Affair in Reno (1957) User Reviews

A Republic comedy thriller

[searchanddestroy-1 · 14 December 2008]

Well, I was not so surprised with this one. Republic Studios were used to make those sort of mixed up of thriller, westerns, comedies...

I would say it was their trade mark; for instance features with cars and phones...Such as Roy Rogers B westerns...

Back to AFFAIR IN RENO, we can see a normal guy - John Lund - who arrives in the Biggest Little City in the world - Reno - with one hundred grands in his coat. A little bullion in bank notes given by a wealthy man to a casino owner so that he marries his daughter...

And our hero discovers that he has a bodyguard, designed by the rich guy to protect him against people with bad purposes, a bodyguard in petticoat. Nothing less...

You can guess the following. I will tell no more about it.

A good time waster. And a RG Springsteen film is always worth for anyone who loves B movies.

She's just too good for him...so why, oh why, does she love him?!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 28 November 2017]

Bill Carter (John Lund) is an agent working for a rich guy, Mr. Del Monte. His job is to either give a sleazy gambler a payoff NOT to marry Del Monte's foolish daughter or, preferably, convince this daughter not to marry the guy. Unfortunately, the gambler IS a sleaze-bag and has a couple heavies on hand to relieve Carter of the money ($100,000)...deal or no deal. Fortunately, a female detective, Nora (Doris Singleton), is also working for Del Monte and informs Carter she's there to protect him. Unfortunately, Carter is a sexist jerk and wants nothing to do with her...at least at first.

This is a fair enough movie to watch BUT also is irritating by modern standards. Carter is a bit of a dummy and Nora is so smart and capable...yet, inexplicably, she falls for the dope by the end of the picture...an obvious and expected cliché...but one that spoils the film a bit. After all, WHY would she like Carter? And, wouldn't this somehow not be consistent with her character?

Starts off on a lucky streak of romance but ends up being snake eyes.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 26 November 2019]

Towards the end of it's days as the top B studio, Republic released this crime caper with strong comic elements pairing private detective John Lund with snappy bodyguard Doris Singleton who interrupts Lund's shower and never leaves his side. She even gets to save him in a unique way from being kidnapped by none other than legendary skipper Alan Hale Jr. who I trying to keep Lund from locating Angela Greene, heiress daughter of Lund's client, Thurston Hall. (No, not Howell... Hale would have to wait another seven years to encounter Jim Backus....) Greene plans to marry gambler John Archer which papa disapproves of.

That romance is secondary as it's the growing romance between Lund and Singleton that creates the comedy interrupted half way through by a ridiculous and convoluted plot. It is obviously going to be resolved in spite of the criminal elements involved so there's little in the way of tension.

In addition to sitcom actors Hale and Richard Deacon there's also Howard McNear, aka Floyd the bartender who becomes the victim of a mickey meant for Lund. What makes this unique is the obvious conclusion that Singleton is smarter than Lund, a nice twist for a 50's caper film that might have worked better a decade before with William Powell and Myrna Loy.