Review of The Phenix City Story (1955) by Martin T — 11 Aug 2010

If you watch even a little bit of "The Phenix City Story", you'll know it was based on real events, the circumstances surrounding which are actually quite riveting. It's unfortunate then that the film regarding these events is so clumsy.

After a short "newsreel" (where a reporter interviews some of the actual participants of the story), the film opens with a young man trying to get his girlfriend to quit her job as a dealer in one of Phenix City's several gambling dens.

That Phenix City is in Alabama and both these actors speak with clear and obvious yankee accents is distracting, to say the least. Not only do several of the actors not even attempt an accent, some don't even attempt to act.

The first half of the film is strictly B-movie grade MST3K type stuff. Phenix City, Alabama was once the sin capital (also known as the "wickedest city in the United States") of the United States, long before Las Vegas was even dreamt of.

For 100 years, the "machine" ruled the city, raking in untold cash which, at the time the events of the film took place (early 1950s), added up to millions of dollars a year. Citizen groups occasionally rose up to challenge the mob, but they were usually squashed all too quickly by strong arm tactics and voter fraud.

Yes, Phenix City, from the city hall and police force on down, was totally corrupt and on the take. That is, until John Patterson returned from serving overseas in Germany during the war. John saw his friends beaten and murdered joined in the fight against the mob.

When his father, Albert Patterson, a great and famous attorney saw what his son was involved in, and became convinced he could no longer sit idly by. The father ran for attorney general of Alabama, on a platform that he would clean up Phenix City for good.

It's quite a harrowing tale, and with a substantial amount of shockingly hard-nosed 1950s violence. Cheap sets and bad acting aside, the film is really quite something, although I think the newsreel portion of the film would've worked better as an epilogue rather than a prologue.