Code Two

Code Two (1953)

Runtime: 69 minutes

Directed by: Fred M. Wilcox

Starring: Ralph Meeker, Robert Horton, Jeff Richards, Elaine Stewart, Keenan Wynn

From: MGM

Thankfully Warner Archive Instant has been fine since its little outage so I was able to see this obscure film, a crime drama about motorcycle cops; I know, awkward with this week's events, but I didn't pick it for that reason; it was more random than you'd think. Anyhow, I'll be back tomorrow night and onto the Letterboxd review:

I decided to watch this random movie tonight (one little seen, at least in this community) as it was on Warner Archive Instant, sounded interesting, and was only 69 minutes long. I do realize that watching a film this week concerning police officers is kind of awkward considering what's currently going on in the United States... but I tried to forget about all that as I saw this random B movie from MGM.

The plot is rather straightforward: we follow a trio of cops who join the police academy at the same time. Russ Hartley is an average dude but Harry Whenlon is a typical buff John Cena-looking guy who you'd imagine as the star quarterback of the local high school football team, while Chuck O'Flair is a cocksure ladies man type. You see them train then pass the academy, only to have menial work to start off. They get bored of that so they sign up to be motorcycle cops, even though it adds a lot more danger to the job. A bad thing happens to one of them while pulling someone over (it involves the theft of cattle, believe it or not) and they're looking for revenge.

The movie-with its brief runtime-moves rather quickly and to me was always interesting from the first half (the training you see the guys do and the little bit of romance that happens with the opposite sex) to the second half, which is the investigative work of tracking down then dealing with the thieves. It was a nice little B movie and I was always amused by Keenan Wynn's character (a Sergeant nicknamed Jumbo) busting O'Flair down to size a few times. There's also a pretty nice action finale. In short, if you enjoy crime movies from the past or even if you just want to see some classic Harley Davidson bikes...

By the way, before anyone asks Code Two is police parlance for an emergency that is non life-threatening and no sirens or lights are to be used, which you do in fact see in the movie.