AdventureYear1947Duration1h 20mIMDb6.8

Riffraff

AdventureComedyDrama

A plane takes off from Peru in a storm with two passengers; it lands in Panama with one. The missing man had valuable oil location maps; everyone who is after them must deal with Dan Hammer - combination private eye, agent, and con man who can fix anything for a fee. Nightclub singer Maxine is on Hammer's side... or is she? The rest is lighthearted, white-suited tropical intrigue.

Trailer

Cast

Ted Tetzlaff

Director

Pat O'Brien

Dan Hammer

Walter Slezak

Eric Molinar

Anne Jeffreys

Maxine Manning

Percy Kilbride

Pop

Jerome Cowan

Walter F. Gredson

George Givot

Police Lt. Rues

Jason Robards Sr.

Domingues

Marc Krah

Charles Hasso

William Alland

Trumpy - Man in Cell

Robert Andersen

Co-Pilot

Ernest Anderson

Wong - Houseboy

Bobby Barber

Customs Inspector

Bonnie Blair

Airport Official

Eddie Borden

Panhandler

TC

Tom Coleman

Man in Hallway

ID

Italia DeNubila

Dancer

Alphonso DuBois

Clerk

Fred Essler

Hernandez - Man with Briefcase

MR

Martin Rackin

Writer

Comments

5 Comments

Brenda Mackenzie 🇨🇮May 18, 2023

SurenNov 16, 2022

Anne Jeffreys, Pat OBrien, and Walter Slezak star in the search for a missing passenger. The passenger had a map of valuable oil reserves, but didn't land with the plane in Panama. Of course they question the only other passenger, who claims he knows nothing about it. Then they bring in the private eye (OBrien) to figure out what's going on. Expert viewers will recognize Percy Kilbride as "Pop", the taxi driver, who knows more than he should. He was Pa Kettle for MANY years. It's a decent plot, but everyone keeps getting knocked off, and now Dan, the P.I. is running out of clues. The rest of the story is very typical noir... private eye against thugs, private eye against the authorities. Keeps getting into trouble, keeps getting out of it. Obrien pretty much carries the show.

ErikaNov 16, 2022

Surprisingly entertaining dirty white suit movie with the lumbering Pat O'Brien keeping up for the most part with its fast pacing. O'Brien plays Dan Hammer, a sort of Mr. Fixit for anyone who needs something done within his code of ethics which ends short of murder, but a crisp bill buys his help on most other things. Mysterious strangers drop into his life, all competing for a mysterious map and all willing to pay. Anne Jeffreys is the blonde who may be after the map herself or maybe just wants to sing songs like "Money is the Root of all Evil" in a standard RKO tropical nightclub. Percy Kilbride is Hammer's driver and aide in a comedy cab. Walter Slezak is an excellent villain and rather fine artist who doodles while his henchmen pound the daylights out of O'Brien. Its all a lot of fun with some snappy dialogue and a noirish treatment from the director with many nice touches. Is Jerome Cowan in it too? You bet.

Smiley💛Nov 16, 2022

I thought I'd seen just about all of the great, dark thrillers made in the late 40s - this little gem was a great surprise! It is well scripted, well acted, fast paced and commands the viewers attention. Walter Slezak is wonderful in his role as villain: fat, sweaty and greedy - what worked for Sidney Greenstreet works equally as well for Slezak. Slezak, who usually played villains and cads, had the knack of winning an audience's affection. Pat O'Brien is excellent in the role, if a little long-in-the-tooth to be courting a 23 year old Anne Jeffrys. Percy Kilbride, of Pa Kettle fame, is fun in his role as a placid yet cunning taxi driver, whose taxi would have been considered ancient, even in 1947. Definitely worth watching if you are a fan of this genre. As an aside, it's great to see that Anne Jeffreys is still very active in acting, and still very beautiful - nearly 60 years after this film was made.

كانو🔥غاليين 🇱🇾Nov 16, 2022

For the sake of restraint I shy away from awarding 'tens'. But Riff Raff is so well made and keeps with the beat, that it is a perfect piece of cinematic work. I was on the telephone with my girlfriend (we were arguing about something) and had the television on mute and was impressed enough with the camera work (not the argument) that I just had to record the movie on the next go-around. This is the movie that would go in a time capsule so well that it captures the genre of movie it represents. This film is the one that made me a Walter Slezak fan. If he is in it, I'll watch it (you mean he actually has a fan base?). It was actors like Slezak [and John Qualen, Peter Lorre, Thomas Gomez, Mervyn Johns, his daughter Glynnis Johns, Percy Herbert, and many more] that made movies like this so effective. It is not a good VHS copy, but until I get a better one, this will do just fine. By the way, the telephone girl and I will celebrate our thirteenth anniversary next week.

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