Bodyguard | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Richard Fleischer |
Produced by | Sid Rogell |
Screenplay by | |
Story by | |
Starring | |
Music by | Paul Sawtell |
Cinematography | Robert De Grasse |
Edited by | Elmo Williams |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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62 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Bodyguard is a 1948 American semi-documentary crime film noir directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Fred Niblo Jr.and Harry Essex, based on a story written by George W. George and Robert Altman, later directed MASH and other notable films. The drama features Lawrence Tierney and, in her final screen appearance, Priscilla Lane.
Mike Carter (Tierney) is forced to resign from the Los Angeles Police Department after breaking some rules, and he becomes a bodyguard to wealthy Eugenia Dyson (Elisabeth Risdon). Before long, Carter has been accused of murder and is being hunted down by his former fellow officers.
His file clerk and fiancée Doris Brewster (Lane) believes in his innocence, and she is instrumental in cornering the actual killer.
Brian Baxter of The Guardian identified Bodyguard as one of Fleischer's early RKO films that has stood the test of time. Michael Barrett of PopMatters rated it 6/10 and called it "a trim little B film that’s an unpolished gem of late-'40s noir".