Carnival Crews

Is the killer a primate hirsute?
A thrill-crazy, violent brute?
Or the eye candy tease
On the flying trapeze?
Or some villainous guy in a suit?



The 3-D horror mystery Gorilla at Large (Harmon Jones; 1954) has a cast that includes Cameron Mitchell, Anne Bancroft, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Burr and Lee Marvin. George Barrows plays the gorilla. Happy Halloween from the hairless apes at LimerWrecks!

Coffee Breakdown

Her fury is sizzling hot
It''ll burn Marvin's criminal blot
When she trots out the java
It's a shot of hot lava
As, in turn, Grahame gives him the pot.


Gloria Grahame and Lee Marvin feel The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953). Next week, Lang's German roots and a few of his silent films.

Male Pattern Scalding

By scalding hot coffee she's scarred
Her beauty indelibly marred
Poor Gloria Grahame's
A hot-headed da'ame
Lee Marvin's a total b'stard.

David Cairns


The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953). David Cairns spills the beans at Shadowplay.

Dial "M" for Marvin

With Marvin as violent cop
the M Squad shot over the top
It's murder and gore
with hot, jazzy score
Chicago, from penthouse to flop


Lee Marvin starred as Lt. Frank Ballinger in M Squad (1957-60), bringing his usual thick lipped, loose limbed insolence and bravado to the role. The crime-ridden TV series was set in Chicago, and was hated by the city's image-conscious mayor, Richard J. Daley. The Chicago footage consists of stock and pick-up shots of Marvin cut into the studio-based material. (Though in a recently aired episode the snow and ice was clearly not in L.A.) You can listen to clips from M Squad's soundtrack (by Count Basie, Benny Carter, John Williams and Stan Wilson) here.

Red Plate Special

The short-order cook in a spoon
is really a communist goon
Providing the scenery
is gal in the beanery,
whose sweaters cause fellas to swoon

Terry Moore, Frank Lovejoy, Keenan Wynn and Lee Marvin as "Slob" in Shack Out on 101 (Edward Dein, 1955), a B movie that serves up commie spies and low comedy in a weird combo platter. In the following clip, Wynn and Marvin compare physiques and Moore delivers the punchline.

Hate Days a Week

On Saturday night we expressed

the violent urge we'd suppressed

All week it was mounting

Six days, but who's counting?

It's Sunday, today we can rest

Lee Marvin and Silvia Sidney in Violent Saturday (Richard Fleischer, 1955).