Chicago Calling (1951)

Chicago Calling (1951)

$53 means life or death to him! 1951-12-31 United States of America 75 Min. PG-13
7 2 votes

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.

Cast

Dan Duryea is Bill Cannon
Bill Cannon
Mary Anderson is Mary Cannon
Mary Cannon
Melinda Casey is Nancy Cannon
Nancy Cannon
Judy Brubaker is Babs Kimball
Babs Kimball
Marcia Mae Jones is Peggy (as Marsha Jones)
Peggy (as Marsha Jones)
Roy Engel is Pete
Jean Harvey is Christine
Christine
Steve Pendleton is Police Lt. Ryan
Police Lt. Ryan
Gene Roth is Guard