The Lineup (film)


The Lineup is a 1958 American film noir version of the police procedural series of the same title that ran on CBS radio from 1950 until 1953, and on CBS television from 1954 until 1960. The film was directed by Don Siegel. It features a number of scenes shot on location in San Francisco during the late 1950s, including shots of the Embarcadero Freeway, the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, the War Memorial Opera House, the Mark Hopkins Hotel, and Sutro Baths.

Plot

An international drug-smuggling racket plants heroin on unsuspecting American tourists traveling from Asia, so that the dope can pass through customs undetected. A killer, Dancer, led by his mentor Julian, and their driver McLain then collect the contraband. Lt. Ben Guthrie leads the police hunt for the criminals. The head of the heroin ring is a person known only as "The Man".
An American tourist disembarking in San Francisco from a cruise ship returning from Hong Kong has his bag stolen by a porter, who throws the bag into a cab. As the cabbie takes off at high speed he runs down a police officer, who, before he dies, is able to fire his gun at the fugitive. The cab driver crashes and dies. A police investigation discovers that the cabbie was a heroin addict, and was working for a heroin smuggling ring.
Dancer and Julian have instructions to retrieve the heroin from the unsuspecting tourists and deliver it to a drop point at Sutro's Museum where the bag containing the heroin is to be left inside an antique ship's binnacle. Dancer and Julian are instructed by their contact, Staples, that they must make the drop and be gone before 4:05 pm. Dancer kills two people as he collects the heroin: a seaman who demands a share, and a suspicious servant who refuses to hand over a drug container. When it turns out that two of the tourists - Dorothy Bradshaw and her young daughter, Cynthia - had unknowingly disposed of the heroin, Dancer and Julian are in a bind; if they drop off the bag with a large portion of the heroin missing, their lives may be in danger. Dancer and Julian decide that instead of leaving the bag and departing the premises by 4:05, Dancer will stay, meet The Man and explain why the shipment is short. Dancer and Julian kidnap Dorothy and Cynthia and bring them to Sutro's so they can back up the story.
When Dancer meets The Man in the museum, the mastermind is in a wheelchair and apparently disabled. Dancer explains himself, and The Man's reaction is to tell Dancer that "nobody ever sees me," and that because Dancer has seen him, he "is dead". The Man slaps Dancer across the face with the bag of heroin and Dancer, enraged, pushes The Man off a balcony, killing him.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco police have spotted the getaway car with Julian, McLain, and the kidnapped Dorothy and Cynthia. When Dancer exits Sutro's, a high speed car chase ensues in the area of The Embarcadero. When the car becomes trapped at a barrier on the Embarcadero Freeway, Dancer first shoots his accomplice to death, holding the girl hostage, then tries to flee. He is shot by the police and falls off the bridge.

Cast

In the film, Warner Anderson and Marshall Reed reprise their roles as Lieutenant Ben Guthrie and Inspector Fred Asher from the TV series. However, Tom Tully's character, Inspector Matt Grebb, is replaced by Inspector Al Quine, played by Emile Meyer. Tully, the series co-star, was not in the film. Anderson, the series star, was given co-star billing instead of star billing; star billing was given to Wallach, who played the movie's main villain.

Reception

Varietys review called it a "moderately exciting melodrama" that spends too much time on the police procedural aspects. Time Out described it as "more brutal, sadistic and threatening" than The Killers. Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader called it "a major B movie by one of Hollywood's most accomplished craftsmen".
The Lineup was preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in conjunction with Sony Pictures, in 1997.

Style and Theme

Film critic Manny Farber comments on Siegel's cinematic approach to The Lineup:
Farber notes Siegel's "sad reliance on edgy Broadway acting" in particular "Eli Wallach overworking his nervous leering eyes." Biographer Judith M. Kass observes that The Line-up "embodies all the characteristics" informing Siegel's assessment of the "normal" world. Kass writes:

In popular culture

The film contains the line, "When you live outside the law, you have to eliminate dishonesty," of which Jonathan Lethem writes that "Bob Dylan heard it…, cleaned it up a little, and inserted it into 'Absolutely Sweet Marie'".