The Come On
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''The Come On'' is a 1956 American
film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
directed by Russell Birdwell and starring
Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway theatre, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe, and t ...
,
Sterling Hayden Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor, and Marine. A leading man for most of his career, he specialized in Westerns and film noir throughout the 1950s, in film ...
and
John Hoyt John Hoyt (born John McArthur Hoysradt; October 5, 1905 – September 15, 1991) was an American actor. He began his acting career on Broadway, later appearing in numerous films and television series. He is perhaps best known for his roles in th ...
.. It was distributed by
Allied Artists Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...
.


Plot

While fishing on a Mexican beach Dave Arnold (Sterling Hayden) meets beautiful Rita Kendrick (Anne Baxter). Dave turns on the blonde resolutely and purposefully. It seems, the both are immediately drawn to each other. A first date is easily fixed, but very soon Rita ends it and leaves the perplexed Dave's fishing boat, after she asked him to kiss her. What Dave doesn't know so far: Rita is married. She and her significantly older husband are a criminal couple. He witnesses a staged marriage scene in the nearby restaurant: Harley Kendrick feigns drunkenness, behaves exceptionally rudely and slaps his wife. Dave intervenes and punches the drunk, who is then brought to the houseboat by an older man, a holiday acquaintance with whom Harley had befriended. This man is scheduled to walk in a trap. In fact, as planned, he offers Rita money and an alternative apartment for her divorce. Afterwards, the couple - Kendrick had overheard the conversation - wants to blackmail him for this offer, whose motivation seems clear to everybody. But now it turns out that Kendrick's actual jealousy was incited by Dave's action at the restaurant. Rita, revealing the truth about her criminal connection to Kendrick, begs Arnold to murder her abusing husband but he refuses. Upon learning that he has been cuckolded, Harley Kendrick (John Hoyt) fakes his own death by exploding a boat in the hopes of framing Rita for the murder. The sleazy detective (Jesse White), formerly engaged by Kendrick, clears Rita's name officially, but then he begins blackmailing her with the affair she has been having. She stops that game by murdering him. Dave and Rita flee to
La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
, Mexico. Shortly after, she is shocked to discover that her husband is still alive. Finally, the love triangle meets upon the beach where Rita shoots her husband. As he dies he shoots her back. Rita dies in Dave's arms.


Cast

*
Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway theatre, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, Golden Globe, and t ...
as Rita Kendrick *
Sterling Hayden Sterling Walter Hayden (born Sterling Relyea Walter; March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986) was an American actor, author, sailor, and Marine. A leading man for most of his career, he specialized in Westerns and film noir throughout the 1950s, in film ...
as Dave Arnold *
John Hoyt John Hoyt (born John McArthur Hoysradt; October 5, 1905 – September 15, 1991) was an American actor. He began his acting career on Broadway, later appearing in numerous films and television series. He is perhaps best known for his roles in th ...
as Harley Kendrick * Jesse White as J. J. McGonigle *
Wally Cassell Wally Cassell (March 3, 1912 – April 2, 2015) was an Italian-born American character actor and businessman. Early years Wally Cassell was born as Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini Rolando Vincenza Castellano. (A 1951 newspaper article gives C ...
as Tony Margoli *
Paul Picerni Horacio Paul Picerni (December 1, 1922 – January 12, 2011) was an American actor in film and television, perhaps best known today in the role of Federal Agent Lee Hobson, second-in-command to Robert Stack's Eliot Ness, in the ABC hit televisi ...
as Assistant D.A. Jannings * Theodore Newton as Capt. Getz *
Tyler McVey William Tyler McVey (February 14, 1912 – July 4, 2003) was an American character actor of film and television. Early years McVey was born Bay City, Michigan, to William David McVey and his wife, the former Jessie Arvilla Tyler. His moth ...
as Detective Hogan


See also

*
List of American films of 1956 A list of American films released in 1956 '' Around the World in 80 Days'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture. A-B C-D E-I J-M N-R S-Z Documentaries and serials See also * 1956 in the United States Sources Footnotes Refe ...


References


External links

* * * 1956 films 1956 crime films American crime films American black-and-white films Film noir Films scored by Paul Dunlap 1950s English-language films 1950s American films Allied Artists films English-language crime films {{1950s-US-film-stub