Side Street

Directed by Anthony Mann, Side Street follows struggling postal worker Joe Norson (Farley Granger) as he’s forced to go on the run after stealing $30,000 from a crooked attorney. It’s certainly a promising setup that’s employed, generally speaking, to watchable yet distressingly erratic effect by Mann, as the filmmaker, armed with Sydney Boehm’s screenplay, delivers a hit-and-miss endeavor that’s at its best when focused on Joe’s increasingly frantic attempts at clearing his name – with the inclusion of several tense sequences, including a terrific stretch wherein things really begin to spiral out of control, elevating the proceedings on a regular basis. And although the picture undoubtedly benefits from Granger’s agreeable, sympathetic performance, Side Street progresses into a second half that contains a handful of palpably ineffective interludes that cumulatively diminish the movie’s overall impact – with this particularly true of a long, drawn-out scene in which Joe chats with a villain’s ex-girlfriend. The uneven vibe is ultimately rendered relatively moot by a climactic car chase that packs an unexpectedly exciting and visceral punch, with the end result a decent-enough film noir that feels as though it could (and should) be quite a bit better.

**1/2 out of ****