Broderick Crawford (1911-1986)

The essence of fifties masculinity.

�My trademarks are a hoarse, grating voice and the face of a retired pugilist � small, narrowed eyes set in puffy features which look as though they might, years ago, have lost on points.�

Dispensing justice in The Mob (1951).

�You get lost for years inside this business. You watch people making mistakes about you and there�s nothing you can do about it. They told me out here I wasn�t the type to play Lennie in the picture [Of Mice and Men, 1939], so I became a B-picture thug at Paramount, for years, working with Lloyd Nolan and J. Carrol Naish, who were also lost, who were as talented as actors get, and who cared?� (1956 article in Pageant)

As Chief Dan Mathews on TV�s Highway Patrol (1955-1959).

�...back in the days when I was really learning my trade, I could ride on the subway and study people for a day at a time, and remember the little things, movements and moods that made me understand some man I�d never see again. All that went into my memory, and I could call it up when I needed it. That may be a kind of technique. And the rough time you have when a character is soaking into you, and making you inarticulate, heavy, dumb, until he grows big and firm enough inside you to take over.� (1956 article in Pageant)

Eyeing his Academy Award for All the King�s Men (1949).

�I�m a happy fella. I work, I play. I do what I want to, practically. I like a few people very much. I like to roam around with them. Very much. A few bucks in my pocket, the phone rings, off we go. The bullfights in Tijuana, Vegas, the beach. I like all kinds of exercise. There are games a guy can play for years and years.� (1956 article in Pageant)

Under Neville Brand�s gun in The Mob (1951).

[On Hollywood parties] �I don�t go to them anymore. When people tell you they saw your last picture, well, the way they say it sounds like they hope it was.� (1957 article in TV Guide)

Having a smoke in between saying �10-4.�

[On Highway Patrol] �They told me what they had in mind and in five minutes I knew it was for me. Frankly, I was glad to go on the side of the good boys for a change. I had had enough of playing gunmen, goons, morons and meatballs.� (1959 article in Men Only)

Asserting his authority over William Talman and Ralph Meeker in Big House U.S.A. (1955).

�F*** with me and you�re f***ing with dynamite. My mother always said be ready, so I start the night before. My father, who broke my nose the first time because I failed to call him �sir,� told me, �Son, in a bar or a theater, always look for the exit � and hold it down to beer when working. But when it�s cocktail time, stand back!� � (1971 article in TV Guide)

Looking deceptively benign.

�I got it figured. Now write this down, it�s a prepared statement like Nixon. You live your life, I�ll live mine. I�m too young for Medicare and too old for broads to care. I collect antiques. Why? Because they�re beautiful. The prop men can see me coming. They know I�ll steal anything with a mark on it.� (1971 article in TV Guide)

My favorite Broderick Crawford films: Black Angel (1946), All the King's Men (1949), Convicted (1950), The Mob (1950), Born Yesterday (1950), Scandal Sheet (1952), Down Three Dark Streets (1954), Big House U.S.A. (1955), New York Confidential (1955), Il Bidone (1955), The Fastest Gun Alive (1956), Convicts 4 (1962)

Big House, U.S.A. (1955) - Film Locations

Royal Gorge Park in Colorado

The film Big House, U.S.A. (1955) has more holes in the story than a pair of fishnet stockings but the cast of characters and location photography make this documentary style prison film, maybe not irresistible, but tempting to look at. Bad boys Ralph Meeker, Broderick Crawford, Lon Chaney Jr. and a young, buff Charles Bronson headline this story set in the Canon City/Royal Gorge Park area of Colorado, but the real star of the film is the Colorado landscape.

The story starts at a Colorado camp where a young boy, the son of a wealthy father, has run away. A park-wide search for the boy begins but it's Meeker who is hiking through the park that discovers the boy first. Instead of returning the boy, Meeker brings him to an empty lookout tower where he holds the boy until he can get a $200,000 ransom. Once Meeker receives the money he buries it in the park. When he returns to the boy he finds that the boy has fallen out of the tower and died. Meeker throws the body of the boy off a cliff and goes on the lam. While leaving the Royal Gorge Park Meeker is stopped by law enforcement and brought in for questioning. The FBI gets involved but cannot convict Meeker of kidnapping so he is sentenced to five years for extortion and sent to Casabel Island Prison. It's in prison where Meeker meets Crawford, Chaney Jr., and Bronson. Together this group of tough guys plan to break out of prison and travel back to the Colorado park to dig up the buried ransom money.

One of the landmarks of Royal Gorge Park is a suspension bridge that hangs 956 feet high and spans a quarter mile across a large canyon, often referred to as the "Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River." The Royal Gorge Bridge is featured heavily in Big House, U.S.A.  The bridge can be seen during the opening credits and often as a backdrop in many scenes.

Royal Gorge Bridge as seen in the opening of the film.

Photo from RoyalGorgeBridge.com

Another view of the bridge as seen in the film.

Contemporary view of the bridge from the blog Mountains Rule.

Near the bridge is a theme park with rides and a visitors center which includes shops and a restaurant. I'm sure many of the theme park attractions came along after the film was made, but there was a restaurant which can be seen in one scene. In the scene below Willis Bouchey who plays the missing boy's father is seen talking to one of the park rangers near the Royal Gorge Park restaurant, the "Royal Grill."

Willis Bouchey talks with a Ranger near 

the Royal Gorge Park restaurant.

A contemporary view of the Royal Gorge Bridge looking

over the visitors center. Photo from The Romanian Dream blog.

Willis Bouchey inside the Royal Grill.

A contemporary view of the Royal Grill restaurant.

Visitors at the Royal Gorge restaurant.

During the FBI's investigation, an agent visits a shop in Canon City, Colorado where a shopkeeper is questioned about a kidnapping suspect. The shop is located on Main Street near North 5th Street. What in the film looks like a general store now appears to be Emmerson Furniture Store.

A cop car drives down Main Street in Canon City, Co.

Looking down Main Street towards N. 5th Street in Canon City.

In another scene, special agent James Madden (Reed Hadley) visits a school where he tries to dig up some information from one of the students. The school is Canon City Middle School, formerly Canon City High School. The address is 1215 Main Street, Canon City.

Reed Hadley questions a student at Canon City High School.

Canon City Middle School, formerly the High School.

Big House, U.S.A. will be showing on the big screen at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood on Thursday, April 26 at 7:30pm as part of the Noir City: Hollywood, 14th Annual Festival of Film Noir. The film is the second part of a double-feature. The first film is Caged (1950), another prison film but with women behind bars. Like Big House, U.S.A., Caged features a stellar cast which includes Agnes Moorehead, Hope Emerson, Betty Garde, Jan Sterling, Lee Patrick, and Jane Darwell. 

Have you ever visited Royal Gorge Park or crossed the Royal Gorge Bridge?

Down Three Dark Streets (1954) - Film Locations

Down Three Dark Streets (1954) stars Broderick Crawford as John Ripley, an FBI agent who takes on three unrelated cases in hopes that one will lead to the killer of his fellow agent. As with so many 1950s crime films, this one was done in a documentary style, with a heavy use of voice-over. I feel this technique makes the film less thrilling but overall the film still works as an entertaining  mystery. What's most attractive about this film is its use of location photography, including scenes at Los Angeles's Subway Terminal (yes, LA had a subway in the 1950s),  downtown Los Angeles, and the Hollywood Sign.

The establishing shot for the Los Angeles branch of the FBI, as seen in the screenshot below, includes LA's iconic City Hall building on the right and the District Court building on the left. As you can see in the comparison photo, this location hasn't changed much. That isn't the case with some of the other locations.

District Court building on left. City Hall on right.

The District Court and City Hall buildings as they appear today.

Before FBI agent Zack Stewart (Kenneth Tobey) is shot and killed and Crawford takes over his cases, Stewart pays a visit to Ohrbach's department store on Wilshire Boulevard where he intends to meet a woman named Kate Martel (Ruth Roman), a victim of an extortionist. Ohrbach's was located where the Museum Square area is today. Below is a screenshot of Stewart walking up to Ohrbach's, a vintage postcard looking down Wilshire Boulevard with a view of the art deco Desmond's building in the background, and a Google Street View showing the same view as it appears today. If you look closely you can still see the Desmond's department store tower in the background of the Google Street View.

Stewart visits Ohrbach's department store.

Ohrbach's department store on Wilshire Boulevard, LA.

What is left of Ohrbach's department store on left.

In another scene, Crawford visits Connie Anderson (Martha Hyer), the girlfriend of one of the men Stewart was investigating at her apartment in West Hollywood. Hyer's apartment building is the Colonial House located at 1416 Havenhurst Drive. This building, built in 1930, recently had a three bedroom condo for sale listed for $2,150,000 so it doesn't come cheap. Below is a screenshot of the entrance of the Colonial House, a contemporary view of the entrance and a Bing Bird's Eye view of the building. 

Crawford and partner approach the Colonial House.

Colonial House, 1416 Havenhurst Drive, West Hollywood

Bird's Eye View of the Colonial House

The screenshot below is a view looking down North Broadway towards West Temple Street. The Law Building can be seen on the right. On the far left you can see the corner of the Los Angeles Hall of Justice building. In the contemporary image you will see that The Law building and the building directly across the street are both demolished. The old Los Angeles Hall of Justice Building, although closed, is still standing.

Looking down Broadway towards Temple. 

Hall of Justice far left. Law Building on right.

Looking down Broadway towards Temple.

Hall of Justice on left. Law building on right now replaced.

In another downtown Los Angeles scene FBI agents follow Hyer on her way to the subway. In the screenshot below we get a glimpse of Hill Street at Fourth Street. For comparison I've included a historic image of the intersection from the Los Angeles Library Photo Collection which shows the domed Brighton Hotel on the northeast corner and the Hotel Sherman on the southeast corner. Below that is a contemporary view of the intersection. You can see nothing is really left. The whole intersection is completely different.

Looking down Hill Street towards Fourth Street.

Hill Street at Fourth Street.

Looking down Hill Street at Fourth Street as it appears today.

When Hyer boards the subway at the downtown Los Angeles Subway Terminal Building, she sneaks onto a train headed for Glendale. That train comes above ground at the Toluca Portal near 279 S. Toluca Street. The portal has now been sealed up and the train line has been completely blocked by the construction of a new building. Below is a screenshot from the film showing the train exiting the tunnel, a contemporary look of the tunnel as it appears today looking from Toluca Street, and a Bing Bird's Eye View showing the building that now stands directly in front of the tunnel.

Hyer rides the train through the Toluca Portal.

Looking at what is left of the Toluca Portal.

The portal (top center) blocked by a large building.

Once the train goes above ground it follows the path of Glendale Boulevard. In the screenshot below the train goes under the Beverly bridge near the intersection of Glendale Boulevard and 2nd Street.

The Beverly Bridge. Glendale Blvd @ 2nd Street

The Beverly Bridge as it appears today.

In the next scene the train continues down Glendale Boulevard. In the screenshot below the train approaches the intersection of Glendale Blvd and Court Street. What's amazing to see is how the skyline has changed so much since 1954. In the background of the screenshot you cannot see even one high-rise building.  In the contemporary image you can see all the modern office tower buildings in the background.

Glendale Blvd at Court Street

Looking down Glendale Blvd at Court Street as it appears today.

In the next scene the camera changes directions and looks down the other direction of Glendale Boulevard, still near Court Street, towards the 101 freeway in the distance.

Looking down Glendale Blvd from Court Street.

Looking down Glendale Blvd from Court St towards the 101 freeway.

The finale of the film all takes place in the Hollywood Hills near the famous Hollywood sign. Crawford is hot on the trail of the killer of his fellow agent who also happens to be the extortionist. The screenshot below shows the intersection of Westshire Drive near Beachwood Drive just a short distance below the Hollywood sign.

Westshire Drive at Beachwood Drive as seen in the film.

Westshire Drive at Beachwood Drive as it appears today.

Crawford learns that the killer as at the Hollywood sign.

Down Three Dark Streets is an alright film that is worth watching if for nothing else, the time capsule look at Los Angeles in the 1950s. My favorite scenes are those showing the old Subway Terminal Building and the shots of the train passing through the Toluca Portal. Down Three Dark Streets is available on DVD and is also currently available as a Netflix Watch Instantly title.

Your thoughts?

All Street View images (c) 2011 Google Street View, Pictometry Bird's Eye (c) 2010 Pictometry International Corp.