A good little bit of escapism here as gangster Richard Conte stows away on a fishng boat to escape from a police cordon only to discover that he loves the life of a fisherman. It's a topline cast with Richard Conte, Charles Bickford, Shelley Winters, Stephen McNally and John McIntyre. We'll forget about the other guy who plays Bickford's son who is just plain lousy as an actor. Just three things I'd like to comment on. Bickford's Swedish accent, civil rights violations and the special effects. Firstly, much has been said from ither reviewers about Bickford's poor Swedish accent. Well, accents are accents and can vary from person to person. Who says he has to have a perfect Swedish accent? He's a sailor and may have spent some time in Ireland or Rome and had his accent corrupted before making his way back to San Francisco, right?. Secondly, Conte cannot get into his girlfriend's building when she is not home. The main door is locked and the premises protected by intercom security. But the policeman detective McNally simply opens the door and walks in, not just to the apartment block but into her apartment itself through an unlocked door. Surely an invasion of civil liberties. I just hope this is something that never catches on in our western democracies. I know they can stop you in the street anytime they like and search you (also an invasion of civil liberties in my opinion), but not just to walk in to your home and start giving you the third degree. When she tells him she's 23 he says "You're pretty old for 23, aren't you?" Not onky a violator of civil rights and police orocedure , he's also a rude cop! The third thing I'd like to comment on is the storm sequence near the end of the movie where Conte drowns in saving the life of the (lousy actor) son. . What a great piece of special effects this was! I wish I had been there on the set to see just how they did this! Did they turn the fire hoses on the actors to create the effect of the rain and bucketing seas? Did they do it in just one take or did it require several takes to get it just right. Can you see the director saying to the drenched actors, "We'll have to do that again, Richard, Charles, you guys are not wet enough!"
Review of The Raging Tide
