highway 301 movie review

cult film freak

BETWEEN THE LINES OF CINEMA

Written by James M. Tate / 3/21/2022 / No comments / fifties , film noir or melodrama , richard egan , steve cochran , warner archives

Steve cochran gangster noir review of 'highway 301'.

Steve Cochran will be no stranger in the months to come. From playing heavies in popular Film Noir flicks like THE DAMNED DON'T CRY to heroes in b-pictures like our popular "thiral" review of  QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS , and plenty of others spanning two and a half decades... Let's begin with a quick summary of one of his more blunt, by-the-numbers Noir movies that features, within his shadowy gang of hat-donning hoods, the actor who'd play Joan Crawford's straitlaced husband in the aforementioned DAMNED, Richard Egan, his character introduced by name through a stern, steady narration following eerie, monotone real life politicians, seated behind their desks, lecturing the audience how Crime Doesn't Pay ... 

The wonderful contradiction of the Noir genre often has a moral lesson upfront for a minute or two, followed by a 90-minute dreamlife of sometimes handsome/always cocky, gun blasting hoods... 

Stealing plenty and spending plenty more: on booze, cars, or gorgeous dames, although Steve Cochran's heavy, George, is so overpowering, unapologetic and extreme it'd be difficult if impossible to imagine oneself to be in his ultra cruel shoes...

In one scene sneaking from an elevator to blast his moody moll down a hotel stairwell, leaving the only vulnerable character in a young, kindhearted French girl hooked up with the nicest (and youngest) member of the outfit... 

Collectively a sneering mob who pull off a rushed heist and, basically, the rest of the picture they're chased by cops, thrusting HIGHWAY 301 into more of the action category than the usual thriller template...  It's just too bad Cochran's villain is so downright evil and one-dimensional. Hell, even Big Ed from WHITE HEAT had... heart... kinda... 

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Highway 301 Reviews

Enjoyable action-filled B film crime drama that wants us to know that crime doesn't pay.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Feb 3, 2011

Highway 301

William P. Lane Jr. (Self - Maryland Governor) John S. Battle (Self - Virginia Governor) W. Kerr Scott (Self - North Carolina Governor) Steve Cochran (George Legenza) Virginia Grey (Mary Simms) Gaby André (Lee Fontaine) Edmon Ryan (Detective Sergeant Truscott) Robert Webber (William B. Phillips) Wally Cassell (Robert Mays) Aline Towne (Madeline Welton)

Andrew L. Stone

Led by a psychopathic killer, a vicious gang of armed robbers terrorizes Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, robbing banks and payrolls and murdering anyone who might identify them.

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Highway 301

Film Details

• Articles & Reviews

Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, andrew stone, steve cochran, virginia grey, robert webber, technical specs.

In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the members of a gang known to the police as the Tri-State Gang because they have robbed banks in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, are spotted switching cars during a getaway. The farmer who saw them is able to identify the make of the second car and the first few letters of the license plate. The police have been unable to identify any of the gang members, who are George Legenza, William B. Phillips, Robert Mais, Herbie Brooks and Noyes. All have long police records, but received only light sentences. Now, the police hope the license plate will eventually lead them to the criminals, and a special group, headed by an investigator named Truscott, is put together to pursue them. That evening, the robbers celebrate with their wives and girl friends. Madeline Walton, Legenza's girl, is tired of life with a criminal, but when she begs Legenza to get out of the business, he brutally silences her. Phillips is newly married to Lee Fontaine, a French-Canadian woman who knows nothing of his real profession. The disgruntled Madeline drops broad hints to the truth, further angering Legenza. Realizing that she is in danger, Madeline tries to run away, but Legenza follows her and kills her. Lee blames herself for Madeline's death and begs Phillips to leave the gang. He promises that after they pull one more big job, he will return to Canada with her. Legenza, who has been tipped off to a shipment of two million dollars at the Richmond mint, kills one of the guards during the robbery, and the police set up roadblocks on the surrounding roads. The gang quickly discovers that the money, which was being returned to the mint for burning, has been cut into pieces, and after the gangsters pass the roadblock by hiding in a shipment of eggs, Legenza kills the tipster. When they return to the waiting women, Lee is extremely upset, causing Legenza to suspect that she might be a danger to the gang. Outside the apartment, a routine police check identifies the gang's car from the partial license number. They wait in the street for the gangsters to appear, and during the ensuing shootout, Phillips is killed. Legenza returns to the apartment, where Mais, his girl friend, Mary Simms, and Lee have remained. On Phillips' body, the police find several pictures of Lee. They investigate Phillips' acquaintances, and one of the policemen involved in the shootout identifies Legenza's photograph. Meanwhile, the remaining gangsters go into hiding. Realizing that Phillips' death leaves her vulnerable, Lee tries several times to escape, but is always stopped by Legenza. Finally, when he goes out to get something to eat, leaving Mais to guard her, Lee manages to escape from the apartment, but is spotted by the returning Legenza, who pursues and shoots her. The following day, Mary learns from a radio broadcast that Lee is not dead, but is in a coma. Legenza decides to finish the murder and sends Mary ahead to assess the situation. In the hospital, Mary pretends to be a reporter and, after she learns Lee's room number, telephones Legenza with the information. Her questions raise Truscott's suspicions, and she is arrested after her story breaks down under interrogation. There is a shootout when Mais and Legenza arrive at the hospital, and Mais is killed, but Legenza escapes. Later, the getaway car crashes, and again Legenza crawls away, but is killed by a train when he collapses on the tracks. The police conclude that the whole situation could have been avoided if the criminals had not been treated so leniently at the beginning of their careers.

Wally Cassell

Aline towne.

Richard Egan

Edward Norris

Charles mcavoy.

Mary Alan Hokanson

Frank meredith.

Howard Mitchell

Robert strong, perc launders, paul mcguire.

Ralph Montgomery

Jack dawson, charles conrad, william j. cartledge, mervin williams, charles marsh, ed peil sr., jack sterling, charles regan, guy kingsford, luther crockett.

Charles Sullivan

Lyle Latell

Lewell enge, donna gibson.

Russ Conway

George magrill, dick bartell, bill white jr., joanne tree, barbara wooddell, john mcguire, charles sherlock, ezelle poule, john morgan, bert davidson, eileen coghlan, betty finley, carl guthrie, oren haglund, leo k. kuter, william lava, armour marlowe, charles maxwell, c. a. riggs, highway 301 -.

The film's working titles were The Tri-State Gang , Road Block , The One Million Dollar Bank Robbery , The Two Million Dollar Bank Robbery, and The Big Stickup . Andrew Stone's onscreen credit reads "Written and directed by." This film marked Gaby Andre's American film debut. The film is introduced by the governors of Maryland, William P. Lane; Virginia, John S. Battle; and North Carolina, W. Carr Scott, who attest to the factual basis of the film and emphasize that crime does not pay. The film uses a semi-documentary style. No credits appear until the end of the film and, as the Variety review notes, "Casting uses faces that are not too well established for most of the characters, sharpening documentary effect." Some scenes were shot on location at Union Station in Los Angeles.

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Highway 301

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Cast + Crew

Andrew L. Stone’s Highway 301 tells the true(ish) story of the “Tri-State Gang” through a semi-documentary lens; in fact, the film opens with brief statements from not one, but three state governors whose citizens were impacted by the violence (about the film, one states, “I congratulate Warner Brothers for producing it”). With the support of Warner’s high production values, Steve Cochran shines as the beastly, psychopathic ringleader George Legenza, who makes Cochrane’s Eddie Roman in The Chase (1946) look like a pussycat, and who, from time to time, gets bored of killing innocents and turns his gun on his own women. The most suspenseful sequences, in fact, involve Legenza appearing at his girlfriend Madeline’s (Aline Towne) apartment while she packs to leave town, and when Lee (Gaby Andre) escapes the dark room where she’s been contained and escapes through the empty nocturnal streets with Legenza hot on her tail. (In some ways, the terror in these scenes presages the slasher movies of the 70’s and 80’s). Top-notch cinematography works seamlessly with William Lava’s near perfect orchestral score: note how the woodwinds add tension to Lee’s expressionistic escape.

By Michael Bayer

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Highway 301.

1950 Directed by Andrew L. Stone

The whole blazing story of the Tri-State murder mob!

The "Tri-State" gang goes on a successful bank robbing streak causing local authorities to turn up the heat on the daring career criminals.

Steve Cochran Virginia Grey Gaby André Edmon Ryan Robert Webber Wally Cassell Aline Towne Richard Egan Edward Norris William P. Lane Jr. John S. Battle W. Kerr Scott Ezelle Poule

Director Director

Andrew L. Stone

Producer Producer

Writer writer, editor editor, cinematography cinematography.

Carl E. Guthrie

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Oren Haglund

Art Direction Art Direction

Leo K. Kuter

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Armor Marlowe

Composer Composer

William Lava

Sound Sound

Warner Bros. Pictures

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

German English

Alternative Titles

Der Panther, Carretera 301, Témoin de la dernière heure, La banda dei tre stati, Estrada 301

Releases by Date

01 dec 1950, releases by country.

83 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by sakana1 ★★★ 5

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

At its core, Highway 301 is copaganda, featuring on-screen endorsements from the governors of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, and ending with a plea for harsher sentences because "you cannot be kind to congenital criminals like these."

In between the endorsement and the triumphant closing (they all died, good job cops!), a pretty good crime film plays out, highlighted by Steve Cochran — who TCM says was "Jack Warner's idea of a guy women can't resist," something which tells us a whole lot about Jack Warner — as George Legenza, the cold-blooded leader of a criminal gang.

The story beings with Legenza's gang robbing a bank, and proceeds from there through their almost-rise and inevitable fall. Also in the gang…

Review by theironcupcake ★★½

"You cannot be kind to congenital criminals like these. They would show you no mercy. Let them feel the full impact of the law!"

It took over a week for me to finish this darned film. Why, you ask? Well, like the good daughter that I am, I bought a stack of DVDs for Mother's Day, which made Mom happy since I made sure to include one of her faves, Steve Cochran, in the low-budget noir Highway 301. Two-thirds of the way through the experience, however, our ancient Sony player that has served us pretty well for 15 (?) years, at least until recently - and had been bought cheap at a Costco for under $40 - finally bit the…

Review by Allison M. 🌱 ★★½

Highway 301 has a boring set up, but there's a cool shot of the gangster looking in side mirror checking on the cops. Besides the cinematography, there's not much to differentiate this one from any other noir.

Vegan alert: Egg truck

Review by Quiller ★★★ 1

Steve Cochran gives a compellingly ruthless performance as the leader of the real-life Tri-State Gang , a Depression-era group that conducted a series of armed robberies in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. (In this film, the gang’s activities have been updated to the late 1940s and relocated to North Carolina. Unlike most of the later movies writer-director Andrew L. Stone made independently on location with his wife Virginia, this one was shot mostly on Warner Bros’ backlot.) Early on, Cochran murders his girlfriend (Aline Towne), who has had enough and tries to sneak out on him. That cold-blooded killing primes viewers to expect the unexpected, and Stone follows through. Cochran never bats an eye at any of the violence he participates in,…

Review by More_Badass ★★★½ 1

So tough-as-concrete hardboiled that it’s prefaced by three separate governors preaching how crime is bad and doesn’t pay.

Highway 301 is cops-&-robbers pure and simple: half trigger-happy bank robbers versus dogged detectives, half woman-trapped-with-ruthless-crooks suspense. In terms of plot and presentation, this is pretty standard fade that’s elevated by its mean punchy pulp, moments of shockingly brutal violence, and effective tension in the latter sections. Steve Cochran‘s coldly vicious gangster takes this up a notch too.

Review by Alex Olivier ★★★★

16mm at the Video Archives micro cinema.

The beginning of the film is a little episodic and scattered, so it took some getting into, but once we were rolling, this thing was cooking with gas. The late sequence especially leading into the climax was one of the most thrilling ramp-ups of stakes, and that climax was explosive and fantastic.

Review by mattstechel ★★½

Dry but not unengaging bank robbery gang movie done in a docudrama style complete with narration and an intro that has three different state governors telling us that crime doesn't pay in their respective states! It's kinda amusing that each gang member has a girlfriend on the run with them....one of whom is obsessed with the radio ("Hey Who Took My Radio?!?!?" she intones at one point when they have to hastily flee a hotel and she can't briefly find it)One of them gets killed in a really cool scene where she runs up a flight of stairs in another hotel thinking she's outsmarted the guy after her only to get plugged by the guy stepping right outta the elevator…

Review by AsphaltJunglist ★★★½

Despite the terrible decision to open the film with 4 minutes (that feel like 10) of real-life governors of 3 states stiffly giving monologues about the movie to come, once the action kicks in this is a pretty tense and tight little noir thriller with some solid performances. Steve Cochran is perfectly cast as the menacing psychopathic head of the “Tri-State Gang,” pulling elaborate heists and killing anyone for any reason with impunity. Virginia Grey also shines as the moll faithful to the gang to the end, who lives for her portable radio and never hesitates to speak her mind. Special notice due for Carl Guthrie, an unsung but highly prolific cinematographer whose deep dark photography here complements Andrew L.…

Review by Larry_Gopnik ★★★★

It brings to mind Walsh's style and sequence building, but not his themes and characters; or, to put it another way, it's a pretty tight Warner thriller. We'll always follow the character who does the step by step process of sneaking in, running away, watching out for something or whatever is happening, which allows for a show of precise filmmaking.

Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★

True crime film from the Andrew and Virginia L Stone couple. Sometimes particularly in the early going one wishes they have more of Phil Karlson pulp verve, but eventually their very process oriented action pays off. There’s a terrific woman in peril scene two thirds in that makes very good use of their careful slow going approach.

Review by Will ★★★★

Lean, violent noir. Shame about those unfortunate PSA bookends. Really great action-suspense filmmaking - the hide and seek escape through the city is one of the best sequences I’ve seen in a film all year. “Goin’ someplace, sweetie?”

Review by Liz P ★★★½

16mm at the Video Archives Cinema Club

The film (seemingly) begrudgingly having several politicians speak out against crime in the beginning, was an unintentionally hilarious choice. "CRIME DOES NOT PAY!" A part of me wants to now make a crime film and get a bunch of crooked politicians to do an intro for it.

It has its meander-y moments, but it's kind of nice seeing a mob movie where they're not really portrayed as "cool guys." Lots of domestic violence and misogyny, but Virginia Grey shines as a smart, capable woman. Steve Cochran is a pretty mean, scary villain. A couple of pretty tense scenes.

I'm pretty impressed with the sound insulation of the Video Archives Cinema Club. I didn't hear any bleedthrough from Civil War being played right next door. I did hear some sirens, but that just made me feel like I was watching it in 4D.

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Produced by, highway 301 (1950), directed by andrew l. stone.

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Synopsis by Hal Erickson

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Highway 301

• Led by a psychopathic killer, a vicious gang of armed robbers terrorizes Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, robbing banks and payrolls and murdering anyone who might identify them.
• During the late 1940s, a gang of armed-robbers, known as The Tri-State Gang, terrorizes banks and payroll-vans in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. The five members of the gang, all of whom have long police records, are George Legenza, William B. Phillips, Robert Mays, Herbie Brooks and Noyes Hinton. The gang leader, George Legenza, is particularly vicious and cold-blooded in killing robbery-witnesses as well as bank guards. During a bank robbery, a witness notices the get-away car's license-plate but only partially. The police sets-up road-blocks and verifies the identity of all persons fitting the robbers' description as well as their car's partially-known license-plate, model and color. A special police unit, led by Detective Sgt. Truscott, is tasked with apprehending the robbers. All five mobsters have girlfriends to pass their spare-time but these women are not aware of the gang's criminal activities. When one of the girlfriends, a Canadian, gets wind of these crimes, she tries to break-up her relationship with the 'boys' and run away. The gang leader, fearful of her ratting them out to the cops, doesn't hesitate to shoot her. However, she survives the shooting and is taken to the hospital where the police guard her in the hope of interrogating her. Legenza, upon finding out that she's not dead, decides to go to the hospital to finish her off. But the hospital is closely guarded by Sgt. Truscott's men and a shoot-out with Legenza ensues, followed by a car chase through the city streets and ending at the rail yard. — nufs68
• George Legenza, William B. Phillips, Robert Mays, Herbie Brooks and Noyes Hinton comprise who are known as the Tri-State Gang, the three states in question being Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Their criminal activities are primarily in the realm of bank robberies and/or robberies of institutions solely for the cash. While the members of the gang are yet unknown to the authorities - Detective Sergeant Truscott who is the lead investigator into their criminal activities - they operate in the open, i.e. without covering their faces, as they will not hesitate to eliminate anyone who can or at least threatens to identify them, which generally means once in the fold, one cannot leave the operation voluntarily. Beyond each having a criminal record and looking the part of the gangster in being well-dressed, each is different in personality, George, the leader, the most volatile in being the least hesitant to use his gun to kill. While not generally involved in their operations, most of their girlfriends know of their criminal activities, the sole exception being Bill's new bride, French-Canadian Lee Fontaine who believes she married a traveling salesman. Her entry into the group may cause some issue in placing Bill in the middle, he who vows to protect her at all cost, while George, who is attracted to her himself despite having a girlfriend, Madeline Welton, of his own, will protect the gang, but most specifically his own hide, at all cost. — Huggo

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Highway 301 Reviews

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A gang of murderous bank robbers run wild throughout Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, killing anyone who stands in their way.

A gritty and often violent cops-and-robbers film as seen through the eyes of the robbers. The film chronicles the crime spree of the Tri-State Gang, made up of Cochran, Webber, Egan, and Cassell. The film plods through its opening minutes as the governors of Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland give speeches against crime. The story then moves into the gang's activities as they pull off a successful bank robbery. The film follows the group, accompanied by their molls, Grey, Andre, and Towne, through crimes, chases, gunfights, and violent deaths as the members are killed one by one, proving that crime does not pay.

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

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HIGHWAY 301

• Post author: eenableadmin
• Post published: August 5, 2019
• Post category: Uncategorized

(director/writer: Andrew Stone; cinematographer: Carl Guthrie ; editor: Owen Marks ; music: William Lava; cast: Steve Cochran (George Legenza), Virginia Grey ( Mary Simms ), Gaby Andre ( Lee Fontaine ), Edmon Ryan ( Detective Sgt. Truscott/Narrator ), Robert Webber ( William B. ‘Bill’ Phillips ), Wally Cassell ( Robert ‘Bobby’ Mais ), Richard Egan (Herbie Brooks), Aline Towne ( Madeline Walton ), Edward Norris ( Noyes Hinton – Gang Driver), Lyle Latell ( Police Officer Murray), Paul Maxey (Earl, inside man), Bill Cartledge (Elevator Boy) ; Runtime: 83; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Bryan Foy; Warner Bros. Archive Collection; 1950)

“E njoyable action-filled B film crime drama that wants us to know that ‘crime doesn’t pay.’ “

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Andrew Stone (“Julie”/”Cry Terror”/”The Steel Trap”) effectively directs this enjoyable action-filled B film crime drama that wants us to know that ‘crime doesn’t pay.’ It opens with the real life governors of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina saying this crime drama is loosely based on a real crime spree by the Tri-State Gang, operating along Highway 301 in their respective three states, and that this factually based WB docudrama deserves our attention because it can prevent a potential criminal in the audience from a life of crime when they see this film and realize the police mean business going after killers and armed robbers. It ends with all the male gang members killed. Narrator Detective Sgt. Truscott ( Edmon Ryan ), located in Washington D.C., heads the investigation of the gang and through his voiceover we are filled in on the details of their deadly crime spree.

It opens with the bold armed robbery by the gang, wearing no masks, of a bank in Winston-Salem, N.C. The five members include the leader, the psychotic killer George Legenza ( Steve Cochran); Herbie Brooks ( Richard Egan ); Bobby Mais ( Wally Cassell); Bill Phillips ( Robert Webber) and the driver ( Edward Norris). Though the gang has been operating for a long time, the cops get their first important clue when a good citizen reports they switched cars after the bank robbery and gives them a partial license-plate number of their Lincoln.

After the robbery, Legenza eliminates his girlfriend ( Aline Towne) in front of her hotel’s elevator man ( Bill Cartledge) when she becomes too talkative and too much of a risk for the vicious gang.

Much later the gang’s Lincoln is spotted parked in front of their hideaway Richmond apartment by the cops, and Phillips is killed resisting arrest while sitting in the Lincoln by an alert policeman ( Lyle Latell) . Legenza later plugs Phillips’ new naive French-Canadian wife Lee Fontaine ( Gaby Andre ) before she blabs to the cops in her fearful attempt to escape from the gang . But Lee is not dead, only in a coma. This leads to the exciting climax, that has the gang trying to pull the plug on Lee in a Richmond hospital, even though she’s guarded by cops. There’s a shootout in the hospital and a car chase, as the cops get their men and soap opera fan Mary Simms ( Virginia Grey ), Bobby Mais’s gun moll, who was a rod-packing willing crime family member (which gets her a thirty-year stretch in the slammer).

REVIEWED ON 2/3/2011 GRADE: B   https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/

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Highway 301 [1950] Steve Cochran, Virginia Grey

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Highway 301 is an American 1950 Film Noir written and directed by Andrew L. Stone, and starring Steve Cochran, Virginia Grey, Gaby André and Edmon Ryan.

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This article was written on 11 May 2022, and is filled under Reviews .

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armed robbers , crime , Film noir , gang of robbers , highway , mob , Mob thriller , psychopathic killer , thriller , vicious gang

Highway 301 **** (1950, Steve Cochran, Virginia Grey, Gaby André, Edmon Ryan, Richard Egan, Robert Webber, Wally Cassell) – Classic Movie Review 12,115

Richard Egan.

‘THEY SLASHED A CRIME-SCAR ACROSS THE MAP OF AMERICA!’

Writer-director Andrew L Stone’s tremendous 1950 Warner Bros gangster film noir crime drama Highway 301 stars Steve Cochran, Virginia Grey, Gaby André, Edmon Ryan, Richard Egan, Robert Webber and Wally Cassell.

Highway 301 is an astonishingly hardboiled, mean and moody, extremely effective little mob thriller about George Legenza (Steve Cochran)’s Tri-State Gang of robbers and his control of men (Robert Webber, Richard Egan, Wally Cassell) and molls (Virginia Grey, Gaby André). The gang of vicious armed robbers are terrorising and robbing banks and payrolls across the states of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, and their psychopathic killer leader Legenza is quite evidently relishing hitting or shooting any women or men who cross him.

It was rightly considered very tough and even sadistic for its day. Warner Bros must have wondered if they were crossing some lines. We’re going to spend an hour and a quarter enjoying the nefarious lives on these lowlifes before enjoying 10 minutes of seeing them get their comeuppance. But the real-life governors of the three states involved, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, all pop at the start of the film in to say that crime doesn’t pay, so that’s okay then. For example North Carolina Governor W Kerr Scott declares: ‘They started on their reign of terror by robbing the Bank of Winston-Salem in my home state. They realised at the end of their reign of terror that crime does not pay – nor will it ever pay.’

Steve Cochran gives a brio standout star turn as the cold-hearted, dead-eyed Legenza, making an irredeemably awful character mesmerising, Virginia Grey is bight and brassy as his much put-upon moll Mary Simms, and Edmon Ryan is excellent as dedicated head policeman Detective Sgt Truscott, who also acts as the film’s narrator. He gets the last word: ‘You cannot be kind to congenital criminals like these. They would show you no mercy. Let them feel the full impact of the law.’

In its day, the absurdly stern and hollow sounding words of the governors and the police detective’s smug narration and last lines might have undermined the movie, are they are so risibly corny and cheesy, but now they just add to its period appeal.

There are several impressive suspense sequences, including the opening downtown bank robbery and the armored car robbery, as well as the attempted escape of innocent moll Lee (Gaby André), the hapless girlfriend of Bill Phillips (Robert Webber), and the long climax that involves the gangsters’ attempt to kill Lee in the hospital and their attempted escape afterwards. [Spoiler alert] Legenza goes out in a satisfying blaze of glory reminiscent of the old Warner Bros’ gangster movies, with both machine guns and a train going after him to take him down.

It is all very well done. It looks stylish in the black and white by Carl Guthrie, mixing location and studio shots neatly. Stone’s direction is eye-catching, fluid and urgent, and his script is expertly organised, careful and credible, with first-rate work on characters and dialogue. Bill to Lee: ‘Don’t dance with strangers or talk to anyone with a moustache.’ Legenza after slapping Madeline: ‘Just make like you got caught in a revolving door. Well, come on. We’re supposed to be having fun. Enjoy yourself.’

Highway 301 is directed by Andrew L Stone, runs 83 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Andrew L Stone, is shot in black and white by Carl Guthrie, is produced by Bryan Foy and is scored by William Lava.

The title Highway 301 refers to a US highway connecting Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, where the Tri-State Gang committed their crimes, though the route is not mentioned in the film.

It is partly filmed at the crime locations of Winston-Salem, North Carolina (opening downtown bank robbery), and Union Station, Los Angeles (armored car robbery), as well as at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios, California.

It is the film debut of Robert Webber, as Bill Phillips.

The film cost $530,000, and earned $759,000 in the US and $845,000 abroad for Warner Bros for a total of $1,604,000, so it must have been a nice little earner. So crime does pay after all.

The cast are Steve Cochran as George Legenza, Virginia Grey as Mary Simms, Gaby André as Lee, Edmon Ryan as Detective Sgt Truscott, Robert Webber as Bill Phillips, Wally Cassell as Bobby Mais, Aline Towne as Madeline Welton, Richard Egan as Herbie Brooks, Edward Norris as gang driver Noyes Hinton, Guy Kingsford as Police Captain Parker, Lyle Latell as Police Officer Murray, Maryland Governor William P Lane Jr, Virginia Governor John S Battle, and North Carolina Governor W Kerr Scott.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,115

Check out more reviews on   http://derekwinnert.com

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HIGHWAY 301

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Product Description

"For those who select a career of crime, there awaits relentless punishment and prosecution." Cautionary, crime-does-not-pay messages from governors of three states provide the introduction to this brisk blend of gangster and film noir genres written and directed by Andrew Stone (Julie, Cry Terror!). Steve Cochran (White Heat) plays George Legenza, the hot-headed, quick-fingered leader of the Tri-State Gang. The gang is elusive, tight-lipped, and stone-cold murderous. But it's starting to fray from within. And from without, the law is drawing closer. A citizen has reported a crucial piece of evidence -- a partial license-plate number. The hunt is on.

Product details

• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 2.47 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Andrew Stone
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 23 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ December 2, 2009
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Steve Cochran, Virginia Grey, Gaby Andre, Edmon Ryan, Robert Webber
• Studio ‏ : ‎ RKO
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002ZG8PY0
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #54,216 in DVD

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In the galleries: Mixing the macabre with views on mortality

Also: artists navigate interior and exterior worlds, cabinets convey more than storage, and sculpture evoking the culture of cars and trucks.

Horror movies are a frequent inspiration for the artists who exhibit at Von Ammon Co., a gallery with a strong affinity for pop-culture grotesquerie. But Tim Brawner claims a more historical precedent for the work in his “Feels Like Heaven.” The Brooklyn artist’s recent paintings are inspired by cadaver monuments, memorial sculptures that emerged in Europe in the Late Middle Ages. The statues portrayed the departed’s forsaken bodies as rotting into skeletal remains — while their souls, presumably, achieved immortality.

Brawner also draws from edgy mid-20th-century comics, whether mainstream or underground, for his disturbing portraits. These are rendered with traditional brushstrokes mixed with airbrush technique more typical of commercial illustration, and decorated with tiny dabs of paint that suggest costume jewelry. The painter’s monstrosities glimmer with high-fashion adornments.

The subjects aren’t quite cadavers, but they sometimes bear serious wounds or feature bony details, such as the flesh-stripped hands of a pink-uniformed nurse making an apparently agonized crawl across sandy terrain. Other characters have partly transformed into snakes or are flanked by stony batwings.

Death annihilates human vanity in medieval cadaver monuments, but egotism proves more resilient in Brawner's contemporary New York. The artist jumbles terror and glamour in upscale but macabre vignettes: A woman with a rotting face contemplates a gourmet meal and a skull-headed figure hoists a drink at a fashionable bar. Eternal life no longer seems likely, so it's best to seek heaven on earth, even as your flesh putrefies and slumps from your bones.

Tim Brawner: Feels Like Heaven Through May 5 at Von Ammon Co., 3330 Cady’s Alley NW. vonammon.co . 202-893-9797.

Personal Topographies

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Both Chang and Parent-Ramos portray the human interior, but the former’s subject is psychological while the latter’s is physical. Chang juxtaposes cutout black strands with collages made of foam, fabric and cardboard to convey what her statement calls “topographical maps of the mind.” Parent-Ramos combines ceramics, metal, paper and unruly pigments in a manner that “investigates the microbiome,” according to her artist’s note.

Although she’s the only one of the trio whose artworks are literally flat, van Brakle is just as concerned with depth and space as the others. The central structures in her landscapes tend to be scaffolds, trellises and fences — things that enclose an area without filling it. The eye is drawn to these lattices, but also can look right through them, seeking to perceive the vast, invisible realms beyond.

Personal Topographies Through July 12 at Betty Mae Kramer Gallery, One Veterans Place, Silver Spring. bettymaekramergallery.com . 301-565-3805.

Amelie Haden

The six wooden figures in “Laying Bare,” Amelie Haden’s Honfleur Gallery show, have active inner lives. But then they would, since they’re functioning cabinets as well as human torsos. Half-open doors and pulled-out drawers reveal the interior workings and carnal cravings of these creatures, whose anatomical details are explicitly correct. Within them are such symbolic found objects as semiprecious “family jewels” and a baby-doll “bun in the oven.”

Haden is a Corcoran College of Art and Design graduate who now teaches woodworking in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She clearly can produce a working piece of furniture, but these sculptures are more fanciful than practical. They were influenced by surrealist works such as Salvador Dali’s “ The Anthropomorphic Cabinet ,” a 1936 painting of a drawered person whose form includes limbs and a head, body parts that Haden excludes.

Dali made his human cabinet a nude woman, a common subject of male-dominated 1930s surrealism. Haden is an equal-opportunity carpenter, offering three female and three male sculptures. A roll of condoms is partly stuffed into the top drawer of one of the men, but sex is not the only urge illustrated here. The belly of a male cabinet holds a glass and a bottle of whiskey, while a female one is stuffed with plastic cupcakes, doughnuts and fruit. People may keep such appetites hidden, but Haden’s characters can be pulled open to show exactly what yearnings lurk within them.

Amelie Haden: Laying Bare Through May 3 at Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Marion Barry Ave. SE. honfleurgallerydc.com . 202-631-6291.

Abed Elmajid Shalabi

Most of the stuff Abed Elmajid Shalabi represents in sculpture comes from the near-universal culture of cars and trucks. But the Richmond-based Palestinian Israeli artist transfigures everyday things by reducing them to fragments and rendering them in unexpected materials. The centerpiece of his Hamiltonian Artists show is a cast model of part of a truck bed made primarily of fiberglass-reinforced concrete. The form of the bed is familiar, but it’s made of a substance over which a truck might drive, thus melding a vehicle with its environment.

The title of the show, “When Tomorrow Arrives We Will Love Life,” is taken from a poem by Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwish. Lines from Darwish’s verse may be featured in the text pieces Shalabi makes on metal highway signs coated with a reflective surface. It’s hard to tell, since the artist piles the words on top of each other so some can be read, yet the overall meaning is indecipherable.

Such ambiguity is typical of the sculptor’s work, which alienates items from their ordinary uses. A gasoline-pump nozzle is simulated in glazed ceramic and affixed to a wall. Two essentially identical yellow bucket seats, which look to be plastic but are also ceramic, appear unequal because they’re placed on found pedestals of different sizes. The objects Shalabi scatters around the gallery are recognizable, but they serve as signposts to an unknown journey.

Abed Elmajid Shalabi: When Tomorrow Arrives We Will Love Life Through May 4 at Hamiltonian Artists, 1353 U St. NW. hamiltonianartists.org . 202-332-1116.

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