The Criminal (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Criminal (1960) – J. Losey

From the start of the picture, Stanley Baker (playing Johnny Bannion) is so sullen and brutish that it was hard to even recognise that he’s the star of the film.  He’s about to be set free from prison but first manages to orchestrate the beating of another prisoner recently returned from the outside (some foreshadowing here).  Clearly, the guards are on his side at this point (with Patrick Magee excellent as the crooked senior guard) but it’s a fragile alliance.  Once on the outside, Baker immediately gets involved in another caper (at a racetrack) set up by his accomplice Mike Carter (Sam Wanamaker).  After the score, with the money hidden, things are not so easy for Johnny Bannion – the powerplays and doublecrosses are beyond his thuggish mentality.  As directed by Joseph Losey (an American who fled to the UK as a result of HUAC persecution), the film is part prison dynamics and part swinging jazz and decadence.  Baker’s characterisation while at first seemingly roughhewn, later feels apt as a portrayal of a man who can’t manage a changing situation/society.  Beautiful cinematography by Robert Krasker (The Third Man).