Deadline - U.S.A. (1952) ***

Release Date: March 14, 1952

Running Time: 87 Minutes

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore, Kim Hunter, Martin Gabel

Directed By: Richard Brooks

If you are looking for a film with a feel good ending where everything turns out for the best for all the heroes, this is not the film for you. This is a more realistic look at what can happen when the founder of a well respected newspaper, The Day,  dies and his heirs’ and widow’s only interest is to turn a quick buck by selling to the nearest competitor. It depicts the upheavals of people’s lives and livelihoods as well as the integrity of the managing editor, Ed Hutcheson (Humphrey Bogart) as he balances an attempt to save the paper from being shut down with the sale as well as the integrity of journalism to tell the truth right up to the end with a story involving the murder of a young woman and the involvement of a racketeer named Tomas Rienzi (Martin Gabel). 

The bulk of the story takes place around the investigative journalism as seen through the eyes of various men working for The Day. That doesn’t mean, though that the drama going behind the scenes at The Day get short shifted though. That bit of drama is ever present throughout the picture as we see some of the staff remain stalwart while others have to take jobs at rival papers to take care of their families. These latter men are looked down on and in one incident, become the source of an in house brawl. Hutcheson is trying to hold all this together while also attempting to keep the paper from the chopping block. His only hope there lies in the hands of the founder’s widow, Mrs. Garrison (Ethel Barrymore), who is the only member of the family not certain selling is the right thing to do. 

The investigation into the murder of Bessie Schmidt leads to racketeer Rienzi through illegal dealings the gangster had with her brother, Herman (Joe De Santiago) in the past. Hutcheson offers money and a safe haven to Herman in exchange for the whole story but that turns out to be more than he can actually offer in the face of Rienzi, whose men saw Herman entering the newspaper offices. The drama boils down to whether Hutcheson can afford to publish what he knows and face the possibility of retaliation for it. 

As mentioned above, this is not the type of film that gives everyone a happy ending. Not everyone is going to walk off into the sunset with all their wants and desires fulfilled. To do so would be to cheapen the drama and undermine the realism of the picture. This was loosely based upon the closing of The New York Sun, a situation that would have still been topical when this film went into production. It also takes some of the story from a biography about the demise of The New York World newspaper in 1931 which folded when the sons of Joseph Pulitzer decided to sell rather than run it. 

I will not spoil the ending of the film other than to say it ends on the right note for the story it is conveying. It is bittersweet and Bogart delivers some powerful lines along the way. We sympathize with him as he faces off against losing his job as well as possibly his life but stalwartly refuses to back down and lose the integrity of The Day. A side story also has him dealing with the loss of his wife, Nora (Kim Hunter), who has left him and is moving on with her life, much to his dislike. These scenes are peppered in throughout and serve to humanize Hutcheson. 

This is a poignant film with a lot to say about organized crime, journalism and personal, as well as business, integrity. It is bolstered by a strong performance by Bogart who takes a character that could have easily been a caricature and made it a well rounded individual filled with determination as well as real human shortcomings. It is as relevant today, with newspapers disappearing worldwide, as it was in 1952. Deadline-U.S.A. has a message and it gets that across in a poignant way without coming across as sermonizing. It also manages to make it entertaining along the way.