"Drive A Crooked Road" With JK - Pt. III

Hey!

Buckle up for Part III of our look at Jack Kelly in Drive A Crooked Road:

Eddie floors the souped-up getaway car through the desert, with Steve and Harold hanging on for dear life. He makes the run in the prescribed time (22 minutes), and he and the bank robbers part company after splitting the loot.

Back at his rooming house, Eddie phones Barbara. But, there's no answer.  

Barbara is at the beach house. Steve hands her a plane ticket to New York, expecting her to be glad the bank job was a success and they can start a new life with their ill-gotten gain.

Barbara isn't glad, however. She still regrets leading Eddie on and getting him mixed up in Steve's scheme. She wishes she could at least tell Eddie "good-bye". Steve callously dismisses her concern for "the midget". 

Suddenly, Eddie shows up at the door. Steve tells Barbara to hide.

Eddie explains to Steve that Barbara's landlady said she'd moved away. He couldn't believe she would just leave without telling him. Steve tells Eddie he hasn't seen Barbara and warns him to stay away. 

But, Barbara shows herself and tells Eddie the whole sordid truth, including the fact that he was targeted from the start and that she never really loved him.

"You've been had, Mr. Shannon," Harold interjects. 

Steve suddenly pulls a gun. Barbara's show of remorse is a death sentence for Eddie, since Steve fears he'll now tell the police about the robbery.

Barbara pleads for Eddie's life as Harold drags him toward the door, but Steve tells her, "You killed him--you killed him when you walked into this room."

Harold hustles Eddie outside and forces him at gunpoint to remove the car from the garage.

The uncropped version of this exact still from the Kellection
was used in Linda Alexander's print biography of Jack Kelly

Then, Harold tells Eddie to start driving very slowly up the highway.

He taunts Eddie: "C'mon, Shannon, you must be thinking about dying."

This gives Eddie an idea. He swerves the car towards the beach. It rolls down an embankment and flips over. Only one man survives the crash...

Drive A Crooked Road concludes with Steve ending up dead in the surf and the police closing in as Eddie comforts a hysterical Barbara on the beach.

Most of the reviews and publicity at the time of the film's release focused on the "new" Mickey Rooney, who abandoned his usual wisecracking screen persona to play "a lonely little guy who thinks with his heart". 

Jack Kelly dishes out the wisecracks in Drive A Crooked Road. He expertly portrays handsome Harold as the snarky accomplice to Steve's slick mastermind. But, when Harold is tasked with taking out Eddie at the end of the film, JK chillingly reveals the menace behind Harold's mirth. 

TRIVIA:

• Working titles for Drive A Crooked Road were Speedy Shannon and The Little Giant.
• Although now considered a film noir classic, Drive A Crooked Road wasn't a box office hit. Columnist Louella Parsons named it the "sleeper" movie of 1954, lamenting "Few people saw this, and more the pity."
• The screenplay was written by Blake Edwards, who would direct JK in the "Safe Journey" episode of The Star and the Story television series in 1954
• Also in 1954, JK and Dianne Foster appeared in the feature film The Bamboo Prison. In 1955, they appeared in The Violent Men starring Glenn Ford. 
• Like JK, several members of the supporting cast also had successful TV careers. Jerry Paris went on to co-star in The Dick Van Dyke Show and later directed episodes of that series as well as Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. Paul Picerni become one of The Untouchables. And, Harry Landers was a regular on the Ben Casey TV series.
• And: You can watch Drive A Crooked Road right here! (Be sure to stick around for the original theatrical trailer at the end.) NOTE: If the video doesn't appear on the mobile version of this post, it can be viewed on the web version.

Well, that's all for our Drive with JK. Where will TDS travel to next? Please stay tuned and find out! :)