Deadline U.S.A. (1952)

Deadline – U.S.A. is a 1952 American film noir crime film and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymore and Kim Hunter, written and directed by Richard Brooks. It is the story of a crusading newspaper editor who exposes a gangster’s crimes while also trying to keep the paper from going out of business, and contains a subplot of him trying to reconcile with his ex-wife.

Director – Richard Brooks

Writer – Richard Brooks

Cast –
Humphrey Bogart as Ed Hutcheson
Ethel Barrymore as Margaret Garrison
Kim Hunter as Nora Hutcheson
Ed Begley as Frank Allen
Warren Stevens as George Burrows
Paul Stewart as Harry Thompson
Martin Gabel as Tomas Rienzi
Joseph De Santis as Herman Schmidt
Joyce MacKenzie as Katherine “Kitty” Garrison Geary
Audrey Christie as Mrs. Willebrandt
Fay Baker as Alice Garrison Courtney
Jim Backus as Jim Cleary

Watch “Deadline U.S.A.” (1952)

Plot

Ed Hutcheson is the crusading managing editor of a large metropolitan newspaper called The Day. He is steadfastly loyal to publisher Margaret Garrison, the widow of the paper’s founder, but Mrs. Garrison is on the verge of selling the newspaper to interests who plan to permanently cease its operation.

Hutcheson has other concerns, including that his former wife Nora is going to remarry. He also puts his reporters to work on the murder of a young woman and the involvement of racketeer Tomas Rienzi, which could turn out to be a circulation builder that keeps the paper in business or else the last big story it ever covers.

Reporters discover that the dead girl, Bessie Schmidt, had been Rienzi’s mistress, and that her brother Herman had illegal business dealings with the gangster. Hutcheson gets to Herman with an opportunity to safely tell his story, but Rienzi’s thugs, disguised as cops, take him away, resulting in Herman’s death.

All seems lost when Mrs. Garrison’s daughters, majority stockholders Kitty and Alice, refuse to budge, causing a judge to permit The Day to be sold. Bessie’s elderly mother, Mrs. Schmidt, turns up in Hutcheson’s office with her daughter’s diary and $200,000 in cash, implicating Rienzi in his illegal activities. The presses roll as Hutcheson ignores the gangster’s threats.