Peak Lee Marvin vs. peak Gene Hackman should be better than this, but the film largely wastes its cast. Marvin is fine -- he mails it in, but he's fine -- while Hackman doesn't have anything to do besides act unhinged and shoot guns. Violent and the meat packing stuff is disgusting, of course. OK.

Our Pal.

Maureen O’Hara can’t dance worth a damn, but her stand-in is fine, and O’Hara hits all the melodramatic beats as the good girl in the wicked city. And she gets that monologue, which should have had men in the audience asking “are we the baddies?”

Lucille Ball perfect gold digger with heart of gold.

Let me know what you think!

Take a look at "Lit" by Tim Sandlin. Dissimilar to Denny Voss in terms of voice and structure, but it's right there with a big heart for its damaged characters that are just holding it together. Loses interest in its own mystery but I forgave it. Superior.