While we're on the subject of classic movies of yesteryear, I give you this one with a backstory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYbZktWNP_w

My father was a professional saxophone/clarinet player in the Stork Club rhumba band during the 50's, and was a close friend of Manny Balestrero, the subject of this film. He would have been the sax player in the clip (:38-:53), except that Warner Bros. decided not to use the real Stork Club band when filming due to union issues.

My dad had to sign a release from Warner Bros., and I think he received a small payment for it, probably because during the film he is peripherally referred to, although not by name. When the detectives are questioning Manny in the stationhouse trying to find a motive for the robbery, they ask him about his gambling on the horses, and Fonda has a line something to the effect that he plays a dollar apiece with his friend on a horse once in a while. That friend would have been my father.

The film is a very underrated Hitchcock classic, and it supposedly had a great impact on many directors of the "film noir" genre.


Ocala Mike