Panic in the Streets (film)
[2] The film tells the story of Lieutenant Commander Clinton Reed (Richard Widmark), an officer of the U.S. Public Health Service, and Captain Tom Warren (Paul Douglas), a grizzled veteran detective of the New Orleans Police Department.The supporting cast includes Barbara Bel Geddes as Reed's wife Nancy, along with Jack Palance (in his film debut) and Zero Mostel – the latter two play crooks, associates of the victim who had prompted the public health investigation.They leave the body on the docks and later when the unidentified dead man is brought to the morgue, the coroner grows suspicious about the bacteria present in his blood and calls Lt Cdr Clinton Reed, a doctor and commissioned corps officer of the U.S. Public Health Service.Eventually a young woman shows up and takes Reed to see her friend Charlie, who reluctantly admits that he worked aboard the S.S. Nile Queen, upon which the already ill man was smuggled.After carrying up a sick cook from the hold, the seamen then allow Reed and Warren to inoculate and question them, and reveal that Kochak had boarded at Oran (in North Africa) and was fond of shish kebab.Blackie accidentally shoots Fitch and then, wounded, tries to pull himself up a rope to a tied-up freighter but he is unable to climb over a ratguard on the mooring line and falls into the water.[1] The New York Times gave the film a mixed review and wrote, "Although it is excitingly presented, Panic in the Streets misses the mark as superior melodrama because it is not without obvious, sometimes annoying exaggeration that demands more indulgence than some spectators may be willing to contribute.Tightly scripted and directed, it concerns the successful attempts to capture a couple of criminals, who are germ carriers, in order to prevent a plague and panic in a large city.After working with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood – Dorothy McGuire, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Dana Andrews, Gregory Peck and Ethel Barrymore – Kazan wanted to go in the opposite direction.To suit the needs of this picture and his new approach, he recruited not only lesser stars, but also some of his rougher cronies from the New York stage scene, and on top of that several New Orleanians with varied levels of acting experience.
Elia KazanRichard MurphyDaniel FuchsEdna AnhaltEdward AnhaltSol C. SiegelRichard WidmarkPaul DouglasBarbara Bel GeddesJack PalanceZero MostelJoseph MacDonaldHarmon JonesAlfred NewmanBlack and white20th Century Foxfilm noirNew Orleans, LouisianaPort of New OrleansMississippi RiverU.S. Public Health ServiceNew Orleans Police Departmentepidemicpneumonic plagueBlack DeathMedieval Europeindex caseTommy RettigLassieCall Northside 777morguecoronerbacteriaLt Cdrcommissioned corpsofficerbubonic plagueinoculatedNew Orleans Mayor's officepolice commissionerSlavicArmenianNational Maritime Unionhiring hallsidekickNorth Africashish kebabGreek restaurantsreporterNew Orleans mayormorning papermooring lineJack Palance (as "Walter Jack Palance")Alexis MinotisDan RissTommy CookPat WalsheMotion Picture Production Code (Hays Code)Joseph BreenDarryl ZanuckThe New York TimesmelodramaVarietymellerGerman ExpressionistItalian Neo-Realistchiaroscurocinéma véritéDorothy McGuireSpencer TracyKatharine HepburnDana AndrewsGregory PeckEthel BarrymoreNew OrleaniansRotten TomatoesVenice Film FestivalAcademy AwardsBest Writing, Motion Picture StoryWriters Guild of AmericaFandangoTCM Movie DatabaseAFI Catalog of Feature FilmsYouTubeA Tree Grows in BrooklynThe Sea of GrassBoomerang!Gentleman's AgreementA Streetcar Named DesireViva Zapata!Man on a TightropeOn the WaterfrontEast of EdenBaby DollA Face in the CrowdWild RiverSplendor in the GrassAmerica AmericaThe ArrangementThe VisitorsThe Last TycoonA Letter to EliaActors Studio