Not known for this genre, Blake Edwards' screenplay for Four Star Playhouse's "Welcome Home" is a fine film noir assignment that fits star Dick Powell like a glove.
He portrays Eddie White, on the run from the cops, who visits his tiny (one red light) home town after an absence of 15 years. Story is told in flashback as the cops have caught up with him there and given him 3 minutes to give up or they'll come in shooting.
The cynical, world-weary voice-over by Powell helps set the fatalistic mood, and Edwards' script hook is the character of a young boy, who's dad runs the hotel where Powell is holed up, who idolizes him as a clearly bad influence -a guy who escaped the stultifying small town and made a big (albeit negative) name for himself.
Familiar face character actress Claire Carleton is effective as a bartender, who once had a crush on Powell back in high school and there's a tough yet sentimental scene of Dick visiting his parents and getting slapped down by his mom for turning out bad.
Climax is drawn from movie history as Powell pulls a Cagney -pretending to be going soft in order to save the life of the kid (David Holt, former child actor later famed as a songwriter). It works well in building sympathy for the character but detracts from the previous film noir classicism.
He portrays Eddie White, on the run from the cops, who visits his tiny (one red light) home town after an absence of 15 years. Story is told in flashback as the cops have caught up with him there and given him 3 minutes to give up or they'll come in shooting.
The cynical, world-weary voice-over by Powell helps set the fatalistic mood, and Edwards' script hook is the character of a young boy, who's dad runs the hotel where Powell is holed up, who idolizes him as a clearly bad influence -a guy who escaped the stultifying small town and made a big (albeit negative) name for himself.
Familiar face character actress Claire Carleton is effective as a bartender, who once had a crush on Powell back in high school and there's a tough yet sentimental scene of Dick visiting his parents and getting slapped down by his mom for turning out bad.
Climax is drawn from movie history as Powell pulls a Cagney -pretending to be going soft in order to save the life of the kid (David Holt, former child actor later famed as a songwriter). It works well in building sympathy for the character but detracts from the previous film noir classicism.