The Long Wait (1954)

Director: Victor Saville

Writers: Mickey Spillane, Alan Green, Lesser Samuels

Composer: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Starring: Anthony Quinn, Charles Cobern, Gene Evans, Peggie Castle, Mary Ellen Kay, Shirley Patterson, Dolores Donlon, Barry Kelley, James Millican, Bruno VeSota, Jay Adler, John Damler, Frank Marlowe

More info: IMDb

Tagline: Three Thrill-Hungry Dames Played Me For A Sucker...Now it's my turn!

Plot: An amnesiac finally learns his true identity...as a murder suspect. And he doesn't even know whether he is guilty.

My rating: 6.5/10

Will I watch it again?  No.

Would you believe that this was Quinn's almost 70th picture and he still wasn't a star by this point?  It'd be about another ten years before that would happen.  Well, he was well cast in the starring roll in this flick.  He was pretty good at playing a tough guy with a more sensitive side.  The slower pacing brings the picture down a bit.  It's only a 90 picture but it easily feels like two hours.  Everyone does a fine job and there are some nice shots but it doesn't quite add up to being great.  The thing about the story is (which is both good and bad) Johnny (Quinn) has amnesia and he's trying to figure out what really happened and who the players are in the bank robbery and murder he's been fingered for.  So he's in the dark as much as the audience but there's also a lot of searching and questions along the way before he knows the truth.  I found it interesting to a point but it felt a little long in the tooth.  By the end I was glad it was finally over but I felt satisfied.