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Highly Overrated But Still Good

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Korea vet and aspiring drummer Mickey Rooney ('Quicksand') gets driven off the road by suave racketeer James Craig ('While The City Sleeps'). To compensate, Craig gives Rooney a job in his bookmaker's room. When the police bust in to the business, Rooney manages to escape and hitches a ride with Sally Forrest ('Mystery Street'), who works at a nightclub owned by William Demarest ('Night Has A Thousand Eyes'). Rooney pays the nightclub a visit and before he knows it, he's switched jobs from the bookie room to the drum kit and has fallen hard for Forrest. Forrest wants a movie career however, so Rooney introduces her to Craig, who has some contacts. But Craig isn't interested in helping Forrest, he just sees another pretty girl to add to his list of conquests. When Rooney confronts Craig about this things quickly fall apart, leading to Craig getting killed, and Forrest nearly dead, and Rooney as the prime suspect...Told in flashback, the movie starts with the discovery of Forrest barely alive on her apartment floor, and during the investigation, the discovery of Craig's body and a gun. Rooney is brought in for interrogation, and he tells his side of the story in flashback. It all sounds like pure noir, until you see the movie, which is also in many ways a musical. Artists and musicians like Louis Armstrong, Vic Damone and Jack Teagarden are given plenty of time to play their music and sing their songs, as a large part of the movie plays out in nightclubs. In fact, one of the songs (sung by hatcheck girl Kay Brown) got the movie an Oscar nomination. Thankfully, unlike some noirs where musical interludes slow down the story, it works rather well here. And seeing Rooney and Forrest showing off their drumming and dancing skills respectively was way more fun than I expected, impressive stuff.But a noir it still is, trust me. People use people and through the flashback structure, there is always tension under the surface as (part of) the outcome is already known to the viewer. And it has a bleak, downbeat, even ironic, ending that firmly establishes this as a noir. Performances are great across the board, helped by the well- written characters and dialogue. The main negative is that the directing by Laszlo Kardos ('The Tijuana Story') and cinematography by Robert Surtees ('Act Of Violence') is good but not very noir or imaginative. Still, that's only a minor quibble, this movie impressed me with its successful blending of noir and musical, the performances and the story. Recommended! 8/10

I am thinking when I look at the scenery here, that these clubs rolling across the screen are clubs that populated the Vegas strip in the late 1940's. The film uses the classic Hollywood flash back technique to tell it's story, film noir style.The problem with the story is the main romance is one sided. The reason behind this is that the girl just doesn't love the drummer. This causes a major drag on the script as the viewer has trouble caring about the main characters because of this.What I enjoy about this most is Louie Armstrong and his orchestra. William Demarest is solid in support but gets just pieces of script to deliver. The music is the best character. The actors and actresses are secondary. I think if the story were better with this cast, this movie could have been more memorable.Instead it comes off as the B feature it surely was. The music is so good that you wind up wishing the film had more than it delivers.

Orson Welles once called Mickey Rooney the most talented person in Hollywood. The multi faceted Rooney could not only sing, act and dance but also played a variety of instruments. With Andy Hardy all grown up and his career on the rocks Rooney calls on his percussionist expertise to get his career beating again in The Strip.After being released from the hospital after the war Stanley Maxton heads for LA to get his career going again as a drummer. Getting into a car accident en-route he meets Sonny Johnson (James Craig ) a bookie who gives him a job taking bets. His desire is to drum though bring's him to Fluff's where he meets dancer/cigarette girl Jane (Sally Forrest) and takes on the job of the house drummer. Sonny visits the club and falls for Jane who in turn gravitates towards him and his abilities to further her career. When Sonny turns up dead Stanley is the prime suspect.Rooney looks amazingly adept and quite convincing behind the drum kit but his performance and the production itself isn't even worth a rim shot never mind a drum roll. Rooney is little more than Andy visits the land of vice with a handful of Louis Stone surrogates to guide him along the way. Rooney lacks the depth as an actor to bring any substance to Maxton. He is still the pining teen from the series. As fatale Sally Forrest is limber but her performance is timber.The film itself is a pasty noir where the technicians seemed to have forgotten to turn off some of the lights to exact mood and intent. It's more Dragnet than expressionist with the most interesting twists and dynamic, the relationship between Sonny and Jane ignored in favor of Mickey's brooding.The film's highlight albeit brief and truncated is the performing of Louis Armstrong's band at Fluff's with precious moments from trombonist Jack Teargarden and pianist Earl Fatha Hines giving excuse enough to avoid this stretch of bad road and turn on the Victrola to listen to these diamonds in the rough instead.

Hollywood's finest are called to investigate two gunshot victims, which leads the police to haul jazz drummer Mickey Rooney (as Stanley "Stan" Maxton) in for questioning… In flashback, Mr. Rooney explains how he became acquainted with wounded Sally Forrest (as Jane Tafford) and dead James Craig (as Delwyn "Sonny" Johnson). After Korean War service, Rooney goes to work for the latter, a successful salesman. When one of Mr. Craig's joints is raided, Rooney escapes in an auto driven by Ms. Forrest. His pretty blonde driver tells Rooney she works as a dancer at the Dixieland nightclub "fluff's" on "The Strip" (Sunset Strip).Rooney goes to see Forrest dance. Wearing those stockings with the eye-catching lines going up the back, Forrest dances up a storm. Then, Rooney shows off his prowess with the sticks (he impersonates a drummer very well), which prompts a job offer from club owner William Demarest (as Fluff). To get close to Forrest, Rooney takes the job. Unfortunately, Rooney winds up being third wheel to the future shooting victims...Louis Armstrong and the musicians are terrific. Mr. Armstrong's rendition of "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was a big R&B and Pop hit during the film's release. Rooney is fun to watch behind the drum set, or breakfast table and piano with Mr. Demarest. And, he and Tommy Rettig (as Artie) have some funny scenes. "The Strip" doesn't know whether to be a musical or a crime drama, but one makes up for what the other lacks.****** The Strip (8/31/51) Leslie Kardos ~ Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest, James Craig