"The Phenix City Story" could have been an exploitation B-picture and it sure can read as one, at first. Opening with a 13-minute prologue involving a TV reporter interviewing actual citizens of Phenix including John Patterson's widow, you might think you stumbled onto a documentary. Then the film probes a little deeper into the Poppy Club and how the fix is in, and we see how such money is funnelled in through the factory development of die loaded with mercury, slot machines rigged to pay one cent on the dollar, marked dealer cards, bad whisky, etc.
The head of this crime syndicate is Rhett Tanner (Edward Andrews), who has one terrific line where he states that he "hates trouble, despises it, keeps me awake at night." Of course, there is nothing but trouble in this town, from fistfights to the occasional murder that is reported by the press as just an accident. Rhett is an amoral bastard yet so damn smooth-talking that he looks like a simple jolly businessman. Attorney Albert Patterson (John McIntire) can't be persuaded by Rhett to join the syndicate or to join local efforts to rid the crime in the area. Then the violence starts to really dominate when Patterson, after the hideous murder of a black girl who is left for dead in front of his home, decides to run for attorney general. The voting locations are swarmed by mob guys who beat, slap and throw voters from careening vehicles. Voting is not a protected right, clearly. Albert Patterson is unfortunately gunned down, in addition to the murder of a witness who worked at the Poppy Club spying on the mob enforcers. No one is safe from the venomous syndicate but it is finally John, Albert's son, who brings justice to town.
"The Phenix City Story" doesn't shy away from the corruption that envelops Phenix City - it is street violence that comes alive in moments least expected. There is a sense of unease and no respite from its incendiary tone. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially reliable McIntire who brings an unquestionable moral authority. Richard Kiley also excels in his sweaty anxiety, trying to do the heroic thing but will the money-making industry allow it? "The Phenix City Story" has its imperfections and expected historical inaccuracies and some outright omissions (John Patterson reluctantly held segregationist views as attorney general and later as Governor of Alabama) yet the film is tough, fast-paced and unrelenting. It is strong stuff for 1955.
