JOHNNY O’CLOCK joins the mile-long conga line of ‘Johnny ___’ titles as a keen entry from 1947’s treasure trove of top-quality noir items. It was the first of a one-two punch that year from Robert Rossen, switched up from screenwriting to directing as well, with this and the classic Body And Soul. That terrific boxing drama was more acclaimed and is better remembered, but this compact crime meller did decent beeswax at the time, a slick and snappy showcase for Rossen and an ace cast.

“Dry your eyes and blow your nose in the order named.”

Blithely confident with games and gals, ‘Johnny O’Clock’ (Dick Powell) co-owns a sleek gambling establishment with ‘Guido Marchettis’ (Thomas Gomez), a surface-jovial hood who’s also in league with a crooked cop. When said copper turns up as river flotsam and ‘Harriet Hobson’ (Nina Foch, 21) one of Johnny’s dejected dames, takes the carbon monoxide exit, detective inspector ‘Koch’ (Lee J. Cobb, 34, in his pre-shouting days) shows a professional interest in Johnny and associates. Meanwhile two more O’Clock alarmers are ready to ring; sultry ex-playmate ‘Nelle’ (Ellen Drew), currently Guido’s trophy wife, and gone girl Harriet’s sister ‘Nancy’ (Evelyn Keyes) who turns up, shows she can make with the patter and quick-falls for Johnny—because dames go for guys that act like they don’t care. It might help when the gent sports a ring-a-ding monicker and a half-share in a casino. Ask Sinatra.

JOHNNY: “Come here.”  HARRIET: “I’ve been there.”

One of the cool things about noir flicks is that everyone is a wise-ass; no-one ever gives a straight answer to a question but instead the retort is a challenge of some sort, frequently a put-down. A simple “Care for a drink?” turns into a ping-pong game. Like most of them—and in most ordinary dramas of earlier days—in this script, while relationships are complex in their intertwinement, it’s a given staple that sympathies, loyalties and eternal commitments can switch from one end of a two-minute conversation to the other, logic surrendering to plot, with the nonstop rat-a-tat chatter keeping you amused enough to go along with the make believe. That, and how well the actors deliver their swipes.

Fortunately, Rossen’s script not only provides the ammo, and his direction (with a neat assist from Burnett Guffey’s camerawork) the flow impetus, but the cast is tailor-made for slinging barbs. Hard cases Cobb and Gomez, 41, were both moving into a higher gear at the time, and Powell, 41, was firmly into his casually sardonic tough-guy-with-a-smile period, begun a few years earlier in Murder, My Sweet and Cornered, this one followed by the excellent Pitfall. Whether or not you buy him as a babe-magnet is iffy, but he’s got the ‘take it or or leave it’ attitude down pat. Upcoming B-picture icon Jeff Chandler, 28, makes his debut in a small part as a suave gambler.

Forget the mugs, this lineup of usual suspects really makes its case with their opposite numbers, hot ones. As the honest ‘swell kid’ of the piece, Evelyn Keyes, 29 scores another win, placing this role between The Jolson Story (the previous year’s biggest hit) and the cute comedy The Mating Of Millie. As the femme fatale, Ellen Drew, 31—like Keyes, another actress who ought to have been a bigger star—turns on the sexy valve to the “danger” mark. They both look smashing.

Don’t forget vices and hardware—count the cigarettes (add Cobb’s cigars), divide by the drinks, multiply by some gunshots.

Made for a little over $1,000,000, the $4,700,000 gross rated the year’s spot #73. With shifty-looking John Kellogg (as two-bit weasel ‘Charlie’, one of nine parts he grabbed that year), Jim Bannon, Mabel Paige, Phil Brown and Robin Raymond, 29, who nails one fun scene as a lippy hatcheck girl—is using two straws for a Coke a subtle go-ahead signal?  96 minutes.