IMDb RATING
7.2/10
9.2K
YOUR RATING
A doctor and a policeman in New Orleans have only 48 hours to locate a killer infected with pneumonic plague.A doctor and a policeman in New Orleans have only 48 hours to locate a killer infected with pneumonic plague.A doctor and a policeman in New Orleans have only 48 hours to locate a killer infected with pneumonic plague.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 3 nominations total
Jack Palance
- Blackie
- (as Walter Jack Palance)
Julius Alford
- Mayors' assistant
- (uncredited)
Wilson Bourg Jr.
- Charlie
- (uncredited)
Beverly C. Brown
- Dr. Mackey
- (uncredited)
G.S. Cambias
- Priest
- (uncredited)
Lewis Charles
- Kolchak
- (uncredited)
Herman Cottman
- Officer Scott
- (uncredited)
John David
- Fruit Salesman
- (uncredited)
William A. Dean
- Cortelyou
- (uncredited)
Robert Dorsen
- Coast Guard Lieutenant
- (uncredited)
George Ehmig
- Kleber
- (uncredited)
H. Waller Fowler Jr.
- Mayor Murray
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Richard Widmark, Jack Palance did his own stunt of climbing the boat rope after two stuntmen failed.
- GoofsAs Dr. Reed walks toward the house to thin the paint he removes his gloves and tosses them to the ground and is opening the paint thinner can with his bare hands. In the next cut, viewed from the house, he is opening the same can with his gloves on and when told to come to the phone he removes his gloves, and tosses them on the ground a second time.
- Quotes
Lt. Cmdr. Clinton 'Clint' Reed M.D.: You know, my mother always told me if you looked deep enough in anybody... you'd always find some good, but I don't know.
Capt. Tom Warren: With apologies to your mother, that's the second mistake she made.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey (1995)
- SoundtracksI Know Why (and So Do You)
(uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Played during the early and late scenes of Clint at home
Featured review
A doctor and a policeman in New Orleans have only 48 hours to locate a killer infected with pneumonic plague.
An effective and class, little thriller directed by Elia Kazan that blends documentary realism with a race against time pulpy heartbeat. Set and filmed in and around New Orleans, Panic In The Streets is taken from the story Quarantine, Some Like 'em Cold by Edna and Edward Anhalt who won an Oscar for original story. It also boasts a fine ensemble cast that deliver top rate performances for their director. In turn, Richard Widmark (bringing the method a year before Marlon did for Kazan in A Streetcar Named Desire), Paul Douglas, Jack Palance (as Walter Jack Palance) & the wonderfully named Zero Mostel, all get sweatily moody as the pursuers chase the pursued to halt the onset of a potential Black Death epidemic.
Where the film scores its main suspense points is with Kazan's astute ability to cut back and forth between the protagonists without altering the flow and mood of the piece. From Widmark's Public Health doctor, with hypodermic needle in hand, running around trying to locate the bad guys so he can do good - to the bad guys themselves who are bemused as to why there is such a wide scale hunt for them. The tension is stacked up to fever breaking point, to which thankfully the final thirty minutes becomes a cracking piece of cinema, with Palance excelling as a nasty villain that ironically puts one in mind of Widmark's own Tommy Udo from Kiss Of Death three years previously.
It's an imaginative and intelligently written story, one that cunningly links rats and criminals to being carriers of disease. A blight on society as it were. It's noirish elements, such as paranoia, blend nicely with its basic procedural thriller being. While some memorable scenes are suitably cloaked by the stifling atmosphere that Kazan has created. Although some of the early character psychologizing threatens to steer the film down some over talky based alleyways, this definitely is a film worth staying with to the end. Not essential film-noir in my personal book, and maybe not even essential Kazan? but certainly a highly recommended film that begs to be discovered by a new generation of film lovers and reappraised by the old guard who may have missed it back in the day. 7.5/10
An effective and class, little thriller directed by Elia Kazan that blends documentary realism with a race against time pulpy heartbeat. Set and filmed in and around New Orleans, Panic In The Streets is taken from the story Quarantine, Some Like 'em Cold by Edna and Edward Anhalt who won an Oscar for original story. It also boasts a fine ensemble cast that deliver top rate performances for their director. In turn, Richard Widmark (bringing the method a year before Marlon did for Kazan in A Streetcar Named Desire), Paul Douglas, Jack Palance (as Walter Jack Palance) & the wonderfully named Zero Mostel, all get sweatily moody as the pursuers chase the pursued to halt the onset of a potential Black Death epidemic.
Where the film scores its main suspense points is with Kazan's astute ability to cut back and forth between the protagonists without altering the flow and mood of the piece. From Widmark's Public Health doctor, with hypodermic needle in hand, running around trying to locate the bad guys so he can do good - to the bad guys themselves who are bemused as to why there is such a wide scale hunt for them. The tension is stacked up to fever breaking point, to which thankfully the final thirty minutes becomes a cracking piece of cinema, with Palance excelling as a nasty villain that ironically puts one in mind of Widmark's own Tommy Udo from Kiss Of Death three years previously.
It's an imaginative and intelligently written story, one that cunningly links rats and criminals to being carriers of disease. A blight on society as it were. It's noirish elements, such as paranoia, blend nicely with its basic procedural thriller being. While some memorable scenes are suitably cloaked by the stifling atmosphere that Kazan has created. Although some of the early character psychologizing threatens to steer the film down some over talky based alleyways, this definitely is a film worth staying with to the end. Not essential film-noir in my personal book, and maybe not even essential Kazan? but certainly a highly recommended film that begs to be discovered by a new generation of film lovers and reappraised by the old guard who may have missed it back in the day. 7.5/10
- hitchcockthelegend
- Feb 28, 2010
- Permalink
- How long is Panic in the Streets?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,400,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $43
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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