(2 of 2)
99 River Street (United Artists) retells the surefire old story of the worm who turns. Cabdriver John Payne is an ex-pug who gets his first brass-knuckle treatment from fate when an eye injury ends his boxing career just as he is on the brink of winning the world's heavyweight championship. In quick succession, he is deceived by his wife, played for a sucker by an aspiring actress (Evelyn Keyes), unjustly accused of assault & battery, framed for murder, hammered to a pulp by one gangster, pistol-whipped by another, and shot by a third. Before it is too late, Payne loses his temper and beats up everybody in sight—a magic Hollywood formula that enables him to corral all the criminals, clear his name, and settle down happily in a rose-covered gas station with Actress Keyes, who has had a change of heart.