Years ago we shared a poster for I Walk Alone but hadn’t seen the film. Since it’s on the Noir City Film Festival schedule this year we thought we’d have a look, and what we watched was a story about Burt Lancaster being released from fourteen years in prison and immediately looking up his old partner who owes him a 50% share of profits from the bar they owned together. The partner is Kirk Douglas, at his slimy best, having expanded the bar into a glitzy supper club he has no intention of sharing. But since Lancaster got tossed into jail in the first place by protecting Douglas he’s not going to just walk away empty handed. Once it becomes clear he has no legal claim to the club he puts together a crew to muscle in, but the strong arm method doesn’t work out quite how he plans, and the stakes between the former partners go higher and higher. Lancaster, Douglas, Lizabeth Scott—there’s really no way to fail. I Walk Alone has some problems in the area of character motivation—i.e. why would you do that?—but it’s well acted and ultimately is an enjoyable film noir entry.
