Supportive Fellas of Film Noir: Part II
More than a year ago, I started a series, “Supportive Fellas of Film Noir,” which focused on . . . well . . . the supporting male characters in film noir features. It’s been a while since I promised to shine the spotlight on these gents, so I figured there was no time like the present to take another deep dive into this shadowy, supportive pool. This month’s Noir Nook will take a look at three more of my favorites: Jeff Hartnett, Whit Sterling, and Wally Fay.
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Jeff Hartnett in Johnny Eager (1942)
Robert Taylor stars in the title role of a smooth ex-con who drives a taxi to cover for a spate of criminal enterprises, from operating an illegal dog racing track to committing stone-cold murder. His circle of friends and lovers includes Garnet (Patricia Dane), his sometime-girlfriend; Lisbeth Bard (Lana Turner), the stepdaughter of Johnny’s nemesis in the D.A.’s office; and Jeff Hartnett, Johnny’s right-hand man (played by Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Van Heflin).
Shortly after we make Jeff’s acquaintance, we learn three things about him: (1) he’s an intellectual, with a sensitive soul and a penchant for quoting Shakespeare, (2) he’s unutterably devoted to Johnny, and (3) he’s a functional alcoholic. We’re not told in so many words, but we get the impression that his reliance on the bottle is somehow tied in with the other two factoids about him – his allegiance to Johnny and his ties to Johnny’s criminal activities seem to be in direct conflict with his intelligence and his sense of right and wrong. In fact, when once asked by Johnny why he drinks so much, Jeff responds, “Every now and then I’ve got to look in a mirror.”
Don’t get me wrong – Jeff was Johnny’s closest friend and most loyal supporter, but he could also be unflinchingly honest when it came to Johnny’s actions and beliefs, regardless of the potential consequences. In the most extreme case of this, in one scene, Jeff makes a reference to Johnny’s self-centered nature and winds up on the floor with a sore jaw. But while Jeff departed that encounter with a final-sounding, “That broke it,” there was nothing Johnny could do to make Jeff truly abandon him. We could all do with a Jeff in our lives.
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Whit Sterling in Out of the Past (1947)
In this acclaimed noir feature, Robert Mitchum is Jeff Bailey, a small-town service station owner whose past as a private investigator (with a different last name) comes back to bite him when he has a chance encounter with a former associate. His past includes racketeer Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas) and Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer), the alluring dame who Sterling was desperate to find after she shot him and stole a cool forty grand.
Whit is a fascinating character – a refined gangster with a well-modulated voice and a pleasant smile. But he’s scary, too. When we first meet him, in a flashback where he’s hiring Jeff to track down Kathie, Whit is friendly, mild-mannered – he even doesn’t seem to be angry at Kathie. He just wants her back in his life. But when Jeff asks him what he’ll do to Kathie when she returns, Whit’s eyes grow cold as he responds, “I won’t touch her.” It’s a chilling moment – and it’s not the last where Whit’s concerned.
In fact, almost every time we see Whit – and it’s not often – he has an air of affability that sets your teeth on edge. You never know what he’s going to say or do. You can ‘t figure him out. You don’t know if you should trust what he’s saying or head for the hills. Take the scene where he surprises Jeff by showing up in Mexico, where Jeff has found (and fallen for) Kathie. Whit doesn’t know that, but we’re not quite sure what he does know. Is he really just in Mexico to “see a man about a horse”? Is he in town to check up on his private dick investment? Or does he suspect that Jeff knows more than he’s telling? The suspense is lethal.
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Wally Fay in Mildred Pierce (1945)
In this feature, Joan Crawford stars in the title role of a single mother who will stop at almost nothing to earn the regard of her impossibly supercilious daughter, Veda (Ann Blyth). After the bust-up of her marriage to Bert (Bruce Bennett), Mildred takes a waitressing job to make ends meet, but eventually hits the jackpot with a chain of successful restaurants. She comes to learn, though, that money doesn’t buy happiness. Or devotion. Or love. And sometimes, it leads to murder. The cast is rounded out by Mildred’s cash-poor second husband Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott); Mildred’s saucy best pal, Ida Corwin (Eve Arden); and Bert Pierce’s former real estate partner, Wally Fay (Jack Carson).
On the surface, Wally was a jokester, a good-time Charlie who was always quick with a quip. But like Whit Sterling, his exterior was far different than what was underneath. We learn this early on, when Mildred’s voiceover references the end of the partnership between her husband and Wally: “One day they split up. Wally was in and Bert was out. They weren’t partners anymore. That day when Bert came home, he was out of a job.” We don’t find out any of the specifics, but we get the distinct impression that loyalty was not one of Wally’s strong suits, and self-preservation was.
We see this throughout the film – Wally is always (and I mean always) looking out for number one. When he finds out that Mildred and Bert are separated, he doesn’t waste any time trying to replace his former friend (“I’ve always been soft in the head where you’re concerned . . . maybe there’s a chance for me now.”). When Veda secretly marries her well-to-do boyfriend, it’s Wally who brokers a hefty financial settlement to end the union and, of course, plans to get his piece of the pie. And when Mildred’s business faces a financial crisis, Wally is the one who lands on his feet. And, yet, there’s something about Wally that prevents us from being mad at him – it’s not his fault that he consistently puts himself first. He does it with such charm! (Whaddya gonna do?)
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Stay tuned for future Noir Nooks, where I’ll explore more first-rate supporting gents – and the ladies, too!
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– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.
Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
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