I'm not very familiar with the writing process of scriptwriters, but it seems to me that some of them write a resolution to a conflict first then try to figure out how to get to that resolution. If they can't think of a seamless way to achieve the resolution, they just shoehorn things into the story. Paul Schofield and Wallace Smith certainly did some shoehorning in "Framed."
A woman named Rose Manning (Evelyn Brent) was hell bent on avenging her father who was shot and killed by police. She blamed Butch McArthur (William Holden), the chief inspector. Rose worked in a nightclub run by Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde). Chuck was sweet on Rose though she didn't have the same feelings for him.
Rose saw her chance to get even with Butch when she found out his son Jimmy (Regis Toomey) was frequenting the night club and had taken a liking to her. What better way to hurt Papa McArthur than through Sonny McArthur? The only problem was that she liked Jimmy almost as much as he liked her.
What began as an adult movie with adult writing and an adult premise devolved into gibberish. Suddenly, gangsters who'd done well evading the law and making a name for themselves were no longer capable of making rational decisions.
The erosion of the movie's credibility began when the head gangster, Chuck Gaines, ordered his hitman Bing (Maurice Black) to kill Jimmy (the inspector's son). His reasoning was twofold: 1.) it would hurt Butch McArthur and 2.) it would eliminate a rival for Rose's love. It was a dumb idea because Chuck had to know that Butch would make it his mission to destroy him.
Be that as it may, the order was given. It could've and should've gone without a hitch, EXCEPT Bing (the hitman) decided to tell Rose. Bing was so excited about being given the OK to kill Jimmy that he couldn't wait to tell Rose. He thought she'd be equally excited, however he was dead wrong.
I don't understand why a hitman would inform ANYONE about a murder he plans to commit. Even IF Rose would be pleased with the news, the less people that know the better. Now she can't even have plausible deniability because he opened his big mouth. Killers usually want to limit the amount of people who know what they've done, but in this case the killer was a moron.
Bing being a moron helped the plot because now Rose could run interference and save Jimmy's life, and that's precisely what happened.
There would be a couple of more inexplicably stupid moves by Chuck and Butch which led to one being killed and the other being imprisoned. Hollywood loved to make the public believe that criminals were dumb as if they got to where they got through luck.
Chuck was the one who was killed, and he was killed by the squarest man alive in Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey). I've seen Regis Toomey in several movies and not only does he always play a square, he is awful. The guy simply couldn't act. And somehow I'm to believe that a killer like Chuck was disarmed by Jimmy and killed with his own gun. Get real.
"Framed" was simply too elementary, which was a problem with a lot of movies back then. If there is one advantage movies today have over movies of the '30s is that movies today tend to be more nuanced, layered, and realistic. That's not to say that movies today are necessarily better than movies of the past, they're just more credible.
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A woman named Rose Manning (Evelyn Brent) was hell bent on avenging her father who was shot and killed by police. She blamed Butch McArthur (William Holden), the chief inspector. Rose worked in a nightclub run by Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde). Chuck was sweet on Rose though she didn't have the same feelings for him.
Rose saw her chance to get even with Butch when she found out his son Jimmy (Regis Toomey) was frequenting the night club and had taken a liking to her. What better way to hurt Papa McArthur than through Sonny McArthur? The only problem was that she liked Jimmy almost as much as he liked her.
What began as an adult movie with adult writing and an adult premise devolved into gibberish. Suddenly, gangsters who'd done well evading the law and making a name for themselves were no longer capable of making rational decisions.
The erosion of the movie's credibility began when the head gangster, Chuck Gaines, ordered his hitman Bing (Maurice Black) to kill Jimmy (the inspector's son). His reasoning was twofold: 1.) it would hurt Butch McArthur and 2.) it would eliminate a rival for Rose's love. It was a dumb idea because Chuck had to know that Butch would make it his mission to destroy him.
Be that as it may, the order was given. It could've and should've gone without a hitch, EXCEPT Bing (the hitman) decided to tell Rose. Bing was so excited about being given the OK to kill Jimmy that he couldn't wait to tell Rose. He thought she'd be equally excited, however he was dead wrong.
I don't understand why a hitman would inform ANYONE about a murder he plans to commit. Even IF Rose would be pleased with the news, the less people that know the better. Now she can't even have plausible deniability because he opened his big mouth. Killers usually want to limit the amount of people who know what they've done, but in this case the killer was a moron.
Bing being a moron helped the plot because now Rose could run interference and save Jimmy's life, and that's precisely what happened.
There would be a couple of more inexplicably stupid moves by Chuck and Butch which led to one being killed and the other being imprisoned. Hollywood loved to make the public believe that criminals were dumb as if they got to where they got through luck.
Chuck was the one who was killed, and he was killed by the squarest man alive in Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey). I've seen Regis Toomey in several movies and not only does he always play a square, he is awful. The guy simply couldn't act. And somehow I'm to believe that a killer like Chuck was disarmed by Jimmy and killed with his own gun. Get real.
"Framed" was simply too elementary, which was a problem with a lot of movies back then. If there is one advantage movies today have over movies of the '30s is that movies today tend to be more nuanced, layered, and realistic. That's not to say that movies today are necessarily better than movies of the past, they're just more credible.
Free on YouTube.