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Chicago Calling

"$53 means life or death to him!"

Bill Cannon (Dan Duryea) loses everything to alcohol: his job, his family, his self-respect. Soon after his wife and daughter leave him, he receives word his little girl has been injured in a car accident outside Chicago. His wife will call later with news, but Bill’s short the $53 he needs to keep his phone from being disconnected. Filled with anguish, he heads out onto the Los Angeles streets to find some way to come up with the cash. As his character encounters expected cruelty and unexpected kindness, Duryea takes what might have been mere melodrama and turns it into a perceptive examination of one shattered soul. The other fine star of this race-against-the-clock programmer is an unglamorous, lunch-bucket L.A. rarely captured on film.

Top Cast

  • Dan Duryea

    Dan Duryea

    Bill Cannon

  • Mary Anderson

    Mary Anderson

    Mary Cannon

  • Gordon Gebert

    Gordon Gebert

    Bobby

  • Ross Elliott

    Ross Elliott

    Jim

  • Melinda Casey

    Melinda Casey

    Nancy Cannon

  • Judy Brubaker

    Judy Brubaker

    Babs Kimball

  • Marcia Mae Jones

    Marcia Mae Jones

    Peggy (as Marsha Jones)

  • Marsha Jones

    Marsha Jones

    Peggy

  • Roy Engel

    Roy Engel

    Pete

Overview

Bill Cannon (Dan Duryea) loses everything to alcohol: his job, his family, his self-respect. Soon after his wife and daughter leave him, he receives word his little girl has been injured in a car accident outside Chicago. His wife will call later with news, but Bill’s short the $53 he needs to keep his phone from being disconnected. Filled with anguish, he heads out onto the Los Angeles streets to find some way to come up with the cash. As his character encounters expected cruelty and unexpected kindness, Duryea takes what might have been mere melodrama and turns it into a perceptive examination of one shattered soul. The other fine star of this race-against-the-clock programmer is an unglamorous, lunch-bucket L.A. rarely captured on film.

Rating

7.7 / 10
3 Reviews
0 Popular

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