The Last Installment (1945) User Reviews

A tad preachy but excellent in spite of this.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 November 2013]

This installment of the Crime Does Not Pay series begins in prison. A young punk (Cameron Mitchell) is looking forward to returning to a life of crime after his release. Much of this is because while he was in prison, he entertained himself by reading about the exploits of a big-time gangster of the roaring twenties--'Bull Moose' Brannigan (Walter Slade). And the film then goes through a long series of flashbacks showing Brannigan's exploits. However, the soon to be paroled man has not yet finished the story--and the warden invites him in to his office to let him know the rest of the story.

While this film is a bit preachier than most, it is clearly violent and the sort of thing that hearkens back to the best films in the series that were made in the 1930s. During the war years, most of these shorts dipped in quality. But with the war practically won, MGM returned to making crime films about crime! Well worth seeing and entertaining.

Well, Not Forever

[boblipton · 6/10 · 25 August 2020]

Cameron Mitchell is on a two-year vacation courtesy of the Bureau of Prisons. As his time nears its end, he enjoys reading about Bull Moose Brannigan, a very successful criminal of the 1920s. When his cell mate tells him there's a place in the gang after he gets out, Cameron thinks about it, while the audience sees the career of Brannigan on the screen.

During the War, MGM's CRIME DOES NOT PAY series had a lot of war work, worrying its audience about sabotage and spies and such like. Even so, there was the occasional episode that hearkened back to its roots, looking to warn its audience that the straight and narrow path was the best one. This is a pretty good episode with that message.

Trite entry in the "Crime Does Not Pay" series...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 29 June 2010]

The only reason I watched this episode of the series was to see CAMERON MITCHELL in his first screen role. He's hardly in it--only at the start and finish--but narrates most of it.

He's in jail about to be released and still thinks the life of a gangster can be a glamorous one. He reads all about the exploits of one of his favorite criminals--and in the end, is shown what has happened to that "glamorous" creature who is now a sad relic of the man he used to be. This, supposedly, convinces Mitchell to go straight once he's released.

It's totally unconvincing and fails to make its point with any distinction. Definitely one of the weakest entries I've ever seen in this so-so documentary series, never subtle in its approach.

Crime Does Not Pay

[Michael_Elliott · 31 October 2009]

Last Installment, The (1945)

*** (out of 4)

Small time criminal Clyde Peeler (Cameron Mitchell) is set to be released from prison the following day when his cell mate offers him a job in his gang. Peeler says he'll think about it but he finally accepts the job after reading about the life of a famous gangster in a magazine. What Peeler doesn't know is how that story ends but the warden is going to tell him. This is yet another good entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series and once again we learn the downside of being bad. This episode is a little different from some earlier ones as there isn't any introduction at the start of the film and the majority of the film is a flashback. The main guy, Mitchell's character, is only briefly seen, although he ends up doing the narration from start to finish. The movie has a pretty good story, although I do think the gangsters could have been built up a little better. We do have some good scenes with the two different sides doing battle over the West Side and this includes a couple shootings. The moral of the film is pretty easy to swallow here and the way the ending is handled was pretty good and effective.

"I'm gonna see that you guys go places".

[classicsoncall · 4/10 · 26 June 2010]

I didn't quite know what to make of this short as it's titled "The Last Installment". The only other review on this site makes mention of a prior series of which this is, as it claims to be, the last installment. The meat of the story is told in flashback, with a couple of rival gangs going at it, and mob boss Bull Moose Brannigan (Walter Sande) coming out on top against rival gangster Kovac (Robert Lewis). Like the anti-drug flicks of an earlier decade, this one purports to warn against the evils of a life of crime. A jailbird on the fence (Cameron Mitchell) regarding which direction he'll go upon release from prison is introduced to Bull Moose some twenty years after the villain's heyday, only to see him as a down and out flunkie instead of the notorious criminal he read about in the pulps of the day. Is that enough to make him go straight? The warden (Addison Richards) thinks so - but I don't.

This is one of the more instructive episodes . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 6 February 2022]

. . . of the Roaring Fat Cat One Per Centers nefarious "Crime Pays" series. THE LAST INSTALLMENT reassures would-be criminals, ruthless killers and crime lords that U. S. taxpayers always will be coerced to foot the bill for their social safety net. A dude nicknamed "Bull Moose" has many unhealthy habits. He chain-smokes cigars and consorts with dangerous outlaws. He soon develops a degenerative disease due to his dissipated lifestyle. Government functionaries soon provide him with secure and totally free room and board, as well as complimentary medical care. What a racket!

scared-straight

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 10 December 2022]

Prison cell mates Clyde and Griff are both short-timers. Clyde is considering going straight, but Griff offers him a taste of the roaring 20's. Griff suggests connecting with his criminal cohorts. Clyde is reading a magazine story about glamorous 20's gangster Bull Moose Brannigan.

It's A Crime Does Not Pay Subject short. At its core, this is a character reading a magazine story of a semi-fictional biography. It's not the most compelling way to tell a story. It doesn't help that some of the shooting deaths are done laughably bad. That always breaks me. This is a flat bad scared-straight story.