13 West Street is a 1962 American neo noir crime film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Rod Steiger and Alan Ladd whose own production company produced the film. It was based on the 1957 novel The Tiger Among Us (1957) by Leigh Brackett, who called the film “very, very dull”.
Plot
A rocket scientist, Walt Sherrill, is driving along a empty city street at night when his car breaks down. After he is almost run down by a speeding car, he is assaulted and viciously beaten by the occupants, a group of well-dressed young men, the opposite of a slum dwelling street gang. When the police, including investigating juvenile officer Detective Koleski, are – in Sherill’s opinion – acting too slowly and seem too busy to focus on finding the culprits, Sherill decides to go after them on his own.
This quest becomes an obsession for Sherrill which threatens the stability of both his job and his marriage. Sherrill proves to be an amateur sleuth at best, going over ground the police have already covered. His wife uncomfortably watches him use a gun he has purchased to take target practice on tin cans.
One night, Sherill spots a convertible that resembles one belonging to his assailants and tails it at high speed. The driver turns out to be a frightened teenage girl who calls the police, and Sherill spends an uncomfortable night in the holding tank before Koleski has him released.
Sherill hires Finney, a private investigator, whose work leads him to Chuck Landry, the gang’s leader. Sherill’s non-stop search for revenge causes one member of the gang to commit suicide. Landry counters by luring Finney to a dangerous section of road where he is killed, then coming to Sherill’s home where he menaces his wife and plans to shoot Sherill when he returns home. Landry escapes from the police but Sherill takes the boy’s address from his abandoned car, and is waiting there when Landry arrives. Sherrill beats him savagely with his cane. On the verge of killing him by drowning him in the Landry family’s swimming pool, Sherill finally relents, turning Landry over to Koleski to be placed under arrest. Tracey and Walt leave the scene to go home.
Billy’s Aunt and Mrs. Chancellor of The Young and the Restless, the one and only Jeanne Cooper.❤
Rod Steiger elevates this otherwise mechanical flick, but there’s only so high he can take it..
good
Good movie. The frustration of a man dealing with people arrogantly dancing around the justice system, authorities forced to follow procedures while abuse goes unchecked. Reminds me of Cape fear, the perpetrator taunting, intimidating the victim, flaunting authorities, in this case, money, youth and social status protecting the attackers from accountability, the man impotent, feeling he has to become as vicious as his tormentors to end the ordeal. I liked it, especially Rod Steiger, giving a solid performance. Dolores Dorn was great as Ladd’s distressed wife.
Rod Steiger is my favourite US actor and is always worth watching, but the police missed an early clue. Chuck’s fingerprints would have been on Sherrill’s credit cards (6:40).