GIRL ON THE RUN

Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

GIRL ON THE RUN (1958). Director: Richard L. Bare. 

Private investigator Stu Bailey (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) is hired by a man to find a young lady named Kathy Allen (Erin O'Brien), a singer who has changed her name and is working in a nightclub. Bailey doesn't know that Kathy ran off after she witnessed a murder -- a labor leader was shot in a parking lot -- and felt that the police couldn't protect her (a sniper fired into the hotel room where the cops were guarding her). We know the identity of the perpetrator from the first: a district attorney named McCullough (Shepperd Strudwick), who is obviously as dirty as they come. Once Bailey finds out the truth his job is two-fold: protect Kathy (and himself) and ferret out the identity of the murderer and her tormentor. Meanwhile a hit man named Smiley (Edd Byrnes of Reform School Girl) is also on the trail. 

Edd Byrnes as the smiling psychopath

Stuart Bailey was introduced in novels written by Roy Huggins, then appeared on two episodes of Conflict, an anthology series, where he was also played by Zimbalist. Girl on the Run was a telefilm that also served as the pilot for 77 Sunset Strip, the long-running LA-based private eye show. Girl on the Run was released as a theatrical feature in non-USA markets. Although playing a sleazy bad guy in this, there were things about Byrnes' portrayal that appealed to producer William Orr, and when the series started, Byrnes was retained in a good guy role ("Kookie") who shared some of the more benign qualities of the hit man Smiley.  A hilarious aspect to this is that every time Byrnes appears, we hear the kind of sexy music that is usually associated with beautiful babes -- it's weird. Even weirder that the Byrnes "theme" was retained for 77 Sunset Strip! A funny sequence has the hitman laughing at a Daffy Duck cartoon in a movie house.

Erin O'Brian

Despite knowing who the villain is from the first, Girl on the Run has some suspense as Bailey, well-played by Zimbalist, tries to outwit both Smiley and McCullough (well-played by Strudwick). Erin O'Brian also delivers in her role of the somewhat feisty but frightened witness. Harry Lauter (of The Louisiana Hussy) plays a man that Bailey hires to play drunk and annoy Kathy so that he can come to her rescue. Marion Hargove did the screenplay and Howard Jackson composed the score.

Verdict: An interesting intro to 77 Sunset Strip. **1/2. 

REFORM SCHOOL GIRL

Gloria Castillo

REFORM SCHOOL GIRL (1957). Director: Edward Bernds.       

Donna (Gloria Castillo) has an unfortunate home life living with her miserable Aunt Rita (Claire Carleton) and her lecherous, leering uncle (Jack Kruschen). No wonder she decides to go out for a ride with Gary (Wayne Taylor). Unfortunately the driver is Vince (Edd Byrnes of 77 Sunset Strip), and the car they're in is stolen. Throwing Gary and his own date, Josie (Luana Anders), out of the car, he takes off for a wild ride with a resisting Donna, and runs over and kills a man. Frightened of Vince's retaliation, Donna refuses to tell the cops who the driver was, and is sent to reform school, where things, are, if anything, even worse. 

Edd Byrnes and Ralph Reed

Donna finds herself in the Hastings School for Girls, run by Mrs. Trimble (Helen Wallace). There is also a teacher named David Lindsay (Ross Ford), who is doing research on the tough lovelies but who is unlikely to inspire romantic feelings in any of them. Donna earns the enmity of some of her fellow inmates, including Roxy (Yvette Vickers, who looks like crap in this). Things get worse when the devious Vince has a lady pal call the police pretending to be Donna, and she gives Josie's name to them -- Josie winds up at the Hastings School herself and with the help of the other girls, who hate snitches, decides to get even with Donna. Donna's only friends are Ruth (Jan Englund) and Jackie Dodd (Ralph Reed), a nice boy who sneaked inside the gates to go on more than one date with her. Vince forces Ralph to show him the way inside, but Ralph may have other plans. 

Yvette Vickers and Ralph Reed

Reform School Girl is a modestly entertaining flick with a good lead performance by Castillo [Invasion of the Saucer Men]. Vickers [Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman] is typically zesty, most of the other gals play with vitality, Edd Byrnes overacts a bit but is sufficiently nasty, and Ralph Reed makes an appealing "good boy" to counterbalance Byrnes' snake in the grass. Sally Kellerman has a small role as nasty, violent Marcia; she seems to literally tower over the other girls. Bernds also directed High School Hellcats. 

Verdict: "Chicks" in the hoosegow. **3/4.