Nobody Lives Forever finds John Garfield as a former Broadway sharpie just discharged from Uncle Sam's Army and sort of at loose ends. He's not sure what he wants to do with himself. Personally I'm kind of surprised he's not taking advantage of the benefits of GI Bill if he's interested in starting over. That's one of the weaknesses of the film.
In the meantime his girlfriend, nightclub singer Faye Emerson has given John the air and taken his money and invested it with her new boy friend Robert Shayne in a nightclub. Disgusted with the way she's two timed him, Garfield and pal George Tobias leave New York and head for the west coast and Los Angeles.
They run into another old time con man Walter Brennan who's now barely scratching a living, but who's heard of big score in the making involving taking recent wealthy widow Geraldine Fitzgerald. The idea is that of another grifter George Coulouris who has no scruples at all about doing what has to be done, but he hasn't got the technique to romance Fitzgerald. That's where Garfield comes in.
Of course he falls for the mark and I think you can see where the rest of this is going. It's not a bad story, but has a few glitches in the script. For one thing when Emerson is reintroduced coming west herself later and setting her to be the one to rat out Garfield's change of heart to the rest, it's clumsily done. Secondly again, not a mention of the GI bill for a returning veteran looking to reinvent himself.
Garfield does make an appealing con man with a conscience and between Fitzgerald and Emerson he was certainly doing all right. Best performance in the film is that of Walter Brennan and given the wide divergence in their politics between Garfield and Brennan, it must have been an interesting set.
Nobody Lives Forever is all right, but it had the potential to be so much better.
In the meantime his girlfriend, nightclub singer Faye Emerson has given John the air and taken his money and invested it with her new boy friend Robert Shayne in a nightclub. Disgusted with the way she's two timed him, Garfield and pal George Tobias leave New York and head for the west coast and Los Angeles.
They run into another old time con man Walter Brennan who's now barely scratching a living, but who's heard of big score in the making involving taking recent wealthy widow Geraldine Fitzgerald. The idea is that of another grifter George Coulouris who has no scruples at all about doing what has to be done, but he hasn't got the technique to romance Fitzgerald. That's where Garfield comes in.
Of course he falls for the mark and I think you can see where the rest of this is going. It's not a bad story, but has a few glitches in the script. For one thing when Emerson is reintroduced coming west herself later and setting her to be the one to rat out Garfield's change of heart to the rest, it's clumsily done. Secondly again, not a mention of the GI bill for a returning veteran looking to reinvent himself.
Garfield does make an appealing con man with a conscience and between Fitzgerald and Emerson he was certainly doing all right. Best performance in the film is that of Walter Brennan and given the wide divergence in their politics between Garfield and Brennan, it must have been an interesting set.
Nobody Lives Forever is all right, but it had the potential to be so much better.