Second Chance (1953)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

Sydney Boehm (writer)
D.M. Marshman Jr. (story) (adaptation)

Release Date:

18 July 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Film-Noir | Drama

Tagline:

For the First Time--3D With Important Stars!

Plot:

Claire Sinclair is hiding in Mexico to avoid testifying against her gangster boyfriend. Her seclusion is made difficult by Cappy Gordon...

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Beautiful Woman | 3 Dimensional

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Russ Lambert
Linda Darnell	...	Clare Shepperd, alias Clare Sinclair
Jack Palance	...	Cappy Gordon
Roy Roberts	...	Charley Malloy
Dan Seymour	...	Felipe
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Mandy, hotel owner
Sandro Giglio	...	Cable Car Conductor
Reginald Sheffield	...	Mr. Woburn, English tourist
Margaret Brewster	...	Mrs. Woburn, English tourist
Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.	...	Vasco, murderous husband (as Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr.)
Richard Vera	...	Pablo, Vasco's son
Maurice Jara	...	Fernando, groom
Judy Walsh	...	Maria, bride
Salvador Baguez	...	Officer Hernandez
Milburn Stone	...	Edward Dawson

Also Known As:

Mörder ohne Maske (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Duello sulla Sierra Madre (Italy) [it]
Flykten (Sweden) [sv]
Kuoleman kuilu (Finland) [fi]
Meurtres sous les tropiques (Belgium: French title) [fr]
På afgrundens rand (Denmark) [da]
Passion sous les tropiques (France) [fr]
Perseguida (Spain) [es]

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

3 Channel Stereo (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:16 | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16452)

Filming Locations:

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Quotes:

Russ: Spilato is something we used to step on in Chicago when it came crawling out of the woodwork.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mondo Lugosi (1987)

The boxers are seeing stars

Picture this scene, it's a rainy Saturday afternoon in England, circa 1962, the televised horse racing on BBC has been cancelled and a voice-over informs us that "We are unable to bring you the scheduled programme, instead the film ... will be shown". It would usually be REBECCA, HIGH NOON or SECOND CHANCE. I got to love these three movies, which I would always associate with bad weather at Doncaster. SECOND CHANCE was the only movie in which screen tough guy Robert Mitchum played a prizefighter, and he really looked the part. Mitchum had experience as a boxer, official and unofficial. In November, 1951, he was on location filming ONE MINUTE TO ZERO and was involved in a brawl with the heavyweight boxer Bernie Reynolds, who fought Rocky Marciano and Joe Baksi. Mitchum proved he was a tough guy off the screen as Reynolds was taken to hospital while Mitchum walked away without a scratch. The boxing match in SECOND CHANCE was filmed at the Plaza de Toros in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and was beset with problems. Mitchum's screen opponent was Abel Fernandez, who had recently retired from the ring due to a near fatality. This was his film debut, which coincidently had the story of an American boxer barnstorming the South American circuit trying to regain his nerve after a ring fatality in New York. Unfortunately for Mitchum, Fernandez occasionally forgot he was in a movie fight and not a pro fight, he knocked out Mitchum three times during the arduous all-day shoot in the boiling sun. Fernandez later appeared in THE HARDER THEY FALL, but got type-cast playing Indians in television westerns before landing a leading role in the TV hit "The Untouchables". The bad guy in SECOND CHANCE is another ex-boxer Jack Palance, who also fought Joe Baksi. Method actor Palance also got carried away in his fight scene with Mitchum aboard a cable car. Palance frightened the life out of me when I was a child, the menacing voice, sinister grin, almost plastic facial features and intense air of menace about him are well served in this 3-D action thriller. The climax aboard a stationary cable car thousands of feet in the air is very exciting, but recently came back to haunt me while on holiday in Matlock, Derbyshire. The wife and I were sitting hundreds of feet in the air in a cable car, which had come to a deliberate halt so the tourists could enjoy the marvellous view, when I suddenly thought of what happened to the cable car in SECOND CHANCE. I immediately had a panic attack which made Woody Allen look brave. The best part of the movie is the Linda Darnell-Jack Palance chase sequence, up and down the cobbled streets of a Mexican village. Bizarrely, Palance appears to be moving in quick motion, while Darnell and all around her are walking in normal motion. You'll think twice about getting in a cable car after seeing this enjoyable 1950's flick, the only thing I didn't like was the dismal pastel Technicolor used.