The defence The Big-Idea Head
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
Back to trending 
Raw Deal
Crime · Thriller · 1948
Joe Sullivan is itching to get out of prison. He's taken the rap for his accomplice Rick, a sadistic mobster who owes him $50,000 from the job they pulled. Rick sets up an escape for Joe, assuming that Joe will be killed while fleeing. But with the help of his love-struck girl Pat and his sympathetic legal caseworker Ann, Joe gets further than Rick intended...
Movie details
Raw Deal
“Bullets! Women! -- Can't Hold a Man Like That!”
1948 Crime · Thriller 1h 19m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
Joe Sullivan is itching to get out of prison. He's taken the rap for his accomplice Rick, a sadistic mobster who owes him $50,000 from the job they pulled. Rick sets up an escape for Joe, assuming that Joe will be killed while fleeing. But with the help of his love-struck girl Pat and his sympathetic legal caseworker Ann, Joe gets further than Rick intended...
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Raw Deal?
For the defence
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Crime · 1950
Ralph Cotter, a ruthless criminal, escapes violently from a farm prison. Then, he seduces a dead inmate’s sister, gets back quickly into the crime business, faces corrupt local cops who run the city’s underworld and meets a powerful tycoon’s whimsical daughter.
Criss Cross
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An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.
High Sierra
Crime · 1941
Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.
Avengement
Crime · 2019
While on a prison furlough, a lowly criminal evades his guards and returns to his old stomping ground to take revenge on the people who turned him into a cold blooded killer.
The Limey
Crime · 1999
The Limey follows Wilson, a tough English ex-con who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. Upon arrival, Wilson goes to task battling Valentine and an army of L.A.'s toughest criminals, hoping to find clues and piece together what happened. After surviving a near-death beating, getting thrown from a building and being chased down a dangerous mountain road, the Englishman decides to dole out some bodily harm of his own.
Gangster No. 1
Action · 2000
An old gangster is advised that Freddie Mays would leave jail after thirty years in prison. His mood changes and he recalls when he was a young punk and who joined Freddie's gang—a man he both envied and ultimately betrayed.
Shot Caller
Crime · 2017
A newly-released prison gangster is forced by the leaders of his gang to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets of Southern California.
Cape Fear
Drama · 1991
Sam Bowden is a small-town corporate attorney. Max Cady is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, Bible-quoting, psychotic rapist. What do they have in common? 14 years ago, Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss.
Faster
Crime · 2010
After 10 years in prison, Driver is now a free man with a single focus - hunting down the people responsible for brutally murdering his brother.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Anthony Mann
Written by
Leopold Atlas · John C. Higgins
Dennis O'Keefe
Joe Sullivan
Claire Trevor
Pat Cameron
Marsha Hunt
Ann Martin
John Ireland
Fantail
Raymond Burr
Rick Coyle
Curt Conway
Spider
Chili Williams
Marcy
Court is in session
Put Raw Deal on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.