Borderline

No actress played "Cheap Broad" better than Claire Trevor. She is the high point in this film. In this film she is a high class dame pretending to be a "cheap Broad", and she manages to do with with little to no help from the script. Fred MacMurray plays a character who is both a romantic lead, and an apparent bad guy. His character is radically different from the character he played on "my Three Sons". Raymond Burr plays a very convincing villain. His character is also very different from the character he played on "Perry Mason". The weak point in this film is "Mexico", or at least Hollywood's concept of Mexico in 1950. The location shots are actually filmed in the Greater Los Angeles area - in areas which look nothing at all like Baja California. This film also is very contrary in its portrayal of Latino characters - especially Latinas. Many of the characters are not people but rather cartoon-ish characters.

This is a bland little crime drama that screams for a decent story line and script. Two undercover agents(Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor)try to bust up a drug-smuggling ring in Mexico. The two not knowing the real identity of the other end up falling in love. MacMurray proves he can play any kind of role. Trevor seems out of place and wrong for the part. Raymond Burr plays a heavy in more ways than one. Also in the cast are: Jose Torvay, Roy Roberts and Don Diamond.

Is it a comedy or a film noir? Not much of a film noir even though the video jacket called it a noir classic. It wasn't. A weak premise and certainly not what one would expect of noir. Once you read the video jacket, you already know the story line and there is no suspense.

Want to see Perry Mason playing a bad guy, and before he got fat? Want to see old cars? Humorous aside: some of the cars are 'new' (1949, 1950) for the movie, some of the cars are purposely 'old' (1930's and 40's, the Mexican sheriff drives a Model T truck) for the movie. Of course by today's standards, they're all OLD. Otherwise, there isn't much reason to watch this movie. (Wait, one scene, at the airport, you can see 'new' airplanes that are of course old now). Has one of the worst cabaret scenes imaginable. Claire (who has apparently bribed one of the chorus girls to take her place) tries to hook up with Raymond Burr, but he's not interested so she settles for one of his henchmen. Plot is pretty thin (and partially copied from It Happened one Night) and the scene near the end of "I'm a cop, you're under arrest...No, I'm a cop and YOU'RE under arrest...No, I'M a cop, wait, we're BOTH cops?" is entirely too long and drawn out.

"Borderline" tries to be a lot of things. Romantic comedy, film noir, comedy of errors, gangster film, and more. Unfortunately it does not succeed at any of these genres. Led by Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor, who have absolutely no chemistry together, this film suffers from an identity crisis. Film starts out on a serious note, story about drugs being smuggled over the border. Then Claire Trevor acts as though she thinks she's in "Hellzapoppin'". Broad, over the top, and just not right for the part. From there we meet Fred MacMurray who is only slightly more interesting. Yes, there are some humorous moments, but nowhere near enough to be able to recommend seeing this film. 5 out of 10

After a good start, this crime drama gets bogged down from time to time, and ends up being just average, or perhaps slightly above average. Besides the interesting story setup, it features a good core cast, with Claire Trevor getting a good role that allows her to play a variety of material, Raymond Burr well-cast as a brutish villain, and Fred MacMurray. The story starts with Trevor as a police officer working undercover in Mexico. Her initial dealings with Burr and MacMurray set up some interesting possibilities, and create some suspense from the start. The rest of the story is not really bad, but it too often allows the pace to stagnate, and it does not make the best use of some of the possibilities. Aside from a couple of good scenes, it plays out in a more routine fashion. "Borderline" is still worth seeing for fans of the genre. Besides the main story, it has some occasional comic touches that come across all right. If it ends up seeming like a bit of a disappointment, it is simply because it showed signs of becoming something better than it turned out to be.

Hi, Everyone, I bought the DVD of Borderline at the 99 Cent Store. One buck for the movie makes it low cost but also there is no menu or chapters to make it easy to find a specific place in the movie. There are some fun moments in the film. If you are an old car buff, you will see a 1939 Buick (pushed front end first into a shallow ravine), a 1949 Mercury, an old Nash and other vintage cars and trucks and buses. Some mistakes from the movie include at the 45 minute point, Fred MacMurray looks into his rear view mirror (39 Buick) to see a motorcycle cop who is chasing him. The only problem is there is no rear view mirror. It was common in these old movies to remove the rear view mirror at the top of the inside of the windshield so the camera could see the driver and the passengers in the car. At 76 minutes into the movie watch the 1949 Mercury as it comes toward the camera and merges with traffic. It is supposed to be a convertible with 2 people inside. This is a stock footage insert of a '49 Mercury 4 door sedan with one person inside. Two excellent scenes to watch for include a plane landing beautifully on a beach and taxiing up to the camera (63 minutes into the film), and a scene where a dead man is in the back seat of Fred MacMurray's car. The man playing the corpse keeps his eyes wide open for what seems like a minute or longer without blinking. That is at the 44 minute spot in the movie. The story is OK. It straddles somewhere between comedy and serious detective chase film. A better Raymond Burr movie might be "Rear Window." Fred MacMurray was more memorable in "Double Indemnity." Tom Willett

"Borderline" is a 1950 film that's just that - borderline good, borderline noir, borderline funny, borderline - well, just borderline. Though it stars Fred MacMurray, Claire Trevor and Raymond Burr, you'll come away with the impression (possibly true) that once the big stars came home from the war, MacMurray's services were no longer needed and that Trevor, like so many wonderful Hollywood actresses, had passed 30 and was now diving for roles. It's a story about two undercover cops - one Fed, one local - after a major drug dealer (Burr). Neither knows the other's true identity as they fall in love. This is the kind of film RKO could do with one hand tied behind its back - put Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell or Jane Greer in it and you can see it working just fine. Why? The MacMurray role is perfect for Mitchum's tongue-in-cheek, lazy delivery, and Russell, who crackles with him, could give as good as she got. Their presence guarantees you'll have smiles and romance mixed in with your suspense. But here, the chemistry is off. Neither actor is quite right for their role. MacMurray plays it too straight while Trevor is off doing another movie. The film never establishes what it is - drama, comedy, what, so the viewer is constantly off-balance. Disappointing, though Raymond Burr is plenty menacing as the drug dealer.

Clare Trevor had decorated many films in a range of roles which commonly portrayed her as a tough broad. She was able to assure her husband, producer Milton Bren, that she was also qualified to perform in comedic parts, and the result is his bankrolling of this action-comedy hybrid: BORDERLINE, which features Fred MacMurray and Trevor as undercover narcotics operatives working for different agencies with the same target, but unaware of each other's placement. The film just misses working on both levels of drama and comedy; the scenario by veteran Hollywood light musical scriptor Devery Freeman cuts its chances, but improves during the second half. MacMurray, generally unrecognized as a cinema tough guy, shines and teams well with Trevor, who in fact does demonstrate that she can do light comedy.

Barely Watchable Misfire that Waivers Wildly Between Crime Thriller and Comedy. The Cast does Their Best with this Lame Material and the Film Lacks Any Style Whatsoever. It is a Dated Movie that may have a Few Amusing Scenes and a Line or Two of some Good Wordplay but Overall it is a Mess. There is One Embarrassment After Another. In the Opening a Lady Cop Fights to be Accepted in a Man's World. A Nightclub Song and Dance that is as Irritating as what goes on during the Scene as Lady Cop makes Advances Toward Raymond Burr, the Criminal Mastermind. A Bedroom Scene with Claire Trevor's Lady Cop Pulling a Gun on Fred MacMurray for what Might be a Pass. Last, but not THE Last Uncomfortable Scene is a Rest Stop at a Mexican't Home. Just Awful. On the Positive Side, there is Actually Mention of the Word DRUGS, but Only Once, the Rest of the Time it is Referred to as Stuff. A Sadistic Interrogation Scene, and the Mention of a Truth Serum, a Tabloid Headline After the War that had some Interest about Human Rights. But that's it, Move Along, there is Very Little of Interest here.