He Walked by Night . Austin Chronicle . 02-23-98

He Walked by Night

DIRECTED BY: Alfred Werker

REVIEWED: 02-23-98

Basehart, in his first film role, plays Roy Martin, an ingenious thief who is also quite unbalanced. He shoots a policeman who catches him breaking into an electronics store and takes off through the storm drain system beneath Los Angeles. Later, Martin tries to sell some stolen electronics gear, but evades capture again; his skills at intercepting police radio calls and changing his appearance keep him one step ahead of the cops. He's finally brought to ground in a lengthy chase through the storm sewers, chased down like a rat, but not before baiting the police and slipping through their dragnet several times. Basehart excels in his screen debut as the utterly alienated Roy; he lives alone with no friends except for a little dog, digs a police bullet out of his own body with no anesthetic, and prowls the L.A. streets alone at night. His bland looks and persona hide a brilliant sociopathic personality while enabling him to fade easily into any crowd, almost like a prototype Travis Bickle without the Jodie Foster fixation. He Walked by Night's terse dialogue and police-procedural style are perfectly tailored for Jack Webb's matter-of-fact characterization; indeed, it seems like a blueprint for the Dragnet TV series, showing off state-of-the-art police technology (like the newly-developed Identikit for composite drawings of suspects). The story, unsurprisingly, was taken from an LAPD case, and despite shortcomings in the areas of character development and story, this movie's strong suit is in its overall look; John Alton provided very dramatic camera work and lighting, especially considering the low budget and tight shooting schedule. Alton and Anthony Mann would later strike up a profitable partnership in the minor noir classics T-Men and Railroaded.

--Jerry Renshaw

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