Pitfall

Story

Sue Forbes (Jane Wyatt) is cooking eggs for the family’s breakfast. Son Tommy (Jimmy Hunt) is already seated at the table, and husband John (Dick Powell) joins them. John speaks to the family in a monotone, wanting to take the day off, feeling he would never be missed by the insurance company he works for. He has the urge to take an adventure. His life is regimented, down to the minute. Sue tells John, as he enters the car, that she hopes he’ll be in a better mood tonight.

When John Forbes arrives at work, Ed Brawley (Selmer Jackson) reminds him of dinner with the wives. John always has dinner with Ed and the families every Friday night and wants this time to be different. He feels his life is in a rut. Private Detective MacDonald (Raymond Burr) enters his office seeking a little praise for recovering $4,000 of embezzled funds from Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott), a girl he admits liking. MacDonald is a fine detective, John tells him, but now the company will handle the case.

John Forbes goes to Mona’s apartment to get as much of the $10,000 she owes as he can. Finding her door unlocked, he lets himself in. He finds several modeling photos of her as she enters the apartment carrying grocery bags. Mona wasn’t given cash but rather expensive gifts from the embezzler, Bill Smiley (Byron Barr), her boyfriend, now serving time in prison. She immediately starts returning Smiley’s gifts to Forbes, including her engagement ring. Mona has John’s character down perfectly, saying that if he were a good guy, he would be crying a little with her. Instead, he comes off as aloof and cold. John tries to be more sympathetic by buying her a drink, and she reveals that Smiley also bought her a boat. She takes John to the dock to show it to him. Her boat, Tempest, is a small runabout. John lets her take one more ride. They both hit it off so well that Mona asks him to dinner after having her cocktail. MacDonald, the detective, watches the apartment as Johnny leaves late that night. He then goes back home to his wife, feeling a bit guilty.

Johnny returns to Mona’s apartment, telling her that her boat has been repossessed because Mac knew she had been given it. To avoid any trouble with the company, John had to report the boat as a present she received. Mona says he was a nice guy and told her in person. They end up kissing one another. When John returns home, pulling up to the garage, Mac appears out of the bushes. “I told you I liked that girl,” Mac declares as John continues to park his car. Then Mac sucker punches him, repeatedly pummels him, and leaves.

John is stuck in bed being treated for his wounds. The doctor says he will recover in a week or two. His wife, Sue, wants to call the police, but John won’t have it. Mona, pulling up to the curb, overhears Sue and the doctor leaving the house with Tommy, and the doctor says not to worry about your husband; he’ll live. Mona is crushed and makes an excuse about being on the wrong street when Sue approaches her.

After his complete recovery, John meets with Mona in a lounge, but Mac told her what really happened with Mac. Mona knows he is married with one child. She could be nasty, but she goes easy on John. Mona tells him to go home and stay there.

The modeling agency is holding an exhibition, and MacDonald is there, wanting a closer look at a dress, so he calls Mona over. He then asks her to model the dress. He finally agrees to buy it. Mona is visibly disgusted by Mac. He wants to see a few more dresses. When Mona gets a ride home from work, Mac is waiting for her. Mona bluntly tells him to stop waiting for her, as she’s simply not interested. He hints that he’ll cause trouble for Mr. Forbes and his wife, but she walks away.

Mona contacts John and asks him to come to her modeling agency. There, Mona explains the problems Mac is causing. John says he’ll talk to Mac and won't bother you anymore. John then goes to Mac’s apartment, surprises him, and beats him senseless, warning him not to bother the girl or his family.

Mac visits Bill Smiley in prison and tries to get him riled up. Mona seems resigned to reignite her relationship with Smiley, who is getting released from jail tomorrow. When visiting Smiley in prison, he asks who Forbes is and who this MacDonald is who comes to visit, driving him crazy. Smiley notices Mona is not wearing his ring, and Mona tells him she gave it all back. That’s the reason he is being released from prison.

John reads in bed as Sue stares at him, then speaks. She asks if he wants to talk about it, whatever’s on his mind. When John is reluctantly ready to tell Sue everything, Tommy calls for his Dad from his bedroom. He was having a nightmare. Both adults gravitate to the kitchen. Sue again asks what he was about to tell her upstairs. But this time, he evades her question.

Mona returns to her apartment to find Smiley drinking, saying, "We’ll celebrate tonight." Smiley is suspicious of Mona and Forbes; Mac has given him a pistol. At his home, John is reading Tommy a bedtime story when Mona calls to warn him about Smiley and Mac.

Johnny first wants the family to take in a picture show, but Sue nixes the idea, and Johnny fetches his pistol from a drawer. He goes downstairs to turn out the lights and look around, and soon Tommy follows, saying his father failed to say goodnight. A car pulls up and stops outside. As Mac waits in the car, Smiley knocks on the door, and John pulls out his gun. Johnny sneaks out the side door and gets the advantage on Smiley, telling him to leave. John returns via the side door, and two shots are fired almost immediately. Sue is panicked by the shots. A third shot is fired. Sue rushes downstairs and finds John’s head buried in his hands. He tells Sue to call the police because he just killed a man.

Mac returns to Mona’s place and turns on her police radio. Mac says that somebody's been shot, but he doesn’t know whether it is Johnny, Smiley, or Johnny’s wife. Mona looks downtrodden. Mac calls the police and discovers that a prowler, Smiley, was shot and killed. Mona falls to her knees. Mac wants Mona to pack her bags to escape for a few days. “Smiley wasn’t a bad guy; he never hurt anyone, really. He was a nice guy,” Mona relates. Mac confidently mentions she’s now stuck with him, as Mona pulls a gun from her drawer. She turns and fires three shots into MacDonald, who drops to the floor.

After the police leave, Sue comforts a sullen Johnny. As she prepares coffee, Johnny walks into the kitchen, wanting to talk to her. In a very glum mood, Johnny tells Sue the whole story. His conscience haunts him, but Sue remains unsympathetic, only worried about their son. He tells Johnny not to go to the police, warning that dragging their family through the mud would be unforgivable. He walks outside and continues walking the streets, deep in thought. Finally, he reaches his insurance office, dazed. Two men from the D.A. office are waiting for him. They are there to ask questions about last night, but Johnny admits there are several things he didn't disclose, and they go to the DA’s office to talk. His story checks out, but the DA says they’ve arrested Mona, who is upstairs, for shooting MacDonald, who is still alive. Johnny sees Mona from the rear, leaving the station.

Sue is ready to pick up Johnny in the parking lot and tells him she is taking Tommy out of school. Sue suggests he ask for a transfer to another town. Johnny asks Sue if she wants a divorce, and she admits she's been seriously considering it but decided against it. She says things will never be the same, at least for a long time, but she’s willing to give Johnny a second chance. The movie ends with Sue saying, "We will try, we will try.”

Critique

Pitfall is another of the domestic noirs where a couple’s marriage is threatened. This was a clever trick to get women interested in film noir. But generally, these types of noirs turn out to be socially relevant, showing how social mores are changing. And such movies generally left the male audience cold.

Lizabeth Scott is unusual in playing Mona Stevens, for she is generally known for her femme fatale roles in film noir, a persona deadly to men. Here, we first know her as an embezzler and suspect her persona leans toward taking advantage of men. But from the minute we first see her carrying grocery bags, we realize she isn’t going to inhabit the world of the femme fatale. She wants to become romantically involved with Johnny, but she thinks he is single. When Mona later learns he has a wife and young son, she pushes him home and urges him to stay with his family. She is not a home wrecker. She avoids MacDonald like the plague, and reignites her past relationship with Mike Smiley, a man she considers more her type.

MacDonald is the type of sleazy private detective who, when he falls for a woman, assumes she falls just as hard for him. When she rejects Mac, he gets rid of every man in her life so she has to depend on him, or at least that's what he thinks. He's a skilled manipulator until he realizes that a woman can survive on her own. In desperation, Mona finally shoots him three times.

Perhaps the most complex character in the movie is Johnny’s wife, Sue. She is definitely the glue holding the family together. It’s clear that she gives the orders and does the most thinking, desperately trying to keep the family united. She immediately tells Johnny to improve his mood by tonight, as his current attitude is dragging the family down. She knows when Johnny has a problem he’s too hesitant to talk about, and she tries to get it out of him. When he finally admits to having an affair with Mona, Mona doesn’t give a damn about the guilty conscience that’s tormenting him. (She knows he deserves that guilt for his actions within his marriage.) She only cares about any backlash that might affect her young son. She understands that Johnny deserves to suffer. Sue ultimately decides to give Johnny one more chance in their marriage, realizing it will likely be different. She logically remembers he’s been a good father for all but 24 hours of their marriage, and one mistake in 24 hours shouldn’t ruin their marriage. She recognizes how much Tommy loves his father and wants to protect that.

Johnny not only gets into trouble for his affair, but also for stealing Mac’s perceived women and getting himself beaten up and nearly killed because of his involvement with Mona. His marriage almost falls apart, and he nearly dies for daring to get involved with “the other woman.” When Johnny makes a mistake, it often snowballs into a real disaster. And it all happens because of his “seven-year itch,” his desire to have an adventure.

This is basically a romantic noir with a criminal subplot, featuring Raymond Burr and Byron Barr, that features fistfights, gunplay, and veiled threats. Pitfall is at best a fair film noir, a cautionary tale that your lawn has the greenest grass, and one better believe it! The plot plays out as boilerplate at best and seems to develop by the numbers, offering few surprises and good performances to latch on to. Disintegrating marriage offers nothing new to occupy one’s time, and this is no exception.

MONA (ELIZABETH SCOTT), JOHNNY (DICK POWELL), AND MACDONALD (RAYMOND BURR)

JOHNNY TALKS TO HIS WIFE SUE (JANE WYATT).