Dane Clark, who was often thought of as a bit of a lesser John Garfield is cast here as Michael Gordon, an easy going painter from California who one day seeks out one Laurie Rogers (Alexi Smith) who has just bought a painting of his at Sam's Café, a local watering hole which Gordon often frequents. It's quite clear that Laurie is hiding something and is quite reluctant to get involved with the happy-go-lucky painter but they then after a very brief tryst with Gordon immediately falling head over heels for the mysterious woman he's just met.
Laurie promptly disappears with Gordon finding one clue to her whereabouts-that she mailed Gordon's painting to a doctor living back in New York City. So what does Gordon do? Of course traipses all the way cross country to the Big Apple where he's unable to make contact with the mysterious doctor nor find any sign of Laurie.
When Gordon finally discovers Laurie who is a singer at a nightclub, he's devastated to learn she's already married to a paralyzed former boxer Rex Durant (Zachary Scott). Durant appears to be a fearful mobster despite his obvious handicap.
Now here is where the film makes little sense. Gordon is so angry with Laurie that he accepts Laurie's husband's offer to become a pugilist in Durant's boxing stable. Gordon, the moral character that he is, knows that Durant is completely unsavory but just to punish Laurie (and I guess it's a punishment because it's obvious that Laurie hates her husband and wants nothing to do with him), he trains to the point where he ends up as a contender for the middleweight crown (and beholden to Durant all the while).
Gordon makes no inquiries until much later in the narrative in which he finally discovers that Laurie is trapped in the marriage due to circumstances surrounding Durant's accident. Durant became paralyzed while driving a car with Laurie. Afterward, Laurie's brother Dr. Arnold Vincent (Jeffrey Lyon), the man Laurie mailed Gordon's painting to, operated on Durant but was unable to save him from being paralyzed. Durant blamed the doctor for his ensuing handicap and threatened to sue Vincent unless Laurie stayed with him.
Funny how Gordon takes so long to find all this out and in the middle of his middleweight crown bout almost loses to his opponent because he now feels guilty over how he treated Laurie. Nonetheless, due to a previous wager with Durant in which he bet that if he won the bout, Laurie would be free to divorce the former scoundrel of a pugilist.
The climax is a bit of a twist in which Laurie's brother plays the role of sacrificial lamb. He's shot and killed by Durant's thug but manages to return fire, kill the thug and push Durant down a ramp in which he and his wheelchair promptly plow into a passing car.
Naturally there's a fairy tale ending in which the gruff Gordon takes up painting again back in California (I never believed for a minute that tough guy Dane could be a painter)-and it's Laurie who shows back up falling into his arms.
Whiplash features the unusual character of a man in a wheelchair as the primary villain so in that respect it grabs our interest. Scott isn't bad as the dastardly Durant and the principals-Dane (when he's playing a boxer) and the troubled Smith (under the thumb of an embittered husband) manage to provide enough variety in their respective roles to also hold our interest (but I certainly didn't buy how Gordon falls so easily in and out of love with Laurie).
Whiplash is worth at last one viewing despite the protagonist's unconvincing machinations after he learns his love interest is married.
Laurie promptly disappears with Gordon finding one clue to her whereabouts-that she mailed Gordon's painting to a doctor living back in New York City. So what does Gordon do? Of course traipses all the way cross country to the Big Apple where he's unable to make contact with the mysterious doctor nor find any sign of Laurie.
When Gordon finally discovers Laurie who is a singer at a nightclub, he's devastated to learn she's already married to a paralyzed former boxer Rex Durant (Zachary Scott). Durant appears to be a fearful mobster despite his obvious handicap.
Now here is where the film makes little sense. Gordon is so angry with Laurie that he accepts Laurie's husband's offer to become a pugilist in Durant's boxing stable. Gordon, the moral character that he is, knows that Durant is completely unsavory but just to punish Laurie (and I guess it's a punishment because it's obvious that Laurie hates her husband and wants nothing to do with him), he trains to the point where he ends up as a contender for the middleweight crown (and beholden to Durant all the while).
Gordon makes no inquiries until much later in the narrative in which he finally discovers that Laurie is trapped in the marriage due to circumstances surrounding Durant's accident. Durant became paralyzed while driving a car with Laurie. Afterward, Laurie's brother Dr. Arnold Vincent (Jeffrey Lyon), the man Laurie mailed Gordon's painting to, operated on Durant but was unable to save him from being paralyzed. Durant blamed the doctor for his ensuing handicap and threatened to sue Vincent unless Laurie stayed with him.
Funny how Gordon takes so long to find all this out and in the middle of his middleweight crown bout almost loses to his opponent because he now feels guilty over how he treated Laurie. Nonetheless, due to a previous wager with Durant in which he bet that if he won the bout, Laurie would be free to divorce the former scoundrel of a pugilist.
The climax is a bit of a twist in which Laurie's brother plays the role of sacrificial lamb. He's shot and killed by Durant's thug but manages to return fire, kill the thug and push Durant down a ramp in which he and his wheelchair promptly plow into a passing car.
Naturally there's a fairy tale ending in which the gruff Gordon takes up painting again back in California (I never believed for a minute that tough guy Dane could be a painter)-and it's Laurie who shows back up falling into his arms.
Whiplash features the unusual character of a man in a wheelchair as the primary villain so in that respect it grabs our interest. Scott isn't bad as the dastardly Durant and the principals-Dane (when he's playing a boxer) and the troubled Smith (under the thumb of an embittered husband) manage to provide enough variety in their respective roles to also hold our interest (but I certainly didn't buy how Gordon falls so easily in and out of love with Laurie).
Whiplash is worth at last one viewing despite the protagonist's unconvincing machinations after he learns his love interest is married.