- Anthony Mann's Raw Deal is a gritty little noir that ends up serving all of its characters one raw deal after another. For escaped convict Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe), this means that his benefactor Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr) only broke him out of prison to get him killed. For Joe's girl Pat (Claire Trevor), it means watching her man slowly fall in love with a woman named Ann (Marsha Hunt). Ann's raw deal involves being kidnapped twice, first by Joe and then by Rick. Naturally, Rick and his cronies (John Ireland, Curt Conway) end up receiving the rawest deal of all.
- And "raw" really is the right word, here. Although the violence is sanitized by modern standards, this is a film where John Ireland earns a giant gash across his cheek by getting impaled on a deer antler! A murderous interloper (Whit Bissell) is gunned down right before our eyes!! Raymond Burr tosses ignited flambé on a woman because she spilled her drink!!! That last incident certainly marks the film's most memorable scene, although its best shot arrives later when Pat and Ann have to march past one another on a beachfront road. Cinematographer John Alton's exceedingly shadowy margins and the film's late eruption of fog do wonders to reinforce the film's tone. Although the characters get a raw deal, the audience comes out way ahead.
