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The Man I Love (1947)
In Raoul Walsh's forgotten, noirish melodramatic soap
opera (a classic 'women's picture'), and dramatic character study
- a tale of regret, damaged romance and unhappiness:
- the opening late-night jam session sequence set
in a NY (Manhattan) night club, to introduce hardbitten, tortured,
jazzy torch singer Petey Brown (Ida Lupino) who was singing - with
a smoky voice - the sad Gershwin title tune (dubbed by Peg La Centra)
while sharing her cigarette with the piano player
- the sequences involving Petey's temporary refuge from
NYC at Christmas-time, traveling to visit her three siblings in their
Long Beach, CA apartment: her two sisters - 18 year-old Virginia
'Ginny' Brown (Martha Vickers), and hard-working, downtrodden married
waitress Sally (Brown) Otis (Andrea King) (her unbalanced husband,
ex-Army Sgt. Roy Otis (John Ridgely), was recuperating in a military
hospital from shell-shock), Sally and Roy's young son was Buddy Otis
(Patrick Griffin); also living there was Petey's corrupted and cocky
younger brother Joey Brown (Warren Douglas) (a hired wannabe 'tough
guy' thug)
Petey's Siblings: Brother and Two Sisters
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Tough-Guy Joey Brown (Warren Douglas)
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Sally
(Andrea King)
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Petey's 18 Year-Old "Kid Sister" 'Ginny'
Brown
(Martha Vickers)
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- Joey and Sally were both under the employ of shady,
playboyish, small-time gangster/racketeer and Bamboo Club club
owner Nicky Toresca (Robert Alda) (Sally actually worked in Uncle
Tony Toresca's (William Edmunds) diner-spaghetti-restaurant) -
Toresca was making unwanted, lecherous and predatory advances toward
Sally, even though she rejected him ("I don't have boyfriends");
the feisty Petey took a job as a singer in Toresca's nightclub
to distract and divert the detestable Nicky to herself
- the problems that resulted from Ginny's secret crush
on the across-the-hall neighbor - Johnny O'Connor (Don McGuire) who
was married to neglectful, trampy, irresponsible and flirtatious
Gloria O'Connor (Dolores Moran) - they had baby twin boys that Ginny
and Sally often cared for; party-girl Gloria - who hated being a
mother and housewife ("I'm tired of cooking and taking care
of babies") also became involved in an affair with Toresca;
Petey had a negative opinion about Gloria that she expressed to Sally:
("She wouldn't give you the time of day if she had two watches")
- at the club, Petey's continuing and difficult relationship
with down-and-out, brooding and haunted alcoholic, divorced, and
legendary ex-jazz pianist San Thomas (Bruce Bennett), a Merchant
Marine who still hadn't recovered from the breakup with his ex-wife
("Isn't life difficult enough without mixing it up with memories?");
Petey's relationship with him temporarily ended and she turned spiteful
when his ex-wife Amanda Chandler returned home to the LA area and
his interest waned in her (Petey told him: "I don't feel like
sharing you with her...I'm not sharing you at all, San, and that's
final!"); however, they still saw each other
- a major tragedy occurred one evening, when Toresca
ordered the neighbor's sloppy-drunk party-girl cheating wife Gloria
O'Connor to leave his place after she tried to force herself on him;
Toresca strong-armed Joey to drive her home:
"Get her outta here!"; during the drive, Gloria foolishly
jumped out of the car on the busy highway, and as Joey watched in his
rear-view mirror, she was run over by an oncoming vehicle - she was
instantly killed; afterwards, Toresca refused to take any responsibility
for the death, and compelled the bungling Joey to take the blame: ("This
is your rap!...You're the one that got me into this mess, and you're
the one that's gonna get me out"); Petey intervened and confronted
Toresca in his office about what had just happened; she tried to bribe
him to keep quiet about the circumstances of Gloria's death (and her
brother Joey's involvement and responsibility); he agreed only if she
would return to him: ("Grow up, baby. Stick with me in my gutter.
We both talk the same language...You're what I want")
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Gloria's Tragic Death
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Toresca To Joey
("This is your rap!")
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Petey's Intervention with Toresca
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- after discussing what to do, Toresca invited Petey
to join him for a nighttime drive ("It'll cool us both off");
as they descended stairs to the garage, they were confronted by
widower-husband Johnny O'Connor seeking revenge against Toresca
for Gloria's death; he wielded a gun and was ready to murder Toresca;
after talking sense to him failed: ("Johnny, don't be a fool...Now
listen, Johnny. I wouldn't care if you got the whole load pumped
into him, but you're too nice a guy. You've got kids to think of.
This'd be murder"), Petey authoritatively delivered a karate
chop to Johnny's wrist to disarm the gun, repeatedly slapped him
across the face, and convinced him to leave without violence: ("Please
go home, will you, please?"); she then turned and threatened
Toresca - challenging him to reveal the truth of Gloria's death
to authorities:
"If you don't call the police and tell them the truth, Nicky,
I will!"
Toresca and Petey Confronted by Johnny O'Connor
With Gun
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- in the gripping, bittersweet final scene, after
most of her family's problems were resolved through her interventions,
and a restored Roy had returned home to Sally, Petey decided to
leave town - (she assured Sally: "Don't you worry about me,
kid. I'll land on my feet, I always do")
- she also said her goodbyes to San who was about to
ship out with the Merchant Marines; she confessed her love to him
during final embraces: ("Oh, San, I do love you. I know you
don't feel the same way. Don't say you do, darling, because nobody
could love two people the way you did her. I'm gonna miss you so");
he couldn't promise her anything, but said he would return:
"And I'll be back...Remember what you once told me when I was
low. All of us are standing in the mud" - she responded: "Some
of us are looking at the stars"; as he touched her chin for a
last kiss, he delivered the film's final line of dialogue: "Here's
lookin' at ya, baby!"; she watched as he boarded the ship and
waved one last time at her, as the gangplank was pulled away; a slight
smile developed on her tearful face while she strode away in the open-ended
conclusion
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Torch Singer Petey Brown (Ida Lupino) in NYC
Petey's Arrival at Brown Household in California on Christmas
Eve
Nicky Toresca's Interest in Waitress Sally
Sally's Angry, Hospitalized Shell-Shocked Husband, Ex-Army
Sgt. Roy Otis (John Ridgely)
Across-the-Hall Neighbors Gloria and Johnny O'Connor
with Twin Baby Boys
Party-Girl Gloria
Petey with Nicky Toresca (Robert Alda)
Petey with San Thomas
(Bruce Bennett)
Petey's Break Up with San
Ending: Petey's Goodbye to Sally
Ending: Petey's Goodbye to San Who Was Leaving for Merchant
Marines
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