Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 8-March-09
Spoiler Rating: High

Borderline (1950)

A good many movies that show people falling in love also show them lying about their identities, social positions, feelings, or activities — a disturbing fact when viewed in a certain light. Borderline is refreshing in that the lying stems from a justifiable cause, and because it features something you don't expect to see in a '50s movie, or even a modern one: a female undercover cop.

The borderline in question is the one between the U.S. and Mexico across which drugs were flowing even three score years ago. As the movie opens a team of L.A.'s finest reaches another dead end in its quest to bring down a drug lord working south of the border. An eager officer (Claire Trevor) volunteers to go to Mexico and capitalize on the kingpin's taste for loose women. The movie delicately suggests that she has something to prove beyond proficiency at her job. She is single and not stunning — can she really seduce a man?

She does in fact come on too strong when she sights her prey (Raymond Burr) in a cantina, but she manages to hook one of his henchmen instead. This lands her in the thick of the action. She finds herself commandeered to pose as the wife of a thug (Fred MacMurray) who works for Burr's rival and help him deliver a shipment of drugs up to Los Angeles. It isn't quite the goal she had in mind, but it gives her the opportunity to seize some contraband and arrest a smuggler red-handed when they reach the border.

The fake newlyweds hit the road with mutual suspicion and Burr hot on their tail. An astute viewer will have predicted what is soon revealed, that MacMurray's character is also working undercover. Of course this revelation is made to the audience, not the heroine. As the twosome dodges bullets and Mexican law enforcement, each tries to act tough but arouses feelings of kinship and attraction in the other. By the time they reach the U.S. they have admitted to being in love. Just in time to slap on the cuffs, or so each thinks with regret.

The discovery that they are on the same team does not prompt a happy ending but rather the beginning of a rock-em, sock-em finale. Both leads are hurt at having been deceived. Still, there is a job to be done, and with both Burr and his rival on hand the pot at stake is a large one. It ultimately sweetens the triumph of two professionals who found love by crossing the line.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.