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Woman on the Run

1950, Crime/Drama, 1h 17m

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Woman on the run   photos.

After witnessing a murder, Frank Johnson goes on the run to avoid being killed himself. His wife, Eleanor (Ann Sheridan), seems almost apathetic about finding him when questioned by Investigator Harris (Robert Keith), due to a marriage on the rocks. However, after learning that Frank has a grave heart condition, Eleanor recruits reporter Dan Leggett (Dennis O'Keefe) to help track down Frank. Discovering new love for her husband along the way, Eleanor must get to Frank before the killer does.

Genre: Crime, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Norman Foster

Producer: Howard Welsch

Writer: Sylvia Tate , Alan Campbell , Norman Foster

Release Date (Theaters): Nov 29, 1950  original

Release Date (Streaming): Jul 15, 2016

Runtime: 1h 17m

Production Co: Fidelity Pictures Corporation

Cast & Crew

Ann Sheridan

Eleanor Johnson

Dennis O'Keefe

Robert Keith

Inspector Martin Ferris

John Qualen

Frank Jenks

Detective Homer Shaw

Ross Elliott

Frank Johnson

Jane Liddell

Messenger Girl

Joan Shawlee

J. Farrell MacDonald

Sea Captain

Steven Geray

Dr. Arthur Hohler

Victor Sen Yung

Sammy Chung

Norman Foster

Sylvia Tate

Alan Campbell

Screenwriter

Howard Welsch

Cinematographer

Otto Ludwig

Film Editing

Boris Leven

Art Director

Arthur Lange

Original Music

Emil Newman

Critic Reviews for Woman on the Run

Audience reviews for woman on the run.

A treasure that was almost lost to Noir fans if not for the efforts of film preservationists. Shot in San Francisco, Woman On The Run, is a brisk story of a man who witnesses a murder and goes into hiding when he learns the mob is behind the crime. His estranged wife fails to cooperate with police, but instead searches for him herself. The climatic scene is very well filmed by Orson Welles protege, Norman Foster. But, it's the lead performance by Ann Sheridan that is the biggest winner.

woman on the run movie review

Ann Sheridan leads this noir effort as the wife of a man who accidentally witnesses a murder and she hopes to find him after he goes underground. Dennis O'Keefe is a reporter helping. Can they find her estranged husband before the murderer gets him? Lots of great shots of old San Francisco add depth and color. Tension in the Urban Paradise Now.

Wonderfully tough little known noir with a terrifically tense climax.

great poster, great film, great role for ann sheridan as a tough talking dame with a well hidden heart of gold. this is a really underseen noir and it's on internet archive

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Woman on the Run [1950] Review – Shady Figures and a Marriage in Shambles

Norman Foster’s film noir thriller Woman on the Run (1950) is based on a 1948 short story by Sylvia Tate which was intriguingly titled ‘Man on the Run’. While film noir was largely known for its depiction of ‘dangerous femininity’ (realized through ‘femme fatale’ characters), there were few female investigative protagonists. Robert Siodmak’s The Phantom Lady (1944), Henry Hathaway’s The Dark Corner (1946), and Roy William Niell’s Black Angel (1946) featured female central characters who make it their life’s mission to prove the innocence of the persecuted men.

The heroine’s affable quality combined with her independence doesn’t mean that they were allowed to pose challenges to patriarchy. They were rather allowed to rebel and wander freely within certain boundaries. The veiled implications in such film-noirs are to insist on the women’s unwavering ‘devotion’ to husband or the man she loves, and the sacrifices she needs to make before returning to her ‘prescribed’ social role. In Woman on the Run, we witness a listless housewife’s efforts to rekindle the relationship with her estranged husband, and in the process, she must comprehend her ‘faults’.

Woman on the Run

Woman on the Run may sound like a simplistic melodrama on marital discord. Screenwriter Alan Campbell has previously co-written scripts of mesmerizing melodramas like A Star is Born – the earliest version – and Wyler’s The Little Foxes (1941). However, it puts our doubts to rest as it opens on a dark night in San Francisco – the sharp, long shadows darkness of noir atmosphere – with a man getting shot to death. Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) is out walking his dog when he sees the gangland murder of a man, due to give testimony in a court case. The dog barks and the man with a gun shoot at Frank, but fortunately only at his shadow.

Related to Woman on the Run: The Representation of Women in Film Noir

When Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith) questions Frank he swears he can pick up the killer from a line-up. Nevertheless, Frank panics after hearing that the killing was done on the orders of notorious gangster Smiley Freeman. Fearing reprisals, Frank wants no part in the investigation. While the inspector is busy handling the crime scene, Frank decides to go into hiding. But not before naively spilling out his address, which allows the inspector to enquire Frank’s grumpy wife, Eleanor (Ann Sheridan).

Inspector Ferris finds Eleanor cold and cruel in her feelings towards Frank. Their four-year marriage had gone stale for a while, and Eleanor wonders if Frank has run away to escape the failed marriage. The condescending inspector grills Eleanor because her behavior clearly doesn’t befit a ‘traditional housewife’. He addresses the woman’s ‘callousness’ like this: “No wonder the world is full of bachelors”, and he also later shockingly quips, “Mrs. Johnson, didn’t your husband ever beat you?”. In fact, many other men Eleanor meets throughout the narrative suggest her sole job is to always showcase concern for the husband. However, Eleanor gains some kind of independence as she decides it is up to her to find Frank. She actually becomes very concerned about Frank’s hiding, especially after hearing that her husband has a medical condition.

Frank is an artist who thinks the worst about his works. “It takes more than talent to have a career”, laments Eleanor. The steadily declining relationship with Eleanor hasn’t helped him gain confidence. The rest of the narrative isn’t just about Eleanor finding her husband and unmasking the murderer’s identity, but also about the perceptive wife finding out reasons for their marriage’s downfall. Helping Eleanor in her investigation is the nosey, local newspaper guy, Danny Legett (Dennis O’Keefe). Although she initially begrudges the journalist’s tenacity, she works alongside him, visiting Frank’s old haunts and workplace: a job making mannequins. The severity of mannequin’s countenance is ostensibly designed to reflect Eleanor’s harshness.

Legett also promises cash for Frank’s exclusive interview. Things turn interesting when Eleanor gets a crpytic message from Frank that requires her to ponder over their shared past to unearth clues about the place Frank is hiding. The inspector does his best to lock up Eleanor in her house, but she keeps slipping past his custody with Legett. As she meets different people and visits the scenic places around San Francisco, Eleanor learns Frank still loves her and that there are hopes for salvaging their marriage. Of course, she must make sure to find him first before the mobsters (so the title’s not entirely a misnomer).

Woman on the Run

Woman on the Run is definitely a must-watch for film-noir enthusiasts. It contains some brilliant hard-boiled dialogue and dark humor. Frank has named his dog ‘Remembrandt’ because it is the only ‘Rembrandt they can own’. When inspector Ferris questions Eleanor, why the kitchen contains nothing but dog food, she coldly replies, “He’s not particular, and I’m lazy, so we eat out.” On a side note, we can perceive how the house pretty much remains as the metaphor for Eleanor’s marriage with Frank. Or one could say the empty kitchen, sparsely furnished living room, and the grimy, discarded paintings in the attic precisely represent Eleanor’s ‘failure’ as a wife.

One of my favorite lines in the narrative comes towards the end, uttered in the dark shadows of a rollercoaster: “It’s a good spot. I used to come here with my girl when I was a kid. It’s more frightening than romantic. It’s the way love is when you’re young…life is when you’re older.”

Also Read: Laura [1944] Review – An Exceptionally Stylized Noir Mystery

Director Norman Foster was largely known for making the stereotypical ‘Mr. Moto’ and ‘Charlie Chan’ film series. Woman on the Run was probably his best directorial effort as he excellently wrings out tension and tender emotions from locating shooting, moving between the Bay and China-town. From the hilly street terrace in the opening scene to the thrilling final sequences shot on an amusement park close to the beach, Foster and famed cinematographer Hal Mohr (Captain Blood, The Phantom of the Opera, Underworld U.S.A, etc) infuses great force to the proceedings through their gripping application of noir aesthetics. Despite the light-hearted material and a predictable denouement, the visuals certainly overcome the narrative shortcomings to an extent.

The snappy dialogues mixed with amazing location shooting and steely performance from Ann Sheridan does makes Woman on the Run a beautiful, little film-noir thriller affixed with poignant emotionality. But as I have mentioned earlier, the film despite the central female character’s quasi-independence establishes this note: that Eleanor must acknowledge her ‘errors’ and eventually ‘submit’ to male authority. Yet regardless of this imperfect, archaic message, Woman on the Run (78 minutes) is a highly entertaining feature that’s watchable for its splendid black-and-white imagery and agreeable amount of cynicism (it was rescued and restored by the efforts of UCLA Film & Television Archive and Film Noir Foundation).

Watch the full movie on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLtmR7BvIeY

Woman on the Run (1950) Links: IMDb , Rotten Tomatoes , Letterboxd

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Arun Kumar is an ardent cinebuff, who likes to analyze movie to its minute detail. He believes in the transformative power and shared-dream experience of cinema.

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Woman on the Run

woman on the run movie review

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woman on the run movie review

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Eye For Film >> Movies >> Woman On The Run (1950) Film Review

Woman On The Run

Woman On The Run

Reviewed by: Daniel Hooper

Film noir is often described as an atmosphere rather than a genre, a type of story often based on its dark tone rather than specific story conventions – of course, it can be argued that there are genre conventions such as hard-boiled detectives, doomed protagonists, and femme fetales, but though films defined as noir may share these elements, they will often be telling different types of stories. Mildred Pierce is noir in the sense that the narrative is driven by a murder by a femme fetale and, to paraphrase Paul Schrader, it is "defined by its hopeless tone", but even if Mildred Pierce can be described as noir, it is as much a family melodrama exploring the relationship between a mother and daughter.

The little heard of 1950 noir Woman On The Run shares a similar vein to Mildred Pierce, in that the narrative is driven by a crime while the film simultaneously explores a failed relationship. After witnessing the murder of a key police informant, innocent bystander Frank (Ross Elliott) is forced into hiding from the police, who now need him as a witness, and from the murderer. Frank’s ex-wife Eleanor (Ann Sheridan) is the only person who may be able to locate him, after receiving a letter with a cryptic clue based on an event from their relationship. With the help of reporter Danny Leggett (Dennis O’Keefe), she tries to find Frank without drawing attention from either the police or the killer.

Copy picture

The lean narrative runtime keeps the pace fast and though the main plotline is little more than a manhunt, it is given depth by Ann Sheridan’s nuanced performance as a hurt woman forced to confront her past feelings for the artist Frank. That the filmmakers often limit the dysfunctional relationship back-story to exposition heavy dialogue is slightly unsatisfying, meaning Woman On The Run is often guilty of telling but not showing the most interesting part of the narrative.

Despite this omission of Woman On The Run is a solid noir B-movie, backed up by strong performances and noir’s distinctive dark and shadowy style. The climax, however, is astonishing, making great use of the seaside fairground setting with a visually hallucinatory trip on a rollercoaster and introduces a satisfying twist that is logical but not telegraphed. If this standard was consistent throughout, Woman On The Run would be listed as one of the classic noir films but that is the film's major problem – it hints at a greatness that this B-movie production can’t deliver.

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Director: Norman Foster

Writer: Alan Campbell, Norman Foster, based on the story by Sylvia Tate

Starring: Ann Sheridan, Dennis O’Keefe, Ross Elliott

Runtime: 77 minutes

Country: US

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Woman on the Run

Where to watch

Woman on the run.

1950 Directed by Norman Foster

As Startling as Your OWN Scream in the Night!

Frank Johnson, a sole witness to a gangland murder, goes into hiding and is trailed by Police Inspector Ferris, on the theory that Frank is trying to escape from possible retaliation. Frank's wife, Eleanor, suspects he is actually running away from their unsuccessful marriage. Aided by a newspaperman, Danny Leggett, Eleanor sets out to locate her husband. The killer is also looking for him, and keeps close tabs on Eleanor.

Ann Sheridan Dennis O'Keefe Robert Keith John Qualen Frank Jenks Ross Elliott Jane Liddell Joan Shawlee J. Farrell MacDonald Steven Geray Victor Sen Yung Reiko Sato Syd Saylor Tom Dillon Frank Baker Steve Carruthers Spencer Chan Mike Donovan Franklyn Farnum Milton Kibbee William J. O'Brien Tom Quinn Lee Roberts Jeffrey Sayre Sammee Tong Ray Walker Eddy Waller

Director Director

Norman Foster

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Maurie M. Suess

Producer Producer

Howard Welsch

Writers Writers

Alan Campbell Ross Hunter Norman Foster

Original Writer Original Writer

Sylvia Tate

Editor Editor

Otto Ludwig

Cinematography Cinematography

Art direction art direction.

Boris Leven

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Jacques Mapes

Composers Composers

Arthur Lange Emil Newman

Sound Sound

Fred Lau Mac Dalgleish

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Vera Peterson

Fidelity Pictures Corporation

Alternative Titles

Il mistero del marito scomparso, Vittnet som försvann, Femeie pe fuga, Eu Vi Um Crime, Achtervolging in Frisco, O stohos tou dolofonou, Dans l'ombre de San Francisco, Murhaaja etsii itseään, Vidnet der forsvandt, La ronde infernale, 追踪天涯, La fugitiva, Einer weiß zuviel, Na Noite do Crime, Dans l'Ombre de San Francisco

Thriller Mystery Crime

Thrillers and murder mysteries Crime, drugs and gangsters Noir and dark crime dramas Suspenseful crime thrillers Intriguing and suspenseful murder mysteries Heists and thrilling action Violent action, guns, and crime Show All…

Releases by Date

12 oct 1950, 10 nov 1950, 29 nov 1950, 04 feb 1951, 12 mar 1951, 01 jun 1951, 29 jun 1951, 20 jul 1951, 21 jul 1951, 31 jul 1951, 08 aug 1951, 07 dec 1951, 25 jul 1952, 25 feb 2005, 13 jun 2016, 12 sep 2023, releases by country.

  • Physical DVD & Blu-Ray

Netherlands

  • Physical Blu ray
  • Premiere NR Boston, Massachusetts
  • Physical DVD

77 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

covkate

Review by covkate ★★★★★ 3

Noirvember #7 Absolutely top notch from start to finish. There is plenty to say about this but it's past my bedtime and I'm too tired to write properly, so...

1. Razor sharp dialogue 2. Fantastic female lead 3. The dog 4. The camerawork. You want Dutch angles? Fill your boots! 5. Paced to perfection 6. That rollercoaster scene. There are some great moments of tension throughout the film 7. It's enormous fun 8. But it has a lot of heart too

theriverjordan

Review by theriverjordan ★★★½ 21

“Woman on the Run’s” title is only the start of the film’s deceptions. It’s a man, not a woman, who flees under dubious circumstances, and sets the events of the narrative into action. 

In something of a genre twist, though; it’s the woman who instead must go running to save him. 

Directed by Norman Foster, “Woman,” (indeed, originally titled “Man on the Run,”) melds melodramatic influences into the trappings of noir. It’s a callback to the genre’s “Gaslight” heritage, while positioning the film as a later noir entry, which asserts that being a housewife does not exclude a woman from being hardbroiled. 

Ann Sheridan anchors “Woman,” in the sense of the phrase that she seems to grab the ocean floor…

Joe

Review by Joe ★★★★½ 1

"He thought your shadow was you."

Seems at first glance like a typical wham-bam-thank-you-San-Fran crime thriller but I have this nagging feeling there's something more there, about identity and shades of being and stuff like that. In primo golden age Hollywood fashion, though, it doesn't really give you time to ponder these philosophical mysteries because you'll be too busy catching your breath - particularly during the (literal) roller-coaster climax that has to rank as one of the very very best of its type.

Owen

Review by Owen ★★★★½ 2

Ann Sheridan's disillusioned wife spars verbally with cops and reporters while searching for her run away murder witness husband.

There's a lot of Noir going on here and I'll get to that stuff but mainly this movie is flat out fun. The dialogue sparkles and I immediately went looking for what else writer Alan Campbell had done and it's all stuff like A star is born and the Little Foxes (not to mention being married to Dorothy Parker) that suggests the running theme is whip smart bittersweet female leads rather than San Francisco gang murder movies and this film is all the better for the way it is all about Sheridan and the dialogue rather than the plot.

Anna Imhof 🌸

Review by Anna Imhof 🌸 ★★★★ 15

"Should we dance?" "Why don't you drop dead?"

Um, excuse me, but like... why is nobody talking about this gem? It's so good! It might have all the signs and symptoms of a Noir, but you quickly realize that there's so much more to it. Yes, there's a murder in the shadows of the night, but it's also got a quirky inspector (Robert Keith), a cute dog named Rembrandt, wisecrackin' like it's going out of style, and an atmospheric finale at an amusement park. Woman on the Run , lead by a terrific Ann Sheridan, got me anxious, made me laugh, and gave me a lot of feelings over the romance at its core, which is extraordinary because it's so ordinary.…

Slig001

Review by Slig001 ★★★½

An off-kilter crime story where the police treat witnesses like criminals, husbands and wives don't get along and journalists hang around on rooftops. Woman on the Run begins with a man witnessing a murder. He decides to leg it to escape possible retaliation, leading his estranged wife on a chase to track him down. Norman Foster's noir b-movie is powered by a witty script and a fast paced narrarive that keeps the chase moving while building the central relationship between the wife and the largelly absent husband. Their relationship is a strange one, but as the narrative moves along she gradually begins to realise what she's lost as their marriage drifted apart. The focus really is always on the mystery…

sakana1

Review by sakana1 ★★★ 11

According to Film Studies professor Philippa Gates, as quoted on the Wikipedia page for Woman on the Run , the film stands out among noirs because "the heroine's quest is not necessarily complicated by [heterosexual romance ... , in fact] ... love interests are absent for the majority of the story". While this is true to the extent that Eleanore Johnson's (Ann Sheridan) husband Frank is the subject of her quest, and thus is not physically present for most of the film, I would argue that Eleanore's heterosexuality and the expectations placed upon her as a wife are, in fact, the driving forces of the story.

From the moment they meet her, both Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith) and reporter Daniel Legget…

sarah

Review by sarah ★★★½

I feel like every single film should have its climax set in an amusement park, carnival, or circus. They’re already inherently creepy, and think of the visuals! The theatrics! Woman on the Run just combines all my favorite film elements into one highly entertaining noir. Not a bad way to spend 77 minutes.

Fabian

Review by Fabian ★★★★ 2

"Don't you eat anything but dog food?" "He's not particular, and I'm lazy, so we eat out."

Quintessential film noir ingredients come together in this undervalued highlight of the early 1950s: A man witnesses a murder and needs to go into witness protection, but chooses to run from both the murderer and the police instead. His wife, Eleanor, then begins to suspect that her husband actually ran away not to escape the murderer, but to escape their failing marriage.

That premise leads to a 77 minutes short array of carefully plotted scenes, most of which mixed with dark humor that makes this one of the funniest noirs I have ever seen. Ann Sheridan's dry line delivery is incomparable, leading to…

noir1946

Review by noir1946 ★★★½

Despite my affection for noir and B-movies and its rep as a minor classic, I have resisted watching Woman on the Run because of finding Ann Sheridan, Dennis O’Keefe, and Robert Keith rather blah. It turns out to be better than I expected.

“Just like him. Always running away.”

While walking his dog at night, San Francisco artist Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) witnesses a murder, getting a good look at the killer. Fearing retribution, he flees, leaving his wife, Eleanor (Sheridan), concerned for his safety, especially after learning of his heart condition, and cop Inspector Ferris (Keith) frustrated. Newspaperman Dan Legget (O’Keefe) steps in to help Eleanor find her hubby.

The best things about Woman on the Run include how…

laird

Review by laird ★★★★

This movie is firing on all cylinders, but Ann Sheridan's performance, the San Francisco location photography, and the whipcrack screenplay are probably the most standout aspects. Every minor character, be it a cranky second hand store clerk or a low ranking detective, is infused with wit and snappy dialogue. The real world will sound dull and lifeless when you walk out of this movie. It hurtles along at breakneck speed with a few little twists that thankfully are withheld until late in the 77 minutes. On this rare occasion I get to say, "I wish this movie was longer," because if I can cite a major flaw it's that the climax has a great build-up that feels rushed right when…

Channing Pomeroy

Review by Channing Pomeroy ★★★★

A witness to a murder is on the run from the killer. His wife seems to want to make sure if the killer doesn’t get him, then the stress will. This is a charcoal-dark portrait of a marriage, and a clever twist on the detective story as a vehicle to sift through the ashes of a marriage, and to rekindle them. It’s also a vehicle for Anne Sheridan and Dennis O’Keefe to travel the streets of San Francisco exchanging wise-assery. I’m sure co-writer Alan Campbell learned a few things about wise-asses and troubled marriages being Mr Dorothy Parker for seventeen years.

Director Norman Foster, Orson Welles’ sorcerer’s apprentice on Journey into Fear , uses many of the tricks from the master’s truck. He makes great use of San Francisco locations to construct a noir labyrinth and gives us a thrilling roller coaster climax.

Noir Alley April 4, 2019

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Woman on the Run

Woman on the Run

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Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, norman foster, ann sheridan, dennis o'keefe, robert keith, ross elliott, john qualen, photos & videos, technical specs.

woman on the run movie review

After San Francisco artist Frank Johnson witnesses the gangland murder of informant Joe Gordon while walking his dog, Inspector Ferris attempts to take him into protective custody. Afraid that he will be killed if he testifies against the murderer, Frank instead runs away. Ferris questions Eleanor, Frank's estranged wife, about her husband, but she offers little help. Ferris does convince Eleanor, however, that Frank would be safer in police custody than alone on the streets. Later that night, Eleanor sneaks out of her apartment and goes to a nightclub in Chinatown. She is followed there by tabloid reporter Dan Leggett, who offers to pay her $1,000 for exclusive rights to Frank's story. Upon returning home, Eleanor is told by Ferris that Frank has a serious heart condition, and without the necessary medication, could suffer a fatal heart attack. The next morning, Eleanor sees Dr. Hohler, who tells her that Frank's heart condition is complicated by hypertension, which Eleanor assumes has been caused by the stress of their troubled marriage. She then goes to the department store where Frank works as a window dresser, and learns how well liked he is by his co-workers. Afterward, Eleanor evades police surveillance with the help of Danny, who gives her a cryptic letter from her husband. In the letter, Frank asks Eleanor to meet him at the spot "where I first lost you," but she is unable to figure out the exact location. Eleanor and Danny then visit various locations where the married couple had argued, but are unsuccessful in finding Frank. Later, Eleanor and Danny go back to the Chinatown nightclub, where Suzie, a dancer, tells Danny that Frank gave her a picture of a man that looked very much like Danny. While Eleanor questions Sullivan, a bartender at a nearby saloon, about her husband, Danny goes back into the nightclub, kills Suzie and takes the picture. Later, while back at the department store, with Danny, Eleanor notices various mannequins made in her likeness and remembers a trip to Carmel, during which Frank first "lost her" when his mermaid sculpture of her was destroyed by an ocean wave. Soon thereafter, Eleanor and Danny are taken by Ferris to the morgue, and she falsely identifies another murder victim as Frank. The two then head to Carmel, where they see Frank making sand sculptures near an amusement park. Danny then asks Eleanor to send Frank to meet him alone under the roller coaster, where he plans to kill him. While evading the police, Eleanor suddenly realizes that Danny is the killer, but she is stuck on the roller coaster and is unable to warn her husband. Rather than shooting him, Danny tries to induce Frank into having a heart attack, but is shot and killed by Ferris. Eleanor and Frank are then reconciled, determined to give their marriage another try.

woman on the run movie review

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woman on the run movie review

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woman on the run movie review

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Victor sen yung, thomas p. dillon, martha bunch, alan campbell, mac dalgleish, loyal griggs, robert hansard, ross hunter, arthur lange, boris leven, otto ludwig, jacque mapes, emil newman, vera peterson, maurie m. suess, wm. travilla, howard welsch.

woman on the run movie review

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woman on the run movie review

Woman on the Run -

Woman On The Run -

Some scenes in this film were shot on location in San Francisco, CA. According to contemporary sources, in 1953, writers Manuel Seff and Paul Yawitz sued Fidelity Pictures, producer Howard Welsch and Universal-International for $75,000, charging breach of contract and unauthorized use of dramatic material. The authors claimed that their story "Pay the Piper" was the basis for Woman on the Run . The suit was settled privately. Modern sources add actor Sammee Tong to the cast.

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Woman on the Run

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Produced by, woman on the run (1950), directed by norman foster.

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Woman on the Run Reviews

  • 1 hr 17 mins
  • Drama, Suspense
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An eyewitness to a murder flees in fear, and is pursued by the police. His disillusioned wife learns he has a heart condition and teams up with a reporter to track him down.

Elliott, an artist who accidentally witnesses a mob killing, fears retaliation and goes into hiding. His wife, Sheridan, shows little concern. Their marriage has been unhappy, so Elliott's absence seems like a blessing. Soon, however, Sheridan is confronted by the police, who desperately want to find her husband. Although initially reluctant to join the hunt, Sheridan finally agrees to help police inspector Keith find Elliott when she learns that her missing husband has a potentially life-threatening heart condition he is unaware of. Despite their marital difficulties, Sheridan comes to realize that she does love Elliott. O'Keefe, a reporter, offers Sheridan assistance. During their search O'Keefe becomes attracted to the woman, but it gradually dawns on her that the journalist is actually the killer Elliott is running from. O'Keefe senses her suspicions, and plans to kill both her and Elliott, but the police arrive in time and arrest the murderer. Tension takes some dramatic turns in this well-crafted film, which switches character relationships with frightening results. Each time Sheridan seems to find comfort and security, her character is forced into a change of loyalties by unexpected circumstances. Sheridan is strong in her part, heading a cast that infuses the twists of plot with believability and life. WOMAN ON THE RUN was shot on location in San Francisco, and the city is smartly utilized. Like the people and developments within the story, the streets that seem to offer Sheridan a haven from danger prove to be the very ground from which she must escape. Under director Foster's tight control, the various elements are interwoven to produce intelligent and always-fascinating entertainment. This movie was the subject of a brief legal controversy when two writers sued the production company, claiming a story of theirs had been plagiarized for this motion picture. An out-of-court settlement was finally reached, ending the troubles.

Reviews by someone who's seen the movie

Eleanor and newspaperman Dan Leggett

Woman on the Run

Originally titled Man on the Run , Woman on the Run has two claims to specialness. First is the choice role it hands to Ann Sheridan, the film’s star. The second is the extensive use of locations out on the streets of San Francisco, where much of it was shot.

It opens as a classic film noir – a nighttime cityscape and a lone male out walking. With his dog. This is strange. Film noir males don’t have pets. They’re loners. A bottle is more likely to be their special friend. And this is 1950 – peak noir. Curb Your Dog, reads the sign Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) pauses besides at the start of the film. Here he lights a cigarette and here he sees an innocent man being murdered by an unseen gangster against whose boss the victim was about to testify.

The cops arrive. Frank is told point blank that he’s now a also target for the gang, because he saw the killer’s face, and that he’ll have to go into protective custody. Having told the cop on the case, Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith), very little about himself, apart from the fact that he and his wife have a semi-detached marriage, Frank promptly does a runner. Man on the Run then?

Not only is Frank not a film noir male, he’s not in the film very much. He disappears after these opening scenes and only re-appears again at the end. Between times it’s his wife who’s the film’s focus, and her relationship with he husband. This starts with insinuations about Frank’s sexuality. As cop Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith) looks for clues as to Franks’ whereabouts, he discovers that Frank is a failed artist (suspect), who now works as a window dresser (very suspect) and smokes a pipe (very Freudian). “Pipe smoker, huh?” Inspector Ferris says to Frank’s wife, while Keith resists the urge to send semaphor signals with his eyebrows.

The cop eyeing Eleanor

Eleanor is a tough nut with a wiseguy demeanour, a cigarette more or less always on the go and a low opinion of her husband. But as Eleanor hares around San Francisco looking for her husband – accompanied by a newspaperman (Dennis O’Keefe) keen to get Frank’s story, and pursued by Inspector Ferris, who suspects that the wife knows where Frank is – she realises that she does indeed have feelings for her husband. An enigmatic complex noir female – is Eleanor the dismissive femme fatale, or the gumshoe pounding the pavement, or both?

Sheridan co-produced the film and was about 35 when she made it. She hoped it would reboot her foundering career. It didn’t but it’s a chewy role – a female protagonist in a film noir is rare enough – and she bites down hard, delivering a charged, emotionally developing performance as a resourceful woman wondering if she’s read her husband all wrong and learning things about herself in the process.

Apart from Sheridan, it’s really just the other two, O’Keefe and Keith, with O’Keefe’s doughty newspaperman looking like he might at any moment become a romantic lead (nice plotting), and Keith injecting the cop with plenty of energy (nice playing).

Norman Foster directs with energy, too, keeping the characters in motion and the illusion alive that money has been spent. The cinematography, by Hal Mohr, is superb, and in a story about a search for a missing man in a shady city, parallels with The Third Man are made even more obvious when Mohr goes into mini-homages to the sort of Expressionism (tilting camera angles and stark lighting) that marked Carol Reed’s film, which came out the year before. Mohr is so good, in fact, that even the back projection sequences look plausible, and the remarkable Alfred Hitchcock-meets-Carol Reed-meets-Orson Welles finale at a funfair, when he pulls out all the stops with crane shots, Expressionism and heady montages is alone worth watching the film for.

All this, though, comes second to Mohr’s work out on San Francisco’s streets, which give the film an added documentary heft.

A good plot, fine acting, fantastic production values, ace cinematography, all this plus a cute dog (Rembrandt), who gets to feature as part of the plot, and all delivered in a shade over an hour and a quarter. What are you waiting for?

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Woman on the Run

Woman on the Run 2

I love a good film noir. So much so I didn’t scour my usual sources to see what the reviews were like for Woman on the Run before requesting a copy to write my own, I just asked for a screener because I knew I’d enjoy it to some extent due to the genre. Also, I wanted to help promote Arrow Academy’s release of this (and Too Late For Tears which I’ll also be reviewing soon) because I feel like the UK have had a bit of a raw deal for classic film noir releases over the years. I rarely see any titles other than the big names show up in my local HMV and many haven’t made an appearance on DVD, let alone Blu-Ray, other than in horribly transferred cheap releases from those films now in the public domain. So I hope if Arrow sell a few copies of these they’ll mine the vaults for more gems to polish up to their usual high quality.

Woman on the Run was released in 1950, right in the midst of the genre’s heyday. It begins with Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) taking his dog out for a walk when he comes across an argument in a parked car. The argument soon becomes a murder and the trigger man takes a couple of pot shots at Frank before he drives away. Frank gives the police a brief statement on the scene, but when he learns that the man killed was due to testify against the notorious gangster Smiley Freeman, he gets scared and runs away. The police, on top of wanting his statement to help lock up Freeman, are worried for his safety so go to Frank’s wife, Eleanor (Ann Sheridan), for help in finding the man. She’s not keen on doing the police any favours though, as it’s clear the couple aren’t enjoying a happy marriage. However, she does want to find him herself, so heads off into the heart of the city (San Francisco) to track him down. The police of course put a tail on her and the tabloid journalist Dan Legget (Dennis O’Keefe) tags along to get a big scoop. The latter ends up helping Eleanor out as she gets further along in her investigation, but his intentions gradually become rather suspect.

Woman on the Run_024

I enjoyed this a lot. The cinematography isn’t as regularly moody as in some noirs and it’s fairly light on action or suspenseful set-pieces (other than a thrilling climax on a rollercoaster). In fact it’s rather talky (which I guess is common to many entries to the genre). However, it maintains a snappy pace through a fast moving plot and the enjoyably hard-boiled, snarky dialogue you expect from a good film noir. The short running time helps too of course.

One aspect I found that set Woman on the Run apart from your run of the mill film noir however was the handling of the central husband/wife relationship. You often get couples reconciling in films, but it’s nice to see this happen when the partners are separated from one another. Eleanor realises she didn’t really know her husband Frank as well as she should. As she questions people about his whereabouts, she discovers what a good man he is and reignites the spark she once had at the start of their relationship. This works very well, adding heart to the usually cynical noir mood. It turns a standard missing hunt story into something more interesting and unique.

It’s no masterpiece though. The performances and writing aren’t quite as strong as in something like Double Indemnity perhaps, but it’s a great example of what I love about the genre. It’s a B-movie done right – making the most of its limitations to create something short, sharp and thoroughly entertaining. It’s an easy recommendation to fans of the genre.

Woman on the Run is out on 13th June on dual format Blu-Ray and DVD in the UK, released by Arrow Academy. I saw the Blu-Ray version and the picture and audio quality is decent. The image is fairly detailed and clear although there are quite a few flecks. These are light though and don’t detract. It probably looks as good as an old B-movie like this is ever likely to look anyway.

You get a great selection of special features. Here’s the full list:

– Audio Commentary by author, historian, and noirchaeologist Eddie Muller – Love is a Rollercoaster: Woman on the Run Revisited a new featurette on the making of the film, from script to noir classic, produced by Steven Smith and the Film Noir Foundation – A Wild Ride: Restoring Woman on the Run a stranger-than-fiction document of the film s restoration, produced by Steven Smith and the Film Noir Foundation – Noir City a short documentary directed by Joe Talbot about the annual Noir City Film Festival presented by the Film Noir Foundation at San Francisco s historic Castro Theatre – The Woman on the Run Locations Then… and now – Gallery featuring rare photographs, poster art and original lobby cards – Booklet featuring new writing by Eddie Muller

‘Love is a Rollercoaster’ is a fascinating watch. There are loads of interesting facts to hear about the making of the film. For instance, Ann Sheridan was a co-producer on the film, supposedly so that she could get a more interesting role made for herself. The commentary is strong too, adding more detail to these facts and giving further background to all involved in the production.

‘Noir City’, although clearly a promo for the festival, still makes for an interesting brief look at the film noir genre. ‘A Wild Ride’ is a surprisingly fun look at the story behind the restoration, including an amusing twist at the end. The locations featurette is nice I guess, if that kind of thing interests you.

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Woman on the Run

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woman on the run movie review

An author wakes up and discovers that her family and identity have been stolen by another woman.

About the movie.

Successful crime novelist Nomi Gardner’s world has just been turned upside down–betrayed by her husband and ignored by the police, Nomi finds herself in a situation more terrifying than anything she’s written herself as she fights to save her children. Sarah Butler, Jim Thorburn, Lindsay Maxwell star. (2017)

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‘The Idea of You’ Review: Only Anne Hathaway Could Look This Confident Dating One of Her Daughter’s Pop Idols

Hathaway’s rockin' single-mom character doesn't need a boyfriend, much less a boy-band fling to fulfill her. But her on-and-off romance with Nicholas Galitzine's smitten pop star feels like one for the ages.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

  • ‘The Idea of You’ Review: Only Anne Hathaway Could Look This Confident Dating One of Her Daughter’s Pop Idols 5 days ago
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The Idea of You

When you’re 10, it sounds like every line your favorite boy band sings is being aimed directly at you. Somewhere along the way, the illusion shatters. Teenagers are smarter than we give them credit for, and they eventually figure out how parasocial relationships operate: Basically, the fans do all the work, saving up for concert tickets and glitter-painting their idols’ names on their notebooks, while the lab-tested singers soak up all the love … and the allowance money. But what if, instead of the feelings flowing in one direction, a pop star fell hard for one of his followers? Or her mom?

Dad bought them all VIP passes to a meet-and-greet with August Moon, the band Izzy used to be obsessed with in seventh grade (emphasis on “used to be”). Now that she’s in high school, the fivesome just seems corny — which is the same opinion parents had all along, but somehow had to put aside to support their kids. So imagine Solène’s surprise when she goes looking for the honey bucket and winds up face-to-face with Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), “the British one.” Solène recognizes him, but doesn’t get all star-struck, and something about that dynamic excites him. Here’s a woman he might actually have to put some effort into getting to know.

Miraculously enough, audiences don’t question it. The meet-cute seems a little contrived, but the chemistry between Hathaway and Galitzine feels real. She subtly conveys signals that show she’s lost faith in romance, suggesting that because Solène’s been burned by love before, she can’t be bothered to flirt. For his part, Galitzine plays Hayes as instantly interested, but emotionally cautious as well. Watching these two warm up to one another over the course of an art-shopping afternoon back in Los Angeles proves far more romantic than the whirlwind tour of Europe that follows. Surprisingly, the sexiest scene in the whole film doesn’t involve sex but a hungry first kiss — though there’s steam enough to come, as they ravage hotel rooms in Barcelona, Rome and Paris.

In a sense, the eponymous “idea of you” refers to an aspect of the relationship Solène naively thinks she can keep to herself, despite the vulture-like way the paparazzi follow them everywhere. Showalter takes us into a pop star’s inner circle, bringing the cameras backstage at concerts, aboard private jets and along for a glitzy vacation in the south of France. (Weirdly, reverse shots of the arena-show crowds seem downright tame, nothing like the delirious hysteria of “A Hard Day’s Night” or “TRL.”) Celebrities belong to the public in a way civilian Solène has never experienced before, and because she wants no part of that attention, their love affair may as well have no future.

That’s one aspect of the book that upset its readers, and which Showalter has carefully reengineered here so that audiences can have the ending they want. For all its fantastical qualities, the movie is realistic in the way it anticipates social media and real media (the online tabloids, at least) reacting to the news of Solène and Hayes’ being together. It’s a sad truth that, as Solène tells art-world bestie Tracy (Annie Mumolo), the world doesn’t want her to be happy. Technically, the fans don’t want Hayes to be happy either, preferring to think of him as single and searching for them to fill that empty space in his heart.

There are a thousand ways that Showalter could have tilted the film toward parody. Instead, he resists poking fun at the whole pop-tart phenomenon, which meta-comedies like “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” and “Josie and Pussycats” treated as self-aware satire. Here, Hayes is terrified of being seen as a joke, and though Solène insists he’s not, she doesn’t take the relationship seriously enough to tell a soul. But Showalter does, tapping songwriter Savan Kotecha to come up with a slew of plausible hits, including a track called “Closer” that turns the May-December dynamic into catchy Top 40 gold. For all the challenges that adapting Lee’s book posed, getting the music right had to be the toughest — with fixing that ending being a close second.

Reviewed at SXSW (Headliners, closer), March 16, 2024. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 116 MIN.

  • Production: A Prime Video release of a Amazon MGM Studios presentation of a Somewhere Pictures, Welle Entertainment production. Producers: Cathy Schulman, Gabrielle Union, Anne Hathaway, Robinne Lee, Eric Hayes, Michael Showalter, Jordana Mollick. Executive producers: Douglas S. Jones, Jason Babiszewski, Jennifer Westfeldt, Kian Gass.
  • Crew: Director: Michael Showalter. Screenplay: Michael Showalter, Jennifer Westfeldt, based on the book by Robinne Lee. Camera: Jim Frohna. Editor: Peter Teschner. Music: Siddhartha Khosla. Music supervisor: Frankie Pine.
  • With: Anne Hathaway, Nicholas Galitzine, Ella Rubin, Annie Mumolo, Reid Scott, Perry Mattfeld, Jordan Aaron Hall, Mathilda Gianopoulos, Raymond Cham Jr., Jaiden Anthony, Viktor White, Dakota Adan.

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Woman on the Run

Sarah Butler in Woman on the Run (2017)

After surviving an attempt on her life, a reclusive mystery author discovers that her nanny has stolen her identity, forcing her to go to extreme lengths to get her children back. After surviving an attempt on her life, a reclusive mystery author discovers that her nanny has stolen her identity, forcing her to go to extreme lengths to get her children back. After surviving an attempt on her life, a reclusive mystery author discovers that her nanny has stolen her identity, forcing her to go to extreme lengths to get her children back.

  • Jason Bourque
  • Paul A. Birkett
  • Sarah Butler
  • Jim Thorburn
  • Lindsay Maxwell
  • 20 User reviews
  • 6 Critic reviews
  • 1 nomination

Lindsay Maxwell in Get Out Alive (2016)

  • Nomi Gardner

Jim Thorburn

  • Mark Gardner

Lindsay Maxwell

  • Greta March

Bailey Skodje

  • Jane Gardner

Josh Byer

  • Officer Lowndes

Mackenzie Gray

  • Detective Krantz

Gardiner Millar

  • Mental Patient
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My Doctor's Secret Life

Did you know

  • Trivia The book cover for Nomi Gardner's novel "Shattered" is actually the poster for Jason Bourque's feature "Black Fly" which also stars Matthew MacCaull.
  • Goofs Washington State (as well as Massachusetts) driver license files contain photos of every driver license application since a person was licensed. Any police officer can access these files, which would show the license in Nomi's possession was a fraud.

User reviews 20

  • May 28, 2021
  • April 16, 2017 (United States)
  • Vida robada
  • British Columbia, Canada
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  • Runtime 1 hour 28 minutes

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‘The Long Shadow’: A Serial Killer Series Unlike One You’ve Ever Seen

“The Long Shadow” tells the true-life tale of a man who killed 13 women between 1975 and 1980—but the message of the series is a long-overdue change for the genre.

Nick Schager

Nick Schager

Entertainment Critic

A still from the series The Long Shadow on AMC

There are so many serial killer stories because so many men want to kill women, and that fact is at the core of the genre’s latest offering, The Long Shadow , about the true-life slayings of 13 and assault of seven more—not to mention the numerous individuals who were never properly identified as victims—in the North of England between 1975 and 1980. Those crimes were committed by a fiend whom the press dubbed “the Yorkshire Ripper” and who was ultimately revealed to be Peter Sutcliffe. The hunt to identify and capture him forms the narrative backbone of Sundance Now’s seven-part British drama, premiering March 21. Nonetheless, in a way that few likeminded affairs have before it, this engrossing limited series recognizes that such tales are less about their specific fiends and more about ingrained misogyny and the lasting damage it causes women. To that end, its focus remains throughout on its traumatized female characters—at least, when it’s not raking police over the coals for their myriad blinded-by-sexism blunders.

An adaptation of Michael Bilton’s book Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper by writer George Kay ( Hijack , Lupin ) and director Lewis Arnold, The Long Shadow begins with the 1975 murder in Leeds of 28-year-old Wilma McCann (Gemma Laurie), who leaves her four children home alone at night and is found the next morning in the park behind her house, the victim of a fatal bludgeoning to the back of the head as well as 15 stab wounds. Detective Dennis Hoban (Toby Jones) is assigned to this horrific case, and though most of his colleagues assume that McCann was a prostitute, Hoban deliberately keeps such suggestions out of the papers, instead playing up her status as a single mother whose kids are now orphans. Hoban’s job becomes that much more complicated in short order, when wife and mom Emily Jackson (Katherine Kelly)—who’s turned to prostitution, much to her husband Sydney’s (Daniel Mays) chagrin, to support their clan—is picked up by a client on the street where women of the night ply their trade, and is discovered soon afterwards dead from injuries that resemble those found on McCann.

Hoban follows the leads that he has, be it vehicles spotted in these areas or a boot print found on Jackson’s body, but he finds himself going nowhere fast and The Long Shadow adds to the sense of everyone drowning in quicksand by providing routine text reminders of the numbers of days passed since this killing spree began. As much as it fixates on Hoban and his law enforcement comrades, it spends at least (if not more) time on the Ripper’s victims, detailing their ordeals in order to foreground them as the genuine empathetic centers of attention. Moreover, Kay and Arnold expend considerable sympathetic energy on the countless people (mothers, fathers, children, siblings, and friends) who are left behind to pick up the pieces in the wake of these senseless homicides, replete with close-ups that poignantly capture and commiserate with their suffering.

Save for a somewhat unnecessary final TV interview set in 2005, The Long Shadow never outright articulates its points about widespread misogyny and the manner in which it both begets and facilitates violence against women. Rather, it cannily and strikingly dramatizes those issues over the course of its years-long police inquiry. With nothing to show for his sleuthing, Hoban is replaced on the case by his underling Jim Hobson (Lee Ingleby).

A still from the series The Long Shadow on AMC

After that produces little progress, the reigns are handed to Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield (David Morrissey). Still, all these men are stymied by their prejudices—against prostitutes, who they initially assume are the Ripper’s preferred targets; and more generally, against women, who they view as unreliable—and also by their tremendous arrogance. Together, those two forces compel them to habitually ignore looking into other victims who didn’t work the streets, and to disbelieve the testimony of survivors, who wind up being wronged twice: first, by cops who label them liars, and then by a society that assumes they’re prostitutes simply because they were attacked by the madman.

A still from the series The Long Shadow on AMC

The Long Shadow is a procedural with an overriding concern for those affected by male chauvinism and violence. Consequently, its investigative portions are both nail-biting and caustically critical, illustrating the myriad things that police got wrong in their search for the Ripper. At the top of that list was Oldfield’s chief mistake: Having received a taunting audio recording (on the heels of two letters) claiming to be from the Ripper, Oldfield became convinced of its veracity and therefore trained his eye squarely on suspects whose accents matched the voice on the tape. Kay and Arnold’s series contends that this misstep led to the deaths of at least three additional women, and after Sutcliffe received life in prison for his offenses (thus proving the tapes were a hoax), Oldfield’s decision was roundly censured by the 1981 Byford Report that painted a damning portrait of the police campaign.

Sutcliffe is the boogeyman sought by everyone in The Long Shadow and yet Kay and Arnold’s real interest is 1970s British culture and a law enforcement system dominated by noxious male attitudes and assumptions, as well as the women—devastated and defiant, beaten down and brave—who persevered anyway, endeavoring to push back against a constant tide of marginalization and mistreatment. As a result, while Jones, Morrissey, and the rest of their male costars are all excellent, the drama’s female actors make the biggest impression, be it Jasmine Lee-Jones as a Black woman who suffers multiple indignities at the hands of authorities, Jill Halfpenny as the mother of a slain college student, or Kelly as a homemaker driven to desperate and demeaning ends in order to maintain an illusion of normalcy for her family. They’re the heart of these genre proceedings, and in that regard, the series—a stinging social critique masquerading as a gripping mystery—recognizes that the true-crime figures who most deserve to be remembered aren’t the rancid serial killers themselves, but those whose lives they irreparably destroyed.

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Netflix movie 'Shirley' shows off Cincinnati City Hall, other local sites

woman on the run movie review

Real-life sisters Regina King and Reina King star in the new Netflix movie, "Shirley," which depicts U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm's 1972 groundbreaking presidential run.

But the city of Cincinnati , where the movie was filmed in 2021 and 2022, might as well be a full-fledged co-star.

There's City Hall, sweeping views of the West End, Arnold's Bar and Grill, Court Street in Downtown and a church in the West End, among other places.

The locations are stand-ins for Brooklyn, New York, and Washington D.C., all key places in the life of Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress.

"Shirley" debuts on Netflix on March 22.

The Enquirer got a sneak peek at an advance screening that ended with a question and answer period with the King sisters and producer Ted Gidlow, hosted by Film Cincinnati Executive Director Kristen Erwin Schlotman.

"One of the most special parts was we got to film in Cincinnati," Regina King told the audience. "Our family is from here."

The King sisters grew up in Los Angeles, but Christmases and Easters were spent in Cincinnati, she said.

City Manager Sheryl Long and Denisha Porter, executive director of the All-In Cincinnati Equity Coalition , both had cameos in the film and attended the screening. Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, whose mayoral office was prominently featured in the film, was on hand with a proclamation for the sisters.

Regina King gave Pureval a special shoutout, calling him the "best-looking mayor."

"It had to be said," she added, drawing applause from the audience.

For those planning on tuning in, here's a guide to some of the Cincinnati places you'll see:

Cincinnati City Hall

Pureval's office is prominently featured as Chisholm's office and his leather couch and chair − where many conferences take place − got to stay. Regina King's Chisholm is seen parading through City Hall's grand hallway entrance.

Arnold's Bar and Grill

No movie that films in Cincinnati is complete without an Arnold's cameo . Located on East 8th Street, Arnold's was built in the late 1830s and its architecture served as a backdrop for a meeting.

Court Street

Much of the movie was filmed on Court Street in downtown Cincinnati. The grand Hamilton County Courthouse at the end of the street also makes an appearance.

The West End

Jerriel Missionary Baptist Church makes a cameo as the church Reina King's character, Muriel St. Hill, attends. The two characters have a deep conversation as the church casts a shadow over them. Street shots were also firmed there showing off Cincinnati's historic architecture.

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‘Shirley’ Review: A Woman Who Contained Multitudes

This staid biopic of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress, is less interested in what she did than what she represented.

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Regina King as Shirley Chisholm, standing at a throng of microphones.

By Devika Girish

Shirley Chisholm was an American heroine who challenged simplistic political narratives of victory and defeat. Though her most famous effort — her bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1972 — wasn’t successful, it was one chapter in a life’s worth of grit and innumerable wins, only a few of which can be measured by votes or contests.

She was the working-class daughter of Caribbean immigrants who achieved academic excellence despite financial struggles; an educator who advocated powerfully the rights of children, particularly those from immigrant backgrounds; a self-made politician who, at the local and state levels, fought successfully for better representation for women and minorities; and, in 1968, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

It is a pity, then, that “Shirley,” John Ridley’s new biopic starring Regina King, focuses rather narrowly on Chisholm’s failed presidential campaign. The film reaches for the urgency of a political thriller, jumping between campaign meetings, backroom negotiations and rousing speeches. But the staid visuals — bright period colors softened by a nostalgic glow — and a script made up of a string of losses convey a dull sense of a fait accompli.

Complex, meaningful events from Chisholm’s life and career become reductive paving stones in a despairing story of ill-timed ambition. An early scene, set soon after her election to Congress, shows her railing against her appointment to the Agriculture Committee and convincing the speaker of the House to reassign her. No mention is made of the fact that she served for two years on the committee, and found a way to use her position to expand the food stamp program.

The problem is that “Shirley” is interested less in what Chisholm actually did than in what she represented, as a Black woman daring to see herself as the leader of the nation. At home, Chisholm struggles to maintain her relationships with her husband and her sister, who resent the self-absorption her career requires. Her advisers (played suavely by Terrence Howard and Lance Reddick) clash with her over her unwillingness to take partisan stances; younger, more radical supporters dislike her liberalism; and in public, she receives both support and racist, sexist barbs.

King is magnetic onscreen, nailing Chisholm’s accent and her steely persona. But there is little for her to do other than trade quips with the other characters, in a drama that is too content with telling rather than showing.

Shirley Rated PG-13 for discomfiting depictions of misogynoir. Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

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'Shirley' Review: Regina King Makes This Netflix Biopic Into Something More

The film follows Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, as she runs for president in 1972.

The Big Picture

  • Regina King delivers a powerhouse performance in this Netflix film, embodying Shirley Chisholm in an educational and entertaining biopic.
  • The scenes between Chisholm, Barbara Lee, and the Black Panthers are electric and compelling.
  • The film falls short in focusing on Chisholm's presidential run, taking fewer risks than expected.

Political dramas set in the 60s and 70s have taken the world by storm these past few years. From the Oscar-nominated drama Rustin , which Netflix also released, to the numerous Watergate projects, including Gaslit and White House Plumbers . Even Mrs. America , which details the fight to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, fits the bill. If you watched the last one, you’ll come into Shirley knowing at least a bit about what to expect, as Uzo Aduba won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for embodying Shirley Chisholm — a role that Regina King takes on in this film. I wouldn’t be surprised if much-deserved awards buzz is in her future, too.

Shirley (2024)

Shirley Chisholm makes a trailblazing run for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination after becoming the first Black woman elected to Congress.

What Is 'Shirley' About?

Shirley focuses on the titular Shirley Chisholm, a Brooklyn schoolteacher who eventually becomes the first Black woman elected to Congress. We get to see a little bit of her in the Capitol during her early days, and she comes in hot, directly confronting the Speaker of the House when she’s assigned to the Agricultural Committee — a place she believes she has no place being. It’s clear Chisholm is impatient in the best way, unwilling to wait to make a difference. It’s also clear she genuinely cares about those she serves, not just talking the talk but also walking the walk by reaching out and building community with those of all backgrounds.

The film, however, quickly moves away from her work as a congresswoman, focusing instead on her presidential run in the early 70s. Motivated by promising fundraising efforts, she’s adamant about putting her name on the ballot — much to the hesitation of her advisors. But it quickly becomes clear that her advisors are the least of her worries as her campaign becomes plagued with issues, including stolen campaign funds and discord among her staff. The most challenging (and disappointing) are the racism and sexism she faces, particularly from Black men and white women — two groups she’s spent her entire life trying to help.

Shirley is technically excellent as the visuals and music immerse you into the setting and period completely. The time transitions are stylishly crafted to look like you’re watching a TV in the era in which the film is taking place, which adds a nice touch as well. Still, there’s nothing particularly surprising about the film’s visuals or directing choices, and there are even fewer risks in the screenplay. You’re probably going to get exactly what you expect, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What you get is pretty great, especially when it comes to another incredible performance by Regina King.

'Shirley' Features Another Powerhouse Performance From Regina King

King has been criminally underrated for years now despite turning out breathtaking performances in everything from TV gems like Watchmen and The Leftovers to cinematic classics like If Beale Street Could Talk and, yes, I’ll say it: Miss Congeniality 2 — and that’s not to mention her directing chops, including One Night in Miami… Shirley only continues to prove why she deserves more recognition. She plays Chisholm with a fearless and passionate reverence, transcending mere imitation to truly embody her spirit and strength. It’s impossible not to feel fired up when she claims that she “wants to give politics back to the people” or effortlessly shuts down a racist congressman, warning him that she’s paving the way for others just like her to come in and lead so he better get used to seeing her and Black women around.

Her confidence in her campaign strategy and unwavering commitment to telling the truth and being true to herself is inspiring, but Chisholm is never reduced to a saintly symbol. She can be stubborn, selfish, and scared — in other words, human — and King shines just as brightly in those moments. From a subtle lip wobble when she and her husband have a nasty fight to breaking down in private after a traumatic attack, we get to see her more vulnerable side, too. Some of the best moments come when she does against all advice to do what she believes in her heart to be right, like visiting a racist rival, George Wallace ( W. Earl Brown ), in the hospital because it’s the Christian thing to do and suing television networks for violating FCC rules by not including her in a televised debate. She shows that fighting isn’t easy — many times, it’s controversial and unpopular — but it’s necessary for change.

'Shirley' Focuses on the Wrong Part of Chisholm’s Life

Don’t get me wrong, watching Chisholm’s presidential campaign unfold and find pockets of success despite all odds is interesting. Seeing her navigate the ins and outs of politics and becoming the first Black woman awarded presidential delegates at the Democratic National Convention is a truly monumental moment. But despite getting so much screen time, it’s far from the most fascinating thing about Chisholm’s life or the film itself .

That honor goes to the way Chisholm pinpoints the importance of getting the youth involved in her campaign. Very early on, Chisholm recognizes how crucial it is to target college campuses and get young people out to vote, pulling in her former intern, Robert Gottlieb ( Lucas Hedges ), to become her national student coordinator. Their dynamic is a fun one, with Chisholm giving Robert sage advice and molding him into a crucial member of her team. Even more compelling is her relationship with Barbara Lee ( Christina Jackson ), a 25-year-old single mom who wants to make real change but is skeptical about the voting process. Chisholm encourages her to come and work for her, promising she can make a difference. “I don’t have any experience,” Lee nervously notes. “I don’t have any moola.” Chisholm shrugs. The two both butt heads and work together to create magic, and I could have watched an entire movie about the friendship and mentorship between them.

This is also true for Chisholm’s relationship with the Black Panthers. Bringing the two together, actress and Civil Rights activist Diahann Carol ( Amirah Vann ) notes, is like “marrying thunder and lightning.” The conversation between Chisholm and Huey Newton (Brad James) is certainly electric and easily the best of the film. They have vastly different ideas on how to achieve the same goal of empowerment, and watching them debate ideas is like watching a professional tennis match — one that ends with them agreeing to play doubles together as the party chooses to endorse Chisholm. It’s a stunning scene, and the film could have used more like it.

Chisholm’s personal life feels slightly underbaked and oversimplified. Her sister, Muriel (played by Regina’s real-life sister Reina King ), is frustrated with her and the criticism she and her family constantly receive because Shirley is in the spotlight, claiming that Shirley thinks she’s better than the rest of the family due to their father always favoring her. Their reunion, however, seems to come rather easily, and we don’t spend enough time on them for it to be particularly cathartic. Her husband, Conrad ( Michael Cherrie ), feels similarly underappreciated. “I know, for whatever reason, a shadow of a man is all you want,” he says in one gorgeously devastating line. “But don’t be upset with me when I get a little too good at it.” King and Cherrie create a heartbreakingly distant chemistry, but it, too, is unresolved until the credits, when we find out what happened after the movie ends.

It’s nice to get all of that historical information in one place to tie everything together at the end, though it does get a little overwhelming , considering there are so many people to update us on. Still, it proves both educational and satisfying, revealing the amazing things the real Barbara Lee has done in the years since 1972, as well as how Ron Dellums, who effectively ended Chisholm’s presidential run, and George Wallace supported her in later years.

Shirley is a relatively straightforward biopic, but it’s worth the watch to see Regina King’s beautiful performance that feels like an ode to the trailblazing woman. There’s an even more impactful movie hiding in here if writer-director John Ridley had chosen to give more time to developing the dynamic between Chisholm, Lee, and the Black Panthers, but it’s still a solid biopic as it stands. All Chisholm ever wanted to do was give everyone a voice, and Shirley allows her own to be heard and remembered.

Regina King’s performance makes this educational and entertaining — albeit relatively straightforward — biopic worth watching

  • Regina King gives a powerhouse performance that feels like an ode to the real Shirley Chisholm.
  • The scenes between Chisholm, Lee, and the Black Panthers are electric.
  • The film proves to be both educational and entertaining.
  • The scenes focusing on Chisholm's presidential run aren't as effective as others.
  • The biopic doesn't take many risks, making it feel overly cliché at times.

Shirley is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S. starting March 22.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

John Ridley talks about 'Shirley,' Netflix movie on Shirley Chisholm starring Regina King

woman on the run movie review

Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to run for U.S. president, has been a symbol of hope, determination and, most of all, possibilities for more than half a century.

She also was a flesh-and-blood person — something "Shirley," the new Netflix movie starring Oscar winner Regina King as Chisholm, demonstrates in a way that you don't see in most recent biopics.

King and her sister Reina King, who plays Chisholm's estranged sister in the movie, spent 15 years trying to get Chisholm's story to the screen. And that's how they wanted the story told, said John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter and Mequon native who wrote and directed "Shirley."

“They’ve just worked so hard and so long to really bring this story to the screen, to do it in a way that really honors Shirley (and) her legacy, but also really treats her as a real person and isn’t just about the 'what' but really who she was," Ridley said in an interview. " … To me, that’s what really impressed me about Regina and Reina’s take on the film — to make a really human story. And I was fortunate to be part of it.”

"Shirley" debuts on Netflix March 22.

Regina King recruited John Ridley to write and direct 'Shirley'

King brought the idea to Ridley nearly a decade ago when they were working on the third season of the Emmy-winning ABC series "American Crime." Instead of telling Chisholm's entire life story, they focused on the years leading up to her run for the Democratic nomination for president in 1972.

Chisholm successfully ran for Congress in 1968 determined to make a difference. As shown in "Shirley," she wasn't reluctant to stand up to Washington's politics-as-usual system once she got there.

With help from loyal advisors Wesley "Mac" Holder (played by Lance Reddick, in one of his last roles) and Arthur Hardwick (Terrence Howard) and young allies including a former intern (Lucas Hedges) and future Congresswoman Barbara Lee (Christina Jackson), Chisholm takes her effort further by announcing her candidacy for president. As she grinds it out on the campaign trail, she collides with a system in which backroom deals outweigh loyalty and compassion.

'Shirley' uses the past to illuminate the present

Ridley, an eager student of history and politics, relished taking a "deeper dive" into Chisholm's story and the politics of her era to write the script. It also allowed him to explore contemporary issues — like a political system seemingly designed to calcify differences instead of bringing people together — from the narrative safety of the past.

“Going back to the ‘70s, sometimes it’s easier to talk about the past, and people don’t feel like you’re wagging your finger at them,” Ridley said. “The sad thing is, now, a lot of people go, ‘Where are the politicians like Shirley Chisholm?’ And in the film you see, she was there, but people didn’t embrace” her cause even then.

King plays Chisholm as a woman driven by her ideals — sometimes at the expense of her personal relationships, including with her sister (Reina King) and her husband (played by Michael Cherrie) — and willing to make connections across divides to get things done. That reach, as shown in "Shirley," stretches from far left to far right, from Chisholm seeking an endorsement from the Black Panthers to reaching out to segregationist George Wallace after the Democratic rival was paralyzed by would-be assassin (and Milwaukee native) Arthur Bremer.

Could Chisholm's approach work today?

“If Shirley were here now, maybe she wouldn’t be progressive enough," Ridley said. If "(conservative Congresswoman) Marjorie Taylor Green got sick, Shirley Chisholm would go visit Marjorie Taylor Green in the hospital, and progressives would go, ‘What are you doing? You can’t work with her; she’s awful.' And Shirley would be like, ‘Well, I don’t agree with her politics, but I’ve got to treat her like a human being.'"

Ridley added he was pleased that "Shirley" is coming out in 2024. It's the centennial of Chisholm's birth (she died in 2005 at age 80) and, of course, a vital election year. The timing of both was important to King, he said.

“I think it was very important for Regina to remind young people … ," Ridley said. “I think it’s important for young people to know that politics is not beyond them and that, if they are part of the process, they can really make a difference.”

John Ridley supports bill calling for a Wisconsin film office and film tax credits

Ridley, who turns 60 this fall, usually has more than a half-dozen projects on his plate. But after last year's work stoppages because of the writers and actors strikes, he said he's "sort of slowed things down," spending more time with his family and working on "Doc Talk," a podcast on documentaries that's a joint venture of No Studios, the creative arts hub Ridley founded in Milwaukee, and entertainment website Deadline.com .

”I’m doing a lot less, trying to enjoy what I’m doing a lot more,” he said.

Ridley also has been involved in the push for the creation of a state film office and tax credits for film and television production in Wisconsin. A bill, which has bipartisan sponsorship, was introduced in the state Legislature in February.

Noting that "Shirley" was filmed in Los Angeles and Cincinnati, Ridley said the movie could have been made in Wisconsin "very easily." For the Chisholm movie, Cincinnati doubled for Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., and even Florida.

The difference? Ohio has tax credits for film productions; Wisconsin hasn't had them since 2009.

On the "Shirley" shoot, Ridley said, it was clear that local economies benefit from TV and movie production coming to town: “We have so many local hires on the crew, the cast. Rentals of people’s (period) cars … local caterers, local businesses, stayed in a local hotels."

“I’m excited that people are talking about it," Ridley said of the film tax credit proposal. "Wisconsin, in my opinion, needs to get in the game.”

More: New movies showing this week in Milwaukee theaters and on streaming services

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Class of 1984 … Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire review – time to consign franchise to the spirit realm

Despite some decent gags there’s very little life left in the tired franchise – it feels like it’s run its course and it’s time to think of something new

T he ice age of intellectual property dullness shivers on … and on. The franchise frostbite is setting in; the limbs of once decent films are turning black, but not being amputated. Now the Ghostbusters series is limping back with a new and pointless movie, this one featuring a ghost whose purpose is that it basically freezes stuff (like, say, Batman’s Mr Freeze). It is effectively Ghostbusters 4 – or Ghostbusters 5 if you count the (funny) all-female reboot from 2016, which this franchise clearly doesn’t; the women of that movie are very much not among the legacy-oldsters now invited back for cameos. There are one or two laughs here and an attempt at a queer romance, but no real signs of life.

Well, at least one thing has been fixed. The previous film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife was boringly set in small town Oklahoma, not the big city which is this story’s natural home. Now the family of that movie, Callie (Carrie Coon), her new partner Gary (Paul Rudd) and her kids Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), have moved to New York and are set up in the ghostbusting business, driving the iconic car and headquartered at the legendary former firehouse. The older generation are still around: Winston (Ernie Hudson) is the businessman who owns the building; Ray (Dan Aykroyd) has his own supernaturalist YouTube channel; Janine (Annie Potts) puts in an appearance; and so does the legendary Dr Venkman, in which role Bill Murray looks as if he’s thinking about something else, and not in an intentionally droll way.

It all starts to kick off when a roguish guy called Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani) attempts to sell Ray an ancient orb belonging to his late grandmother, an occult object which is the only thing stopping humanity being subjected to the tyrannical rule of the above mentioned ice-powered phantom. There’s a good gag here about the Spin Doctors and one really excellent gag about Mary Todd Lincoln. Grace has sympathy and warmth as the ghostbuster developing feelings for a spirit. We get some new character turns: standup comic James Acaster is stuck with the dull role of a boffin called Lars Pinfield, and is given pretty much nothing in the script to allow his natural comedy style to flourish. (The same, sadly, is also true of Rudd.) Patton Oswalt does his best, playing a feisty scholar of the netherworld called Dr Wartzki.

But really among the new contingent the only person who actually brings the all-important comedy is Nanjiani, who has the correct spark of humour and subversion. The younger contingent are all too wide-eyed and innocent, while the senior class of 1984 are too detached. The time has come for Hollywood to allow the spurious Ghostbusters franchise to join Jurassic World and Aquaman in the bin and think of something new.

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COMMENTS

  1. Woman on the Run

    After witnessing a murder, Frank Johnson goes on the run to avoid being killed himself. His wife, Eleanor (Ann Sheridan), seems almost apathetic about finding him when questioned by Investigator ...

  2. Woman on the Run

    Woman on the Run is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Norman Foster and starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe. The film was based on the April 1948 short story "Man on the Run" by Sylvia Tate and filmed on location in San Francisco. The film, which lies in the public domain, was restored and preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

  3. Woman on the Run [1950] Review

    Norman Foster's film noir thriller Woman on the Run (1950) is based on a 1948 short story by Sylvia Tate which was intriguingly titled 'Man on the Run'. While film noir was largely known for its depiction of 'dangerous femininity' (realized through 'femme fatale' characters), there were few female investigative protagonists.

  4. Woman on the Run (1950)

    Woman on the Run has some wonderful scenes. Ann Sheridan plays a disenchanted wife whose husband was a witness to a gangland killing (while walking his little dog). Realising that he is in great danger the man goes into hiding (without the dog). Right from the beginning the noirish drama is mixed with hilarious humor.

  5. Woman on the Run (1950)

    Woman on the Run: Directed by Norman Foster. With Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith, John Qualen. Frank Johnson becomes an eyewitness to a murder. He's pursued around San Francisco by his wife, the police, and the killer.

  6. Woman on the Run (2017)

    After surviving an attempt on her life, a reclusive mystery author discovers that her nanny has stolen her identity, forcing her to go to extreme lengths to get her children back.

  7. Woman on the Run' review by FilmReDiscovery • Letterboxd

    Woman On The Run is a sharp and crisp film noir running at a concise 77 minutes with melodramatic meatiness to carry the plot, and touts fantastic payoffs of thrilling entertainment. When a nobody' man named Frank Johnson is walking his dog at night in a San Fransisco park, he becomes witness to a murder that stems from gang activity (which the gang angle is ultimately inconsequential to the ...

  8. Woman on the Run' review by Jeremy Berman • Letterboxd

    A pretty misleading title (it's the woman's husband who's on the run!), but otherwise a delight: a simple yet ingenious plot, a strong heroine played by the delightful and underrated Ann Sheridan, tart, snappy dialogue, a fantastic mid-movie twist, a creepy, thrilling finale at an amusement park and the best location work in mid-20th century San Francisco I have ever seen in any movie.

  9. Woman On The Run (1950) Movie Review from Eye for Film

    The little heard of 1950 noir Woman On The Run shares a similar vein to Mildred Pierce, in that the narrative is driven by a crime while the film simultaneously explores a failed relationship. After witnessing the murder of a key police informant, innocent bystander Frank (Ross Elliott) is forced into hiding from the police, who now need him as ...

  10. ‎Woman on the Run (1950) directed by Norman Foster • Reviews, film

    Frank Johnson, a sole witness to a gangland murder, goes into hiding and is trailed by Police Inspector Ferris, on the theory that Frank is trying to escape from possible retaliation. Frank's wife, Eleanor, suspects he is actually running away from their unsuccessful marriage. Aided by a newspaperman, Danny Leggett, Eleanor sets out to locate ...

  11. Woman on the Run (1950)

    Woman On The Run (1950) -- (Movie Clip) It's Our First Murder Eleanor (Ann Sheridan), hunting her semi-estranged husband who skedaddled after witnessing a murder, leaves the San Francisco store where he worked, where she hoped to find a letter, a cop (Robert Keith) and reporter Leggett (Dennis O'Keefe) on her trail, in Woman On The Run, 1950.

  12. Woman on the Run (1950)

    Summaries. Frank Johnson becomes an eyewitness to a murder. He's pursued around San Francisco by his wife, the police, and the killer. Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott), sole witness to a gangland murder, goes into hiding and is trailed by Police Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith), on the theory that Frank is trying to escape from possible retaliation.

  13. Woman on the Run (1950)

    Find trailers, reviews, synopsis, awards and cast information for Woman on the Run (1950) - Norman Foster on AllMovie - Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott), a window-dresser…

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    Woman on the Run Reviews. An eyewitness to a murder flees in fear, and is pursued by the police. His disillusioned wife learns he has a heart condition and teams up with a reporter to track him ...

  15. Woman on the Run Blu-ray Review • Home Theater Forum

    Woman on the Run Blu-ray Review. Richard Gallagher ; May 10, 2016 ; ... "Tonight's Movie 'Woman on the Run' is brought to you by Ex-Lax!" Reactions: Tony Bensley. May 30, 2016 #16 of 19 Tony Bensley. Senior HTF Member. Joined Apr 9, 2013 Messages 7,165 Location Somewhere in Canada Real Name

  16. Review

    Originally titled Man on the Run, Woman on the Run has two claims to specialness. First is the choice role it hands to Ann Sheridan, the film's star. The

  17. Woman on the Run 1950

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  20. Watch Woman on the Run

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