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Illegal

Illegal

Crime · Drama · 1955

A hugely successful DA goes into private practice after sending a man to the chair -- only to find out later he was innocent. Now the drunken attorney only seems to represent criminals and low lifes.

Movie details

Illegal

“He was a guy who marked 100 men for death - until a blonde called 'Angel' O'Hara marked him for life!”

1955 Crime · Drama 1h 28m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.0 / 10

2.5K votes

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A hugely successful DA goes into private practice after sending a man to the chair -- only to find out later he was innocent. Now the drunken attorney only seems to represent criminals and low lifes.

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 Illegal?

The 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.

Cry of the City

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The Outfit

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A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.

The Big Combo

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Police Lt. Leonard Diamond vies to bring a clever, well connected, and sadistic gangster to justice all the while obsessing over the gangster's girlfriend.

Levity

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Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at his victim's face on a newspaper clipping in his cell, the newly paroled man seeks redemption. Instead, redemption—in the form of a mysterious minister and two needy women— finds him.

Riot in Cell Block 11

Riot in Cell Block 11

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A prisoner leads his counterparts in a protest for better living conditions which turns violent and ugly.

The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle

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Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.

Glengarry Glen Ross

Glengarry Glen Ross

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An examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office. Unscrupulous salesmen try to hawk dubious real estate to suckers.

Just Mercy

Just Mercy

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The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked against them.

Let Him Have It

Let Him Have It

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In 1950s England, slow-witted Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangster films. Chris and Derek's friendship leads to their involvement in the true case which would forever shake England's belief in capital punishment.

Brute Force

Brute Force

Crime · 1947

Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?

Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Lewis Allen

Written by

James R. Webb · Frank J. Collins · W.R. Burnett

Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson

Victor Scott

Nina Foch

Nina Foch

Ellen Miles

Hugh Marlowe

Hugh Marlowe

Ray Borden

Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield

Angel O'Hara

Albert Dekker

Albert Dekker

Frank Garland

Howard St. John

Howard St. John

E.A. Smith

Ellen Corby

Ellen Corby

Miss Hinkel

Court is in session

Put Illegal on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

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.