The explosive pairing of Robert Taylor and Lana Turner in a noir thriller should have crackled, but instead this odd melodrama has questionable pacing and character motivation, working against some fine performances.
Johnny Eager (Robert Taylor) is a recently paroled con who has fooled his parole officer (Henry O'Neill) into thinking he is on the straight and narrow. Eager has a free pass to roam around the city as an honest taxi driver, even secreting a "loving" family in an apartment to cover for him on the occasional surprise inspection. In fact, Johnny is up to his moustache in his old ways, trying to get a dog track off the ground in spite of injunctions and delays. Conveniently, Johnny falls for young sociology student Lisbeth (Lana Turner), who happens to be the step-daughter of Farrell (Edward Arnold), the prosecutor who put Eager in the slammer years before. Eager is a narcissist, using and abusing various "friends" he surrounds himself with, including self-loathing alcoholic Jeff (Van Heflin, in an Oscar winning role). Keeping up the crime-free charade, as well as trying to date the step-daughter of the man who put you away in prison, weighs on Johnny, and his world begins to crumble around him.
"Johnny Eager" is one of those films that couldn't be remade today because modern technology would expose the central character's ruse almost immediately. Giving an ex-convict free rein to toodle around town, checking in with his naive parole officer isn't very believable in this film, much less today. Eager and Lisbeth barely make eye contact before they are in each other's arms, breathing heavy and pitching woo. While the performers Taylor and Turner have outstanding chemistry, the characters Johnny and Lisbeth do not, resulting in a pretty ridiculous scene where Eager guarantees he will get his dog track.
Screenwriters John Lee Mahin and James Edward Grant can't decide if Johnny is an anti-hero or not, and his entourage's devotion is hard to understand. Heflin turns in a memorable performance, but it seems like his character should be in a Method acting-filled Elia Kazan film, not a fast-talking melodrama with outlandish plot points. LeRoy does well by his small budget, there's a nice car accident and a final shootout that really highlight his talent behind the camera, but there are also deathly dull scenes, filled with some supporting and bit players who look too much alike and don't have enough screen time for the viewer to care once they are either rubbed out or framed or remain on Eager's good side.
Taylor has the gravitas to carry the film, he's in almost every scene, so while my rating is middling, I would slightly recommend "Johnny Eager."
Not Rated by the MPAA, but contains gun violence, some physical violence, mild adult situations, and strong tobacco and alcohol use
