Framed

Framed
1975 - Paramount
Directed By Phil Karlson



SYNOPSIS

Southern gambler and bar owner Ron (Joe Don Baker) is convicted sent to prison for killing a sheriff's deputy, though it was a case of self defense. In prison he meets a hit man named Vince (Gabriel Dell) and the powerful Sal (John Marley,) who helps get him out. Once released, Ron goes about finding out who framed him and why. Then Vince shows up and tells Ron someone hired him to kill him.



MY THOUGHTS

A violent revenge tale delivers an action-packed punch!

Framed far exceeds Joe Don Baker's infamous film Mitchell, released just a month later, in every conceivable way. Baker is much more believable here as the greedy, seedy country boy. His role echos many of the wrongly accused protagonists in many of Alfred Hitchcock's films, though the character lives in much more of a gray area and is not much of a hero. This makes him more of a film noir protagonist.

The film is directed by Phil Karlson, who created several noir classics like Kansas City Confidential along with some Bowery Boys films and even Elvis Presley's Kid Galahad. This was the last film he directed.

Gabriell Dell brings much to what would be a throw-away thug role for anyone else. He became a highly talented and much in demand stage actor after quitting the Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys series and studying method acting at the Actor's Studio in New York. He made few films after devoting his life to the stage, but he shines in all of them.

Brock Peters is also great as the one cop who is allied with Joe Don Baker's character. Karlson is clearly making a statement against racism. This film was intended for a southern audience, which was still racially charged in the mid 1970's. Peters' black officer is the only rational cop in the whole department.

Framed is a film that definitely fits in perfectly with many of the small, gritty action films of the 1970's.