Review of Kansas City Confidential

This movie garners really high votes from Noir lovers but I find it a mediocre segment. The summary provided by jcholguin is dead on as to what happens, so I wont rehash the premise. I found the film good till about the middle (actually before the half way point), than it gets really tiresome fast. The "caper is about 10% at most of the film so for me that was a bummer and thats why so many memorable noir films, the ones we all remember, use the "caper" throughout the film so we can see if it gets pulled off. Here the main point is the lead clearing his already crappy name, big deal. If he was a real bad character maybe thats entertaining but he isn't, he's a nice guy with a bad past. The movie really goes downhill as the only colorful character is exited from the film, that being Elam's character. His lazy eye just fits so well with a guy you don't want to cross because you know he could do anything, but sadly he disappear's about half way through. Van Cleef is another guy who I have interest in watching and in this one he is about as mousy as you can get, he is of no threat like he was in the spaghetti westerns later on, so another major disappointment. The babe is hot but not hot enough to elevate this past mediocre status and the ending is a really "tie up all nicely in that pretty paper" type that will have you yearning to re-watch something like The Killing or The Red Circle. 5 of 10 for Elam and Van Cleef sightings and cause it's noir so it's better than other stuff to watch.