Second Chance

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Trailer—Second Chance

Second Chance

Pretty good suspense-noir-romance in 3D, not quite an A and not quite a B, with prizefighter Robert Mitchum agonizing over having killed a rival in the ring (shades of Golden Boy) while he pursues moll Linda Darnell, who is pursued by amorous hit man Jack Palance, all running around streets in unnamed Mexican tourist towns. The racial stereotyping is a bit thick, and the screenplay isn't exactly overflowing with fresh situations or good lines. But there's plenty of local color, and an exciting climax aboard a disabled cable car. The stunts are impressive, Darnell's typically beautiful, and Bob Mitchum doing his sexy-laconic-sarcastic thing was always something to behold.

Rather dire star-vehicle for Robert Mitchum and Linda Darnell. Gangster's girl in South America, anxious to turn herself over to the police and release incriminating evidence to Washington officials against her boyfriend, instead finds herself on the run from the mobster's murderous stooge (whom she's also apparently been involved with!). She uses a smitten professional boxer from the States to get the thug off her tail, but he's relentless and they all end up in a crippled cable car suspended perilously over the valley. Muddled script by Oscar Millard and Sydney Boehm, from D.M. Marshman Jr.'s original treatment, makes a particular mess of the relationship between breathless Darnell and good-guy Mitchum (she's such a complete blank anyway, it's confounding why Mitchum would even give her the time of day). The climax is well-directed (if visually unconvincing), there's a colorful wedding celebration with fireworks, and Jack Palance is a menacing heavy. ** from ****

The long climax of this film occurs in a stranded cable car high over the mountains of a fictional Latin American vacationers' paradise; without benefit of the 3-D process in which the movie was originally shot, it seems fairly routine, even for its day. Beyond that, the film can be considered "noir" only by the most generous definition. It's basically a south-of-the-border romantic adventure between prizefighter Robert Mitchum and bad-girl-gone-good Linda Darnell, with Jack Palance as (of course) the heavy. Not a total waste of time if you find it on TV and have not much else to do, but definitely nothing to go out of your way for (and I've seen out-of-print videos going for $70!).