The Long Wait 1954-by Mickey Spillane-Anthony Quinn

Directed by Victor Saville

Written by Lesser Samuels from the novel by Mickey Spillane

Photographed by Franz Planer

Starring Anthony Quinn, Gene Evans, Charles Coburn, Peggie Castle



On a dark road a hitch-hiker gets picked up by a trucker. The truck crashes, the hitch-hiker burns his hands trying to rescue the driver. The trauma of the crash gives him amnesia. He doesn't know who he is. He gets a job on an oil rig. After he's fired for assaulting a co-worker one thing leads to another and he finds out he's from the town of Lyncastle. As soon as he hits town the cops pick him up on a 2 year old murder rap. He now has a name, Johnny McBride. He allegedly stole $250,000 from the bank he was working at and killed the DA. The cops can't hold him because his fingerprints were burned off! So he sets off to ask some questions and get some answers. He rubs some people the wrong way especially casino owner and all around sleaze bag Servo. It turns out that McBride's co-worker/girlfriend Vera split after the heist, got plastic surgery, changed her name and returned to Lyncastle. There's four women who could be Vera. So of course Johnny has to seduce all of them to find out who the real Vera is! One of the few people who believe in him is his former boss Gardiner, the president of the bank. He offers him money to leave town after all the trouble he's caused. He of course refuses. By this point Servo has had enough, gets all the "Vera's" together to find out who the real one is to trap Johnny. This leads to a violent conclusion and a not too surprising ending.



This comes fairly late in the noir cycle with the typical misogynistic Spillane touches. It's strikingly photographed by Franz Planer and has a seedy atmosphere and a brutality typical of films of this type. Quinn does well in the role of Johnny as does Gene Evans playing Servo. It's a minor noir to be sure, but worth a look if you can find it.