Double Deal (1950) User Reviews

Tough, watchable second feature

[goblinhairedguy · 6/10 · 30 October 2005]

How many B-films start with a stranger hopping off a bus in a lonely town, sidling into the local bar, sliding up to the femme fatale, and getting up to his neck in trouble? In this version, the hero (Richard Denning) google-eyes Marie Windsor's frame, breaks up a crooked dice game, and finds himself embroiled in an internecine oil-wildcatting war. It's a potboiler, but very watchable thanks to a decent plot, sharp dialog, and especially the offbeat characters and tried-and-true B-list performers who play them. Unfortunately, like most low-rent films of the time, the visual quality is only a couple of notches above TV, and most scenes are pretty static until the breakneck climax.

Miss Windsor gets a softer role than usual here; it's Fay Baker who scores the man-eating ice-queen role. Best of all are Jim Hayward as a world-weary bartender (talking like a Ben Hecht creation), and Tom B. Henry (of the formidable proboscis) as a hardboiled but fair sheriff. Oh, and a pet monkey plays deus ex machina.

Good noir has some unexpected twists and some provocative situations

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 29 June 2013]

Now this film does have its faults and plot holes - an able-bodied able-minded engineer in post-war America (Richard Denning as "Buzz") who is living life as a drifter in need of a job, an alcoholic lawyer, not practicing for years who doesn't have the money for a drink or a smoke but DOES have a home and plenty of food AND an exotic pet, and plenty of people turning up murdered and yet the police who are apparently not corrupt can't figure out who has done what but really do enjoy slapping suspects around.

The story revolves around a feuding brother (Reno) and sister (Lilly). Lilly inherited three oil wells, and brother Reno inherited just one, yet Lilly wants Reno's well too because Reno shot Lilly's fiancé in an argument over gambling. It was judged a justifiable shooting, but considering how poor the legal system works in this town, maybe Lilly has a point with her legal dissatisfaction. Buzz agrees to help Reno bring in his well...in a small town where the sister is known to cause trouble of both the economic and physical kind for anybody who gets in her way? In 1950 why didn't he just get a job with an oil company? Because then we'd have no story.

This film is very sexually provocative for 1950, considering the production code was still in full force. My assumption was that Terry and Reno were husband and wife - they are in and out of each other's hotel rooms without knocking and just give off that impression. But they are not married. The conclusions are unspoken but inevitable. Also, wealthy vindictive sister Lilly seems to be married to somebody who has lost her interest and respect. Well, he (James Griffith as Walter) has lost her interest and respect, but they are not married either although Walter is apparently living at Lilly's home. Again the conclusions are unspoken but inevitable. Also, Lilly seems to be laying every man in town who is involved in the oil business. This is apparently how she keeps them under her thumb - that and money. Don't these guys ever compare notes or do they care? Again, quite sexually frank for 1950.

Don't let the clichés in the opening moments of the film fool you - things are not as they appear. I'd recommend this one as a good but not great film noir.

The monkey was the best thing in it

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 22 August 2021]

I don't know why, but I didn't enjoy this film. Kudos to those who did and found more in it than I did.

Double Deal from 1950 is a B movie that stars two actors I really like, Richard Denning and Marie Windsor. The story concerns a brother-sister fight; the sister, Lilly (Fay Baker) inherited three wells from dad, while Reno (Carleton Young) inherited one, and so far, it hasn't produced anything.

Reno killed Lilly's fiance in a fight; thus the adversarial relationship. Lilly is a powerful woman, and she wants Reno's well. She doesn't care how she gets it.

Reno is killed, and Terry (Windsor) inherits the well. She hires Buzz (Denning), who has experience with wells, to bring in this one. The two have an obvious attraction to one another.

Double Deal contains sexual innuendo, though you have to read between the lines. Reno and Terry seem to have been sleeping together,. Lilly is either married to or shacked up with a man (James Griffith - kind of a poor man's Zachary Scott). However, it's evident Lilly is sleeping around to get matters concerning the oil business going her way.

The drunken attorney (Taylor Holmes) seems like he's a homeless bum, except he isn't - he has an exotic monkey for a pet, lives in a house, and still conducts business. The monkey, Pipi, at one point emerges a hero.

I love noirs, Denning is rugged and handsome, Windsor a talented actress, and Pipi adorable, but I just couldn't get into this film.

Good Little Potboiler

[dougdoepke · 27 June 2013]

The material here would have made a fine noir had it been made by a visual stylist; and coming from the Mecca of noir, RKO, I'm surprised at the straightforward filming. After all, many icons of noir are already present—the lonely bus, the seedy bar, the penniless male lead, and, of course, the queen of slutty vamps, Marie Windsor. Except here, she's playing a good girl, of all things, a role a thousand lesser actresses could have handled.

Nonetheless, it's a good little potboiler that manages to avoid many clichés of its kind. Everybody's conniving to get hold of an oil well that has gusher potential, including good guy Denning. But I'm especially impressed by Fay Baker who makes a scary hard-nosed villainess, plotting as ruthlessly as the men. The cast itself is full of colorful characters, especially Taylor Holmes who can't pass up anything that's spelled a-l-c-o-h-o-l. The script also includes a good surprise ending I didn't see coming. All in all, the 70-minutes is better than most programmers of the time, even if the great Marie Windsor is wasted.

A decent B picture.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 27 November 2017]

You can tell that "Double Deal" is a B-movie. At a little over one hour and a cast of mostly B-list actors, it's clearly meant as a second feature. However, it's a pretty good film regardless.

When the story begins, Buzz Doyle (Richard Denning) arrives in town and soon ends up working for a guy who is trying to strike oil. But, oddly, the man's biggest rival is his very own sister and she seems willing to do just about anything to ensure that the well comes up dry. First, she tries to hire away Buzz and when he won't throw in his lot with her, she has him beaten. Is this the end of it? Nope...soon folks start dying.

The film offers an excellent and unexpected twist ending. My only complaint is one of logistics...why would the killer bother to take Terry (Marie Windsor) to his place to kill her? Why not just kill her where he abducted her and be done with it? Oh, well...it ain't perfect...but it is still pretty good.

By the way, if you don't recognize Denning, he played the Governor of Hawaii during the entire run of the original "Hawaii Five-O". He also starred as Lucille Ball's husband in the very successful radio show "My Favorite Husband"...the show that was later re-tooled into "I Love Lucy"...minus Denning, of course.

The monkey saves the day

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 23 July 2013]

****SPOILERS*** it's when unemployed oil engineer Buzz Doyle, Richard Denning, buzzes into Richfield City on a Greyhound bus he expects to find some work in that oil town only to get himself involved in a family squabble between Lilly and her brother Reno Sabastian, Fay Baker & Carleton Young, over what else oil! It's Lilly and her lover boy boyfriend the oily Walter Karnes James Griffith, who want to grab Reno's oil well in that if it doesn't start pumping out the black gold within 45 days she can buy him out.

As for Buzz he gets involved with bar-girl Terry Miller, Marie Windsor, who's moonlights as Reno's personal secretary at the oil well as well as having an affair with him. It doesn't take long for Terry to fall for the handsome Buzz whom she convinces to stay at Richfield City and work for Reano as his new oil engineer. This has Lilly and Karnes get a number of local goons to make trouble at Reno's well to keep his oil well from going into operation in time before the fore-closer order from the bank kicks in. It also has Lilly drop the oil drenched looking Kerans in order to hit on to the tall blond and handsome Buzz who in fact wants to have nothing to do with her. It's when Buzz finds Reno murdered in his hotel room that he realizes that the fix or frame is in to get him out of the way and have Lilly have a free hand in his oil well and the land that it's on! Which in fact she's been illegally pumping the oil from her wells under her late brother Reno's property.

****SPOILERS*** It's late in the movie that the real man behind all this killing and oil manipulating make his appearance and that's when the monkey, Pipi, the real hero in the movie goes into action. With Buzz already framed, and later exonerated, for one murder that of Reno Sabastian he's now framed for a second one, that of Walter Karnes, and soon to be in line for a third frame-up that of his lover and partner in the oil well Terry Miller! But it's the cute little monkey Pipi's the pet of old oil prospector C.D Corpus Mills, Taylor Holmes, who saved both Buzz and Terry's lives and most of all,after those of us watching were about to fall asleep, the movie as well!

I'll Oilwells love you

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 30 March 2024]

Richard Denning (Buzz) rides into a small oil town and heads to the nearest bar looking for work. Bingo! That was easy. He's got a job. Seemingly, he is an engineering expert capable of turning a profit for an oil rig with a lame past as well as providing muscle against sabotage. It's a good CV! He eyes up Marie Windsor (Terry) on their first meeting and you sense that love is in the air. He is not subtle about it - ha ha! Well, there is a bad element in town, of course, in the form of ruthless businesswoman Fay Baker (Lilly) and she has her eyes on the oil rig for herself. Well, some bodies pile up and there are murders to solve.

It's an alright film to watch, made interesting by the role of Fay Baker. She is excellent and very memorable as the town's top girl. You don't mess with her. We needed more scenes with her. Marie Windsor starts the film off in a hard-edged manner but seems to soften towards the end, and you look forward to the showdown that you know will come at some point between Baker and Windsor. The audience is just waiting for that Joan Collins v Linda Evans Dynasty catfight. As the film is set in the world of oilfields, it will make you think of the Dallas/Dynasty days.

Set against this is the very dreadful character of the town's drunk lawyer Taylor Holmes (Corpus). Yeah, we get it - he's drunk all the time. Why are there so many scenes with him being drunk and unfunny? One scene really tests the patience when he is making a meal with his stupid pet monkey. No need for this scene at all - it is not endearing as it is obviously supposed to be. Well, I guess he is relevant to the story. By the way, this film has a twist that I guarantee you will not expect.

"I'll Oilwells love you" sang the great Dolly Parton on one of her 1960s albums.

Oklahoma oil fields takes on Texas tea.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 20 December 2020]

This enjoyable programmer is a precursor to "Dallas" that had women in charge and as rivals over an Oklahoma oil well which leads to murder. Marie Windsor inherits an oil well which upsets local interests and leads to the murder of one of the top men (Carleton Young) and creates a war with neighbor Faye Baker who will stop at nothing to claim the well for herself, being the sister of the man who left Windsor the oil rights in his will. Windsor finds aide in handsome Richard Denning who must really step up when Windsor is made the top suspect in Young's murder...and one more.

There are several possibilities of how this will turn out and there's several other villains to aide in stirring things up, most notably the slimy looking James Griffith, set up as Baker's accomplice, a relationship that is obviously doomed to change to bitter enemies. Baker, a busy character actress of the 1950's and 60's (best known to me as Bette Davis's greedy sister in "The Star"), is quite unforgettable as a rather nasty piece of work, and when Windsor confronts her, watch for what appears to be a slap. A cute little chirping monkey steals every scene it is in although its presence is pretty pointless. Still, a nice lower half of a double bill, enjoyable for what it is, but resolving the plot a good reel before the film is over.

A perfect little "B" movie

[howdymax · 8/10 · 14 August 2000]

This movie should have been titled "Triple Deal". It has a dozen plot twists, some very surprising sexual overtones, and a totally unexpected ending. This is the kind of perfect "B" that will never be made again. Richard Denning, Marie Windsor, Taylor Holmes, and James Griffith - all reliable "B" players we have learned to appreciate over the years. It is movies like this that make us mourn the studio system.

All my favorite actors and cliches!

[outofthepast · 8/10 · 11 June 2000]

Marie Windsor and Richard Denning as "Buzz" pair up to bring in her oil well against the forces at be.Great quickie with actors who have all been in heavier fare.Cheesy dialogue,fist fights,gunplay,sexual tension and plot twists keep this trash-daddy moving at a clip pace in glorious black & white.At times the actors seemed amused as they delivered their lines.Dark and serious oil field trash film see Stark Fear with Beverly Garland.

Marie Windsor makes a deal

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 17 December 2022]

After Howard Hughes took over the studio in 1948, RKO's product significantly declined. Hughes was too busy ferreting out suspected and known communists in Hollywood to focus on quality storytelling. Occasionally, an independently made gem like this film would come along.

DOUBLE DEAL was shot at RKO and exhibited by the studio, but it was made by a fledgling outfit called Bel-Air. From 1950 to 1957, Bel-Air Productions turned out about thirty B films, usually action dramas.

Marie Windsor is cast in the lead, in what would be her first starring role. Typically she played femme fatales in noir or outlaw women in westerns for which she developed a cult following. Here she's assigned a more sympathetic character, a secretary who realizes her boss is a shady dealer. She quits her job and realigns her loyalties with a man (Carleton Young) who is sweet on her. He needs her help in getting a well to come in on time, before his lease expires.

At the same time Windsor meets Richard Denning, a handsome drifter who arrives in her sleepy Oklahoma oil town. Denning loses money gambling and needs to find work. He hits it off with Windsor, and she secures employment for him with Young.

Meanwhile Young's bad girl sister (Fay Baker in scene-stealing mode) covets the well and angles to get her hands on the land. We are told that brother and sister had a falling out after their rich father died.

An argument led to Young accidentally killing Baker's boyfriend. She's never gotten over it and is unable to forgive him for what happened. Instead, her cold heart is set on vengeance.

Though this is just a 65-minute potboiler with a modest budget, the story is quite ambitious. It is a tale of epic greed, Shakespearean style, and could easily have been expanded into a two-hour A-budget offering.

Windsor, Denning and Baker all shine in their respective roles. But the picture probably belongs to character actor Taylor Holmes who appears as a drunken old lawyer. As the tale unfolds, Windsor and Denning toil to bring in a gusher, while a series of murders occur. First, Young is bumped off then Baker. Another minor character also meets up with the grim reaper.

In a surprise twist, the lawyer is unmasked as the killer, and we learn he originally held the leases to the oil wells in Richfield. As soon as he gets rid of everyone else, it will all revert back to him. However, a gambling man would be smart to place a bet on Windsor to foil those plans.