Try and Get Me (1950)

This movie was originally titled "The Sound Fury", and honestly that is a way better title for this extraordinary movie, and far more fitting. Alternatively, you could add, "If you like Fritz Lang, watch this!"

I recorded this on TCM's Noir Alley, and host Eddie Muller warned it was grim. He added, "if you watch noir as a 'comfort food' film, this will only bring you cold comfort". Now if that isn't intriguing for noir fans, I don't know what is.

This movie is based on a true story from 1933 about two men who kidnapped and murdered a young aristocrat, which dramatically resulted in the last public lynching in California. Fritz's Lang's movie, Fury (1936) is also based on this incident, and is also an amazing film. 

Howard Tyler (Frank Lovejoy), is a down on his luck family man with a wife, kid, and one on the way. He meets a con man, Jerry Slocum (played so well by Lloyd Bridges) who is willing to take him on as his driver in some robberies and split the profit - of course Tyler isn't aware in the beginning what type of job he was signing on for. As a viewer you know this guy is sketchy, but putting myself in Tyler's shoes, I can’t blame him for taking the job; the money was desperately needed.
Slocum's heists escalates and without warning Tyler, he kidnaps the son of a wealthy family and tells Tyler he is going to ask for ransom. That's going to be their big score. With no intention of returning the son, Slocum throws his victim down a rocky ledge and bashes his head in on a beach.
The shock of this event causes Tyler to spiral out of control, drink heavily and confess to a lonely woman who is just looking for love and companionship. She takes off and reports Tyler to the police. Once surrounded by the cops, he gives himself up. It's all been too much for Tyler, who never wanted any of this in the first place.

Meanwhile a reporter new to the crime beat has been reporting on the story and writes a series of scathing article about the two men. This sensational story whips people into a fury. The reporter - thanks to his moralistic friend - realizes his one-sided reporting was unfair, but it’s too late. While the both Tyler and Slocum are locked behind bars, a massive lynch mob gathers outside the prison, yelling, wanting to take the matter into their own hands. The crowd manages to muscle their way into the prison, and in the most intense, dramatic, and violent (minus blood and gore - this is 1950) scene I’ve ever seen portrayed in a film. They bust through the jail and drag the two men out of their cells and beat them to death. As a viewer, you are simply at a loss for words. You want justice, but you don’t want this.

This incredible storyline was elevated by superb acting in this movie. Lloyd Bridges transforms seamlessly from a slick con-man, to a caged animal intent to kill. Watching Katherine Locke as Heather Weatherwax, a woman desperately hoping for love is downright awkward - which is actually as it should be. Never once do you dislike Howard Tyler, despite showing so many flaws throughout the movie. It's just altogether so good. A film that should be studied.