Probably the most brutal and certainly one of the best of the docudramas popular in the forties and fifties and dealing with crime in American cities, "The Phenix City Story" begins as a piece of pure photo-journalism as journalist Clete Roberts introduces some of the real-life people whose stories shape the events of the movie.
It's fundamentally a B-Movie that sets out to condemn vice and violence by showing it and it's photographed with enough documentary-like realism to hit home, mostly in the streets where the action took place. Also by using actors who were not exactly 'names', (John McIntire, in a rare leading role, was probably the best known face), adds to the feeling that everything we see is the Real McCoy. A critical success, (Martin Scorsese rates it among his favourite films), it has now achieved cult status.
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