ONCE A THIEF (1965)

One night, two men whose faces we don't quite see hold up a small convenience store in Chinatown, killing one of the proprietors, Mrs. Wing. Her husband glimpses one of their faces, hears one of the men call the other "Eddie," and sees them get into an old Model-A car to get away. Police detective Mike Vido (Van Heflin) is certain that the killer is Eddie Pedak (Alain Delon), an ex-con who Vido is certain shot him in the stomach years ago during a robbery attempt. Eddie, out of jail, gainfully employed, and struggling to provide for his wife Kris (Ann-Margret) and young daughter Kathy, insists he didn't do it, even though he does have a Model-A car. The bitter Vido picks him up and puts him in a lineup, but Mr. Wing insists the killer is not Eddie, so Vido has to let him go, while keeping a close eye on him. The arrest leads Eddie to getting fired, and when he discovers he's not eligible for unemployment, Kris decides to get a job at a nightclub. This frustrates Eddie, especially when he finds out that part of her job involves taking off her wedding ring and flirting with male customers. Out of prideful desperation, Eddie agrees to help his criminal brother Walter (Jack Palance) and a couple of thugs pull off one last job, stealing bars of platinum from a warehouse where Eddie used to work. Meanwhile, Vido comes to suspect that Walter's thugs killed Mrs. Wing and tried to frame Eddie. All the ingredients for a happy ending, right?

French actor Alain Delon, who passed away recently, is quite good in this, his first Hollywood lead (playing an Italian, no less), and is his usual reliably sexy self. He works up some heat with Ann-Margret who was trying to build a career in dramatic roles after her earlier successes in comedies and musicals (most notably in BYE BYE BIRDIE and VIVA LAS VEGAS), though eventually her role calls for her mostly to be hysterically upset over, first, her husband's attitudes, and second, the kidnapping of her daughter, played extremely well by six-year-old Tammy Locke who, in the face of all kinds of unpleasantries around her, remains chipper. I had a very hard time believing that Delon, one of the most handsome men in movies, would have a brother who looked like Palance, one of the most unattractive men in movies, and they never quite seem brotherly to me, but the important thing is that Palance come off as menacing and he does. But even more menacing are Walter's two lowlife associates: Sargatanas (John Davis Chandler, with a creepy ice-cold demeanor, white hair and a vocal delivery that suggests he is always strung out) and Shoenstein (Tony Musante, a thug with missing front teeth). It's really the two of them who bring most of the threatening behavior here. Equally interesting if not terribly important to the plot is Zekial Marko, who wrote the screenplay and original novel, as a small-time hood named Luke who is always under the influence of some illicit drug—his vocal delivery, provided by masterful voice artist Paul Frees, is truly unsettling. Heflin is fine as the world-weary cop who actually does want to do right, despite his prejudice against Eddie. This noir is shot in crisp black & white and has an effective jazz music score; the credit scene focuses on an energetic performance by a jazz drummer in a nightclub, intercut with strange bits of dialogue from audience members. It's certainly predictable and maybe a bit too long, but worth watching, not just for the stars but the supporting cast as well. Other ideas for Alain Delon tribute viewing: PURPLE NOON, LA PISCINE, and L'ECLISSE. [TCM]