Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

When you see a fine henchman in a CLASSIC movie, name him here!

Larceny, Inc. (1942) has two henchman, Jug Martin (Broderick Crawford) and Weepy Davis (Edward Brophy). Loyal but not exactly competent.

Try Neville Brand in DOA (1949). He was about as evil a henchman as you will see in any film. Yikes!

How about the sadistic William Bendix in 'Glass Key'? (1942)

I recently was amazed to learn just how many films Bendix made with Alan Ladd. The list is like, seven or eight titles long.

That beating scene between Bendix and Ladd in Glass Key is really hard to watch.

Stanley Fields is the huge knuckle-dragging accomplice in 'Algiers'.

His character is so obtuse that he can't follow the conversation of Pepe Le Moko (Charles Boyer). So --every few minutes --he rears up and slams the table with his fist and demands leMoko 'say that again to my face!'. If his superior cowers and fails to repeat what he just said, it would be a giveway. and the only way this oaf will be able to tell whether he's being cheated or not. I think James M. Cain came up with this hilarious dialogue.

Jack Lambert

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_La...

I never knew his name until recently.

He played the slow-witted, mouth-breathing, muscle-bound member of the payroll thieves in, 'The Killers'.

His nickname in the gang was, "Dum-Dum" Clarke.

Edmond O'Brien tracks him down along with the rest of the Prentiss Hat factory gang

Robert J. Wilke!

Do you know the face just by name alone?

Sure. He was a well-known character actor. Usually was in a tough guy role, not the romantic type. He may not be a Dabs Greer, but readily comes to mind.

Yep!! Saw him in lots of films/tv.

And I think we all know the kinda' creepy Jack Elam.

Elam in 'Rawhide'

Standing just in front of Hugh Marlowe, a stalwart character actor who sometimes came close to bigger and better parts.

How about Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo in 'Kiss of Death' (1947)? Now there's the 'henchman from hell'!

That giggle that he had as Udo scared me silly.

And how about Raymond Burr in his early film career?

Very true except that Burr was often the chief 'bad guy', not just a henchman. He was terrific as both bad and ultimately good characters.

You are right, Betsy but he was a henchman in a few films. I choose to remember him as Perry Mason!

I guess seeing him as Perry Mason enables me to better appreciate his acting talents since he was so menacing in some of his early roles.

Meet Danny Wilson is seriously underrated Sinatra from about the time his career was sinking. Burr is an excellent villain and Frank sings some super great tunes. The plot is so-so and the story is that Frank and Shelly Winters did not get along AT ALL during filming. But it's worth seeing, mostly for Burr and the tunes. Some standards Frank would roll out through most of his career. "That Old Black Magic" is...well...magical.

Algiers was a real mixed bag for for me. Hedy is always gorgeous but the only scene that really got me was when they know the guy's ratted out Boyer and they just keep playing poker. And they just let him sweat.

Ted de Corsia was another actor who popped up as the bad guy henchman in many films. He was particularly good in The Naked City.

I thought the original French version of Pepe Le Moko, with Jean Gabin, was much better. Boyer seemed miscast, as if he mainly got the role for being the most popular French actor in Hollywood.

Since I am a huge fan of Jean Gabin and not so thrilled by Charles Boyer, I totally agree with you, Bruce.

We certainly can't forget Elisha Cook Jr., who was everywhere and was usually a rather ineffective henchman.

Utterly repulsive, this hideous character. While Jean Peters converses with him he doesn't look away from his dish.

He just keeps shoveling the noodles down his mouth. Masticating and slavering like some kind of fat rodent.



Sad to say but I see terrible manners/hygiene like this, still to this day, in the big city around me right now. There's no limit to it.

Jill H. wrote: "We certainly can't forget Elisha Cook Jr., who was everywhere and was usually a rather ineffective henchman."

Yeah, he's the best at being totally ineffective. Too bad they didn't give him one where he just played against type and was like Cagney.

The henchmen I like are the Lee Van Cleef type. Totally untrustworthy. They'll take your money and do the job, but don't turn your back on them because someone might pay them more.