Joseph Kearny Superficial drama with a seething, scenery chewing Kirk Douglas playing opposite a seemingly miscast Eleanor Parker as his sweet wife with a dark past. William Wyler director of the masterful The Heiress ('1949) and The Collector (1965) is unable to make the talky and tedious Pulitizer-Prize winning drama interesting, and there is no pacing or atmosphere, and despite the overwrought dramatics there is little excitement. The film is largely confined to one set and the film seems redolent of so many detective TV shows. In its day, Detective Story was considered somewhat daring due to the abortion issue, but the conflict feels forced and pointless. Douglas cannot make sense of his character who seems unduly obsessed with persecuting an abortionist. Despite the Oscar nominations for Wyler, Douglas, Parker and Lee Grant, they all seem to be merely marking time.

pathaniav I am a big fan of film noir from the 50s, and so I picked this for a Sunday evening watch. However, Detective Story does not really fall in that genre. This movie is much more than stylish - it has oodles of substance. The story unfolds largely within the confines of a police station and much of the action occurs within one large room. The pacing is brisk, and most of the characters are introduced fairly early. Kirk Douglas turns in an intense performance as Jim McLeod - a ruthless crime fighting cop who has a stark view of the world as made up of good guys and bad. He and prosecutes all crime, no matter how minor, with a brutal zeal. He does not believe in extenuating circumstances. The first half of the movie leads you to think that you are watching an entertaining crime drama where McLeod is the upright cop who, whilst chafing at the bounds of permissible legal conduct, seeks to bring an influential, wealthy, and well-lawyered crook to justice. In his mind, McLeod has convicted and damned the crook with a ferocious loathing. It is the sudden mid-story twist that brings this film into its own. McLeod's relentless persecution precipitates a personal crisis that will alter his own life forever. In the second half, the movie grapples with surprising emotional intensity with eternal questions - who are we to judge, in damning others do we damn ourselves, and how do we bring ourselves to forgive? I was so engrossed that I postponed my loo break until the very end. This is a fantastic movie - loved it.

jc-osms The detective in question is Kirk Douglas' Jim McGuire, a literally take-no-prisoners detective in a tough New York precinct. His zero-tolerance approach to crime as against the more understanding outlook of his fellow detectives remains topical today of course. The film takes the viewer through a 24 hour time-period in the station and as such can be sen as a precursor of quality TV cop-shows from "Hill Street Blues" onwards.To be sure, it occasionally shows its theatrical origins with its set-bound scenario and occasionally moralistic and speechy dialogue, but for the most part the characters ring true as people rather than types, with their words both street-smart and sharp. It also introduces the tricky subject of back-street abortionist practices, although naturally the word abortion itself doesn't make it past the censor's cut.Stories, characters, scenes and at times, dialogue overlap to give a workaday, vernacular feel to proceedings and the acting throughout is committed and yet natural. It obviously helped that a lot of the supporting roles are filled by cast members of the long-running Broadway play which sourced the film.In the two leads Douglas and Parker are both excellent although their parts are a little unevenly written at times. Those look like real tears they're both shedding however in their climactic scene and while the ending is a touch melodramatic, somewhat contradicting the realism of what had gone before, it at least gets across its moral point with Douglas' last minute conversion to humaneness.The supporting cast are excellent, especially the actors playing the cops, lending a palpable "fly-on-the-wall" feel to director Wyler's proceedings. In conclusion, a fine film, although I wasn't sure if I'd enjoyed a theatrical rather than a cinematic experience by the final reel.

eigaeye It is a testament to the directorial versatility of William Wyler that he could make both a film like 'Ben-Hur', with its grand spectacle, and 'Detective Story', an adaptation of a stage play in which most of the action is conducted within one room of a New York police station. This is a fine film, that never seems stage-bound. How Wyler achieves this is something of a miracle. You hardly notice his camera, you are so absorbed in the human dramas. The story revolves around a crusading detective who seems intent on driving all the evil out of the world single-handedly. He is incorruptible, handsome, witty – and heartless and self-destructive. The story spans a single day in which he seems about to bring off a long-hoped-for arrest, until a family secret and a cunning lawyer cut the legs from under him. The story builds to a terrific climax. Several sub-plots are kept running simultaneously, as various suspects are brought into the station under arrest, but the scenario will cleverly knit these characters together. Kirk Douglas is excellent in the lead role, as is Eleanor Parker playing his wife. But the whole cast should stand and take a bow. Sixty years on, 'Detective Story' still packs a punch.