Tight Spot purports to be a tense drama about protecting a gangster's moll pulled out of prison to testify for the prosecution. They picked a tough, no-nonsense director, Phil Karlson, whose offbeat rhythms and offhand brutality made movies like 99 River Street, Kansas City Confidential and The Phenix City Story such memorable installments in the noir cycle. But somehow Tight Spot turned into a quick-and-dirty "return" vehicle for its star, Ginger Rogers.
She was the wrong choice. Quite visibly beyond the first flush of youth -- not to mention the second or the third -- she plays a slangy diamond-in-the-rough but can't bring it off (an ingenue like Jan Sterling would have been perfect in the part). In consequence, we're locked in a hotel suite with Rogers and Brian Keith, a police detective assigned to protect her, while Rogers develops her "character" at tedious length.
Meanwhile, a vital plot development gets postponed, disastrously skewing the movie's arc of tension (even the solidly reliable Edward G. Robinson can't get it taut again). Karlson can be depended on to deliver some swift thrills, but Rogers, who 15 years earlier could have tossed off a cool, expert performance, ends up sinking the whole enterprise.
She was the wrong choice. Quite visibly beyond the first flush of youth -- not to mention the second or the third -- she plays a slangy diamond-in-the-rough but can't bring it off (an ingenue like Jan Sterling would have been perfect in the part). In consequence, we're locked in a hotel suite with Rogers and Brian Keith, a police detective assigned to protect her, while Rogers develops her "character" at tedious length.
Meanwhile, a vital plot development gets postponed, disastrously skewing the movie's arc of tension (even the solidly reliable Edward G. Robinson can't get it taut again). Karlson can be depended on to deliver some swift thrills, but Rogers, who 15 years earlier could have tossed off a cool, expert performance, ends up sinking the whole enterprise.