Flaxy Martin

Flaxy Martin
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard L. Bare
Screenplay by	David Lang
Produced by	Saul Elkins
Starring	Virginia Mayo Zachary Scott Dorothy Malone
Cinematography	Carl Guthrie
Edited by	Frank Magee
Music by	William Lava
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	February 15, 1949 (1949-02-15) (United States)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Flaxy Martin is a 1949 film noir starring Zachary Scott and Virginia Mayo, and featuring Elisha Cook Jr., Dorothy Malone, and Douglas Kennedy. The crime thriller was directed by Richard L. Bare based on a story written by David Lang.

The film tells of mob lawyer Walter Colby (Zachary Scott), whose involvement with a crime syndicate and a femme fatale (Mayo) gets him in trouble.

Plot

A murder occurs, and a witness tells the police that she will never forget the killer’s face. Mob attorney Walter Colby (Scott) is called by crime boss Hap Richie (Douglas Kennedy) in the middle of the night to arrange bail for his hood Caesar (Jack Overman). After doing so Colby tells his girlfriend, showgirl Flaxy Martin (Virginia Mayo), that he wants to quit the organization and become respectable. She pooh-poohs the idea, telling him that he does not have enough money to do so, or afford her. She convinces him by saying that if he gets Caesar off and makes Hap pay "plenty" she'll leave with him in a few months.

After Colby goes she calls Hap to tell him "everything's going to be fine" and calls him "Darling" before hanging up, making it clear she's working with Hap against Colby.

Meanwhile, Hap arranges through Flaxy for a perjurer, Peggy Farrar (Helen Westcott), to testify on behalf of Caesar, clearing him of the crime. Afterward, Peggy seeks to blackmail Hap for $10,000 to maintain her silence. Colby tells Hap he's had enough and plans to go to the district attorney and admit everything he knows, helping the police against Hap (as well as putting Flaxy in trouble for suborning perjury). After he leaves, Hap and Flaxy discuss the situation, with Hap telling her, "You lose this setup there won't be much between you and the pavements, will there?" Flaxy notes the threat to her well-being and asks what he wants her to do. He tells her to stand by for a possible job later that night.

Flaxy visits Peggy at her hotel apartment and the desk clerk passing by the door hears them arguing, then the sound of slapping and Peggy begging Flaxy not to hit her again. Inside, Peggy begs Flaxy to call Hap to say she'll keep quiet but Flaxy refuses. Caesar enters the room and Flaxy leaves, telling Peggy, "I told you, you talk too much". Outside the door she initially looks concerned, then walks away with a serene smile as Peggy screams, and casually stops at the desk on her way out to ask for a match.

The police fish Peggy's body out of the water and interview the hotel clerk, who says he heard Peggy call the woman who visited her "Flaxy". The police find Peggy's marriage license in her room, which Flaxy signed as a witness, giving the police her full name.

She seeks help from Colby, who wants to go to the police and confess all, but Flaxy tells him that even if Hap gets into trouble, sooner or later he'll send someone like Caesar after them. Colby comes up with a plan to clear her by confessing to be the murderer himself. With absolutely no evidence connecting him to the crime, he is confident of his acquittal. All goes well during the trial until an obvious perjurer takes the stand and testifies he saw Colby attack Peggy. At the conclusion of the testimony Colby looks behind him at Flaxy and Hap sitting separately in the gallery, seemingly trying to figure out which one is responsible for the false testimony. Hap's expression and empty hand gesture suggest he doesn't know what's going on. Flaxy gives him a distressed, sympathetic look, but when Colby turns back to the judge and says in a defeated voice that he has no questions for the witness, a closeup shows Flaxy with a relieved, then pleased smile. Colby is convicted and sentenced to twenty years.

Later in Hap's apartment Flaxy appears to have mixed feelings about what's happened, but gradually seems fine with it. Her conversation with Hap suggests it's not only what happened to Colby but also her role in his conviction that's bothering her. After she and Hap laugh at the newspapers quoting her as "waiting at the gate for the man you love", Hap says, "Ah, you were in there pitching all the time, Honey", to which she replies, "I wasn't taking any chances on him changing his mind". Based on Hap's clueless expression at the trial and this conversation, it appears it was Flaxy rather than Hap who arranged for the perjury that got Colby convicted.

Before he is transferred to prison, he is visited by Sam Malko (Tom D'Andrea), a former client who feels he owes Colby a good turn. Sam tells him that Caesar has been getting drunk and bragging about how Colby was convicted instead of him. Colby’s suspicions towards Flaxy begin to mount.

On the train taking him to prison Colby slugs his guard, then jumps off the train. Injured, he passes out in front of motorist Nora Carson (Malone), who takes him home and nurses him. She's kind to him despite his gruffness, tells him she feels sorry for anyone running away from something, and (without any details) says she knows "what it is to run away". Even after seeing a headline making it clear he's an escaped prisoner she continues to help him, saying he might be innocent. Colby prepares to leave, in search of Caesar and Flaxy.

Based on a neighbor's tip a policeman shows up to check on him, just as Hap's gunsel Roper and another henchman named Charlie find him. Roper locks the policeman in a closet and he and Charlie take Colby and Nora to a remote country site for execution, but Colby manages to overcome them, and he and Nora escape in the criminals' car.

He returns to the city and seeks Sam‘s help, leaving Nora with Sam as he arranges a rendezvous with Caesar. When he gets there he finds Caesar dead, and once again ends up at gunpoint with Caesar’s hood Roper. The two have a violent showdown on a rooftop, with Colby forcing his pursuer over the edge to his death. He then heads for the apartment of Flaxy.

Flaxy calls Hap demanding protection from Colby, and Hap tells her he'll be over himself to protect her. When Colby arrives, Flaxy admits she framed him but says that having him sent to prison was the only way to protect him from Hap, and that it was done out of love for Colby. Dubious, Colby says he thought her first love was money. She takes a deep breath, then appears to level with him, saying Hap is on his way and he'll have $40,000 with him from his club. Colby quickly agrees to taking the money off Hap and they drink to the plan, though it's obvious neither trusts the other.

When Hap arrives she pulls a gun on both men, seeking to disappear with the money and leave the pair of rivals hanging. Colby tells her she can’t shoot both men at once, and whomever she doesn’t will get her. Colby knocks a lamp over, putting the room in darkness, and she takes one shot at each man, killing Hap but missing Colby. Colby calls and waits for the police, and when he hears their sirens he locks her in the room with Hap and leaves. They find Flaxy wiping her fingerprints off the murder weapon and arrest her.

Arriving back at Sam’s with the $40,000 Colby insists he’s going to go on the lam with Nora but she refuses, saying that anybody on the run has bad dreams and she's had enough of them. Colby says even if he can beat the murder rap he'd get 2 years for perjury. In a scene that mirrors the one in which Flaxy advised him not to break with Hap because of money, Nora says the money isn't "smart money", two years isn't that long and they could start over when he gets out. She leaves to take a bus back home instead. Sam tells Colby Nora loves him and knows what's good for him, and Colby finally relents, calling in a tip to the police to pick up Nora at the bus depot if they want to capture Colby. As the police car pulls up to the police station he comes out the station door saying "Thanks for the pickup service" and the couple goes into the station hand in hand.

Cast

• Virginia Mayo as Flaxy Martin
• Zachary Scott as Walter "Walt" Colby
• Dorothy Malone as Nora Carson
• Tom D'Andrea as Sam Malko
• Helen Westcott as Peggy Farrar
• Douglas Kennedy as Hap Richie
• Elisha Cook Jr. as Roper
• Douglas Fowley as Max, Detective
• Monte Blue as Joe, Detective
• Jack Overman as Caesar
• Max Wagner as Charles McMahon

Reception

Allmovie.com critic Hal Erickson lauded the film director, writing, "Director Richard L. Bare had only recently moved up from the "Joe McDoakes" comedy shorts to features when he guided Flaxy Martin with skill and aplomb."

Legacy

Has been shown on Turner Classic Movies show 'Noir Alley' with Eddie Muller.

External links

• Flaxy Martin at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Flaxy Martin at IMDb
• Flaxy Martin at the TCM Movie Database
• Flaxy Martin film trailer on YouTube