Actors: Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Palance, Zero Mostel
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Panic in the Streets
PANIC IN THE STREETS is a Fox production directed by Elia Kazan in 1950. Edna and Edward Anhalt earned for this movie the Academy award in the "Best Writing, Motion Picture Story" category in 1951.
Kochak, Poldi's cousin and an illegal immigrant, has just arrived in New Orleans. On the next day, after having played cards with Poldi, Fitch and their boss Blackie (Palance), Kochak doesn't feel well at all and leaves the room. He's followed by the gang and killed by Blackie who's understood that Kochak has cheated during the game.
In charge of the local Health Service, Dr. Clinton Reed (Widmark) notices, during the autopsy, that Kochak was suffering from the pneumonic plague at the time of his death. Dr. Clinton inoculates everyone who has been in contact with the corpse and asks the Mayor to force the police to look for Kochak's murderers.
Helped by the Police Captain Tom Warren (Douglas), Dr. Reed desperately tries to locate Blackie and his friends and asks the politicians not to give the information to the press in order to avoid a general panic among the population. Meanwhile, in front of the disproportionate involvement of the police forces, Blackie assumes that Kochak was hiding something valuable and is decided to force Poldi to talk. But Poldi starts to suffer from the plague symptoms.
--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
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Analysis of Panic in the Streets
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie Actual chase scenes or violence - 20% Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- doctor
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- average (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- irritated
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- fat (man)
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- non-gory references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- excited
How many deaths in film?
- 3-4
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 1 (None)
Kind of violence:
- guns
Unusual forms of death
- dropped from large heights
Check here if B&W
Yes
