Phil Karlson directed some of the most compelling crime films of the 1950s, and the rarely seen 99 River Street is Karlson at his hard-hitting, innovative best. Building on typical noir elements-a down-on-his-luck protagonist, an untrustworthy blonde wife, and a grisly gallery of underworld mugs-this film ventures beyond standard crime-gone-wrong themes to explore the overlaps between reality and spectacle. From the brilliant opening sequence, in which a prizefighter turned cab driver watches himself lose on a TV program called "Great Fights of Yesterday," Karlson exploits shifting points of view to disorient both audience and characters. But the film is hardly a dry formal exercise; well-chosen details and vivid performances make the story thoroughly engaging. The working title was "Crosstown," evoking both the characters' mutual betrayals and the cabbie's nocturnal travels across the map of New York, finally leading him to a dead-end street in Jersey City.-Juliet Clark