Fallguy (1962)

Director: Donn Harling

Writers: Richard DeLong, George Mitchell

Composer: Jaime Mendoza-Nava

Starring: Ed Dugan, George Mitchell, Louis Gartner, Don Alderette, Madeline Frances, Rex Anthony, Wes Carlson, Fabian Dean, George DeMoss, Liz DeMoss, Linda Dietrich, Bernard Freedman, James Judge, Robert Levey, Mary Louise Lyons, Dean mcMahon, Dick O'Neill, Tiiu Parli, Stanton Prichard, Robert Stilson Jr., Gregg Stuart, Milton Sussnow, Joan Yarborough, Ben Young

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Syndicate vice traps the innocent and makes him the...Fallguy

Plot: A teenager trying to help an accident victim finds himself enmeshed in political corruption and racketeering and charged with a murder he didn't commit.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

It's alright.  The acting isn't all that great and sometimes poor but it's decently paced and the running time of 62 minutes is a huge plus.  I guess it's no surprise that Ed Dugan, who played the titular character of Sonny, has only one film credit.  The same goes for director/producer, Donn Harling and most everyone else in the picture.  Co-writer DeLong did go on to write the very good picture, THE RED TENT (1969) (WONDERFUL score by Ennio Morricone). The story is OK, too, but there isn't much to wright home about except for Jaime Mendoza-Nava's  great little jazzy score with the jogging low piano keys.  It reminded me of some of Elmer Bernstein's 50s jazz scores like THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) and countless TV crime shows of the era.  FALLGUY is a minor noir crime picture made on a smaller budget that won't inspire or hurt you for killing an hour some lazy afternoon.  This is one of six off the beaten path crime pictures as part of a DVD set from Something Weird Video called WEIRD-NOIR.  I've got one more to go to finish this excellent set.  Fans of the genre will need to have this in their collection.  It's a neat little set.