The Pusher 
                                   
Director: Gene Milford
Year: 1960
Rating: 5.5
This is based on the third book in the 87th Precinct series from Ed McBain and was supposed to be the last one book. That had been the intention when the author signed a contract for three novels. But by then they had done really well and the 87th Precinct had entered into the public consciousness. McBain had also grown fond of his characters. He went on to write about fifty more of them. His intention as he wrote at the end of this book was to create an ensemble of cops and they would come in and out of his novels - focus on one and then in the next he might be in the background. But Carella became his favorite. Which is odd since he had planned on killing him in an early book and was talked out of it. Carella's relationship with his deaf and mute wife Teddy is the heart of the books. Which makes the plot of this film seem out-of-kilter.



A Puerto Rican male teenager is found in an alleyway with a rope around his neck and a needle in his arm. Lt. Byrne (Douglas Rogers) and Sgt Carella (Robert Lansing) figure it is murder and not suicide.  The victim's mother (Beatrice Pons) gives a speech about her children in America worthy of being in Westside Story. The screenwriter is Harold Robbins. They begin a hunt for the dealer who nobody seems to know. The victim's gang in their identical gang jackets are brought in and the ones with tiny holes in their arms are put in jail till they begin to twitch. The Big H. Horse. Smack. Skag. China White. These boys have it bad but it seems everyone under 21 does as well. The film comes down hard on heroin with overdoses and the shakes of getting clean. The dealer (Felice Orlandi) sees himself as a businessman and he has to protect his assets. That means killing if need be.


 
The Lieutenant has a daughter (Kathy Carlyle - in the book it is a son) and she and Carella are engaged. But she is already married. To the Demon Heroin! Not only that but her supplier is the Pusher. It's a small world in Drug City. I just wanted her to die so Carella could meet Teddy. Low budget but shot in the streets of NYC (the Bronx) and it has a real feel for the streets. It begins with a cop on the night beat walking down the street checking to make sure all the stores are locked up - block by block - everything is shut tight but then he follows the music down an alley and finds the dead boy. It is all shot in tenement buildings, neighborhood bars - Baby Doll's where the dancer (Sarah Amman) is all hips and cleavage and a precinct room that looks like yesterday's trash.  The ending was weak and overwrought and the Lt. does everything wrong as a cop. But a solid black and white cop film. The year after this the 87th Precinct TV show began with Lansing as Carella, Gena Rowlands as Teddy and Norman Fell as Meyer Meyer. It lasted for 30 episodes and is on DVD. Pretty good show.