Film Music Friday: The films of Gene Hackman.

Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday pays tribute to Gene Hackman, who died in February, including the score for The French Connection (1971; director William Friedkin, composer Don Ellis, screenwriter Ernest Tidyman [author of Shaft]).

Film Music Friday: Chase films, Jerry Goldsmith.

"Top o' the world":
James Cagney in
White Heat (1949)

The latest episodes of Kansas Public Radio's Film Music Friday feature music from chase films (e.g., The Bourne Identity, The Fugitive, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, White Heat) and that by famed composer Jerry Goldsmith (e.g., Chinatown).

Brother Orchid (1940).

When gangster Edward G. Robinson goes up against aspiring mob boss Humphrey Bogart, he is wounded and is cared for by the brothers in a monastery, whose livelihood is threatened by the criminals.

Dancing with Crime (1947).

In Dancing with Crime, a London cab driver and his girlfriend (real-life spouses Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim) take on a gang of criminals when the cabbie's best friend is killed.

The Secret Place (1957).

In The Secret Place, the young son of a policeman (Michael Brooke) becomes entangled with jewel thieves. Belinda Lee, Ronald Lewis, and David McCallum costar. This film was Clive Donner's debut as a director.

Murder by Contract (1958).

Proficient hit-man Claude (Vince Edwards) experiences difficulties when he learns about his next assignment: killing a female witness about to testify in a trial.

"The Petrified Forest" (w/Bogart/Fonda/Bacall, 1955).

Humphrey Bogart as
Duke Mantee,
"The Petrified Forest" (1955)

This 30 May 1955 episode of Producers' Showcase features Humphrey Bogart reprising his 1936 role as gangster Duke Mantee, who takes as hostages Henry Fonda (in the Leslie Howard part) and Lauren Bacall (in the Bette Davis role). Jack Warden, Richard Jaeckel, and Jack Klugman appear in supporting parts. Directed by Delbert Mann, the episode is based on a play by Robert E. Sherwood.

See other related clips:
• Delbert Mann discusses Producers' Showcase, including "The Petrified Forest"

• Jack Klugman talks about working with Bogart and Bacall in "The Petrified Forest"

Illegal (w/Edward G. Robinson and DeForest Kelley, 1955).

Edward G. Robinson and Nina Foch
in Illegal (1955)

In Illegal, district attorney Edward G. Robinson convicts an innocent man (DeForest Kelley) and becomes entangled with racketeers. Costars include Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe, Edward Platt (of Get Smart fame), and Jayne Mansfield. The director is Lewis Allen (The Uninvited, The Unseen, Appointment with Danger, etc.). One of the film's screenwriters is W. R. Burnett (Little Caesar, High Sierra, etc.), adapting Frank J. Collins's play The Mouthpiece (allegedly based on William J. Fallon, a former Westchester [NY] prosecutor and lawyer for Arnold Rothstein and Nicky Arnstein, who was dubbed "The Great Mouthpiece" by the press).

Gangster Story (dir. Walter Matthau, 1959).

Walter Matthau
in Gangster Story (1959)

This low-budget, somewhat stilted film is the only one directed by Walter Matthau, who also stars as a wanted man who becomes involved with a crime syndicate. His co-star is his real-life wife, Carol Grace (who was previously married to William Saroyan).

A Slight Case of Murder (1938).

Based on a play by Damon Runyon, A Slight Case of Murder features Edward G. Robinson as a former bootlegger trying to make a splash in high society but facing complications when four corpses show up in his house.

Chicago Confidential (1957).

In Chicago Confidential, which debuted this month in 1957, DA Brian Keith suspects that a criminal organization is behind the murder of a union figure rather than the person implicated in the crime. Based on the book by journalists Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, the film also stars Beverly Garland and Elisha Cook Jr.

BFI: British gangster films.

BFI's Screenonline looks at nearly 75 years of British gangster films, including Brighton Rock (1947), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), and Mona Lisa (1986).

About the image: Richard Attenborough in Brighton Rock.