class of 2019 - The Chicago Sun Times
  11. Worshippers at the church of cinema|Film|The Guardian
  12. Abrams, Simon. "Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume 5." SlantMagazine.com. July 20, 2010. Accessed 2011-11-19.
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