McGivern had a rich and varied writing career ranging from newspaper work to pulp fiction to crime novels (five of which were made into feature films most notably “Odds Against Tomorrow” starring Robert Ryan and Harry Belafonte, 1959) to screenplays (the John Wayne film “Brannigan”, 1975) to TV series scriptwriting (“Kojak”). Like many once popular and respected mystery writers from the middle of the last century, McGivern is rarely read today. I hope that these reviews and discussions will serve to re-kindle interest in this neglected writer.
His writing style, subject matter and themes are neither for the fainthearted nor for those seeking a high amount of classic detection. Whether tackling police corruption, political corruption, union corruption or civic corruption, he zeroed in on the weaknesses of society and created compelling crime stories that are still meaningful half a century after they were written.
Various mystery reference books give incorrect information as to McGivern’s “Edgar” awarded by the Mystery Writers of America. He is officially credited with the 1954 award for Best Motion Picture. The movie was “The Big Heat’. What is odd about the award is that McGivern had nothing to do with the screenplay (that credit goes to Sidney Boehm). The novel version of The Big Heat did not win any MWA prizes when it was published in 1953. Apparently back in those days the MWA’s policy concerning awards for films (and also TV shows) was still being formulated. It seems that within a year or two after 1954 only the actual screenwriter(s) will win “Edgar” awards. Authors of the books that the winning films are based on will no longer get an award for Best Motion Picture unless they actually wrote or participated in the writing of the screenplay. This seems to be a sensible decision. Think of how embarrassing it would be if a screenwriter adapted a terrible novel into a brilliant screenplay that was made into a great movie! The novel’s author would win a prize that he or she certainly did not deserve. This is not what happened with McGivern. The Big Heat is reputed to be a very fine crime novel. It just happened that the movie version did better against its competitors than the novel did against its competitors, at least according to the MWA voters at the time.
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Shield for Murder (1951)
There is no mystery as to who will be killed (a small time gambler/bookie for his bankroll) or who will do the killing (Barny Nolan, a thuggish and soon to become crooked cop) in this book. The cover illustration of the Pocket Book paperback edition and the first paragraph of the story make all this very clear. The story’s suspense hinges on whether or not Nolan will get away with his crime. In Nolan’s favor is the unspoken police code of shielding their own unless and until that position becomes untenable. Against Nolan stand a newspaper reporter (which McGivern once was) and a woman that Nolan misjudges on a couple of different levels.
McGivern is still learning the craft of the crime novel in 1951. He examines themes in Shield for Murder that he will later expand upon (crusading reporters in 1957’s Night Extra and crooked cops in several books, most notably 1954’s Rogue Cop). McGivern’s storytelling is not as crisp as it will later become. His characterizations are not as spot on as they will become. His confrontation scenes are not quite as tense and menacing as in later books. Shield for Murder would have been better served as a 20,000 to 25,000-word novella rather than a 52,000-word novel but the same could be said of many mystery stories. This was only McGivern’s fourth novel and, in retrospect, it is clear that he was still struggling a bit to evolve from pulp short fiction writing to major crime novel writing. As with almost all of McGivern’s work there is little detection present but this is certainly a worthwhile read for anyone interested in a hard-hitting crime story with an interesting and slightly ambiguous ending.
The book is dedicated to Howard Browne (aka John Evans & others, 1908-1999) who was apparently greatly admired by McGivern for his editing and novel writing abilities. McGivern eventually followed Browne’s lead by also going to Hollywood to write for film and television.
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The Big Heat (1953)
Homicide Detective Sgt. Dave Bannion is an honest cop working in a corrupt town (Philadelphia). He is respected by criminals and colleagues alike because of his abilities and fairness, though he is considered “not smart” because he doesn’t “play along”. The city’s corrupt regime catches an unlucky break when Bannion is, almost by chance, assigned to investigate the apparent suicide of a police clerk. Small inconsistencies that pop up during his investigation would be overlooked by a lesser, or corrupt, cop but Bannion doggedly follows inconclusive and puzzling leads to dead ends, until a woman of interest turns up brutally murdered. The corrupt police brass quickly pull Bannion off the case but he continues to investigate on his own. Bannion is then targeted by the mob but they mistakenly kill a person close to Bannion instead of Bannion himself. Devastated by his loss, Bannion quits the police force and begins a vengefull pursuit for justice.
As is typical of a McGivern crime novel, the odds are not totally stacked against the protagonist. Unexpected help comes from unexpected sources as honest citizens, police and eventually politicians provide just enough blocking and tackling to enable Bannion to bring down the criminals running the city. He also eventually comes to terms with a heartbreaking loss.
My edition of The Big Heat contains an afterword written by McGivern several years after the initial publication. In it he reveals that the plot was derived from an incident that occurred in Philadelphing just after World War II. McGivern was working as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer back then and was involved, to a small extent, with the breaking of a big story concerning the scandalous revelations contained in a minor city bureaucrat’s suicide note.
The possible existence of a similar suicide note is what drives the plot of The Big Heat. McGivern claims to have written the novel over a three week time period while he was living in Rome some six years after the real-life incident. The story was initially serialized in The Saturday Evening Post and McGivern implies that the ending of the serialized version was somewhat different that the book version but I have not verified this information.
The following is quoted from McGivern’s afterword: “I don’t think that my book is a classic, but I think Fritz Lang’s filmed version is. My story is more a modern fable, a fantasy we all enjoy reflecting on, a man hurt by the system in the most cruel way . . . He fights back and he wins, not only a physical victory, but a sort of intellectual and emotional catharsis.”
I think that McGivern was being a little too hard on himself. The film version of The Big Heat is a pretty good film noir (though not a great one) with a good performance by Glenn Ford, who was mis-cast because in the book Bannion is described as big, strong ex-Big Ten college football player. Being bigger and stronger than the various criminals he has to confront is what gives him an edge in his fights with them. While reading the book I pictured someone like Sterling Hayden playing the role. The movie also has some good performances by Lee Marvin and Gloria Grahame, she best remembered by me as Violet Bick, Bedford Falls prettiest, sexiest and, er, friendliest girl. In his afterword McGivern mentions that he heard years later from director Fritz Lang that Gloria gave him a lot of trouble on the set because her interpretation of a mobster’s girlfriend did not match Lang’s. This is a good spot to clarify a point about the only “Edgar” award that McGivern won. He is officially credited by the MWA with winning the 1954 award for Best Motion Picture for The Big Heat. What is odd about the award is that McGivern had nothing to do with the making of the movie or the screenplay (that credit goes to Sidney Boehm). The novel version of The Big Heat did not win any MWA prizes when it was published in 1953. Apparently back in those days the MWA’s policy concerning awards for films was still being formulated. It seems that within a year or two after 1954 only the actual screenwriter(s) will win “Edgar” awards. Authors of the books that winning films are based on will no longer get awards for Best Motion Picture unless they actually wrote or co-wrote the screenplay. This was a good decision by the MWA. Think of how embarrassing it would be if a screenwriter adapted a terrible novel into a brilliant screenplay that was made into a great movie! The author of the novel would win a prize that he or she certainly did not deserve. This did not happen with The Big Heat. The novel is just as good, if not better than the film version. The screenwriter made several changes to McGivern’s plot that may have made sense visually but did not necessarily improve the story.
I would not rank The Big Heat as McGivern’s best novel. That accolate belongs to either Rogue Cop or The Darkest Hour (aka Waterfront Cop). McGivern’s penchant for creating fragile, beautiful blondes who only serve to advance the plot before they are brutalized (and usually murdered) would be less noticeable in the books following The Big Heat. His female characters will become stronger and therefore more compelling as he further matured as a crime novel writer. FYI, “the big heat” refers to the political and civic pressure that comes down on the entrenched interests once the citizens finally become outraged about the level of corruption in the city.
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Rogue Cop (1954)
tells the story of of once honest but now corrupt Philadelphia cop Mike Carmody and his younger honest cop brother, Eddie. Mike spends the first half of the novel trying to protect Eddie from the murderous thugs who now bankroll his affluent lifestyle. It becomes clear early on that Mike will ultimately fail to prevent the murder of his brother. The second half of the story follows Mike’s efforts to avenge Eddie by bringing down the guilty criminals. Whether Mike succeeds or not, and if so, at what cost to himself and others is only revealed in the final chapters. Rogue Cop is a gripping morality tale filled with menacing scenes and dangerous confrontations worthy of Hammett himself. McGivern believes that we all make countless daily choices to be good or bad, to be brave or cowardly. The decisions we make have consequences and effects far beyond ourselves and the immediate present.
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The Darkest Hour (1955)
shows how corruption on the New York City waterfront affects the lives of those who work on and live near the docks. Steve Retnick returns to manhattan after serving time for manslaughter. He was a tough but honest cop who crossed the wrong people and was framed for his efforts by some union thugs. Retnick has seemingly lost everything; his job, his wife and five years of his life so he hell bent for revenge no matter what the cost to himself or others. Though Retnick believes that all his former friends and co-workers have abandoned him, he still does have some allies and it is those allies who provide the framework for his ultimate salvation—should he choose to use them. As is typical in a McGivern story, there are many gritty confrontation scenes between the various characters.
A feature film was made from from this story starring Alan Ladd. The location was changed from NYC to San Francisco and the title was changed to Waterfront Cop.
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The Seven File (1956)
describes a kidnapping from beginning to end. Two of the central characters, as in Rogue Cop, are brothers. Duke Farrell was once a golden boy—-strong, smart, athletic but of flawed character. Hank Farrell, not quite as strong, smart or athletically gifted as his older brother has stayed clear of Duke for many years until the two are brought together by the meticulously planned kidnapping of a wealthy family’s child. McGivern shows that deeply flawed people are unlikely to carry out even the most perfect of schemes because they will inevitably deviate from the plan due to their own greed, cowardice and poor judgement. Despite numerous setbacks the kidnappers do manage to snatch the child and one must read through the final chapter to learn of the ultimate outcome of the crime. McGivern alternates the story’s middle chapters between the kidnappers actions and the FBI’s efforts to solve the crime and save the child. The chapters featuring the criminals are grippingly menacing and expose their gradual loss of control over events. The FBI chapters painstakingly detail the proceedures of a mid-twentieth century kidnapping investigation. A theme that emerges from McGivern’s storytelling is that most of us are capable of at least one act of courage or one act of mercy, no matter how costly to ourselves, which can turn around a seeming lost situation. The action in the story takes place mostly in New York City and Maine. The title of the story derives from a code name that the FBI gives to this kidnapping investigation.
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Night Extra (1957)
A big city reporter (which McGivern was at one time) investigates the murder of a woman whose body was found in the house of a reform mayoral candidate. It soon becomes clear that the entrenched political machine has engineered a frame-up and appears likely to succeed in destroying a feared political opponent. This novel is set in an unnamed East Coast city that suffers from pervasive corruption. Anyone who fights against the corruption places their job, if not their life, jeopardy. Crusading reporter Sam Terrell spends much of the story trying to convince witnesses to come forward and tell what they know. He also must navigate through the city’s numerous layers of civic, political and bureaucratic corruption in order to find allies who might advance his investigation. One of the themes that McGivern explores is how ingrained and insidious corruption can become if left unchecked and unchallenged. Many of the enablers of corruption believe themselves to be good people and only realize their complicity after Terrell points it out to them. Will enough citizens stand up to the machine and do the right thing? Will Terrell succeed in his quest to save the reform-minded politician? Pick up a copy of this book from an Internet bookseller or at your local used bookstore. Sadly, few if any, of this once respected mid-twentieth century crime writer’s books are in print today.
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Savage Streets(1959)
McGivern’s rich and varied writing career began in the pulps and newspapers during the 1940’s, went on to crime novels in the 1950’s and eventually drifted into film and TV scriptwriting in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Scattered within his body of work are some caper, espionage, detective and war novels. His best work is seen in the 1950’s crime novels.
In Savage Streets, the children of an upper-middle class suburban NYC community are being intimidated by a gang of teenagers from a poorer/older section of the town. Adults intrude into a situation that might well have worked itself out on its own. The intrusion, rather than resolving the problem, escalates tensions to unbearable levels resulting in beatings, rape and death.
McGivern did not write a typical 1950’s juvenile delinquent story. Instead he wrote a morality tale dealing with right vs. wrong, class antagonisms and the harmful effects of the wrongfull exercise of privilege and power. The narrative unfolds in such a manner that the reader almost unwillingly finds himself gradually shifting sympathies from one group of characters to the opposing group. As is typical in a McGivern story, one or more characters must decide between self-preservation (of life, wealth or status) and doing the right thing, no matter what the cost. The characterizations of the striving commuter fathers, the overprotective and overprotected stay-at-home mothers, the sheltered children, the angry teenagers and the well-intentioned police are, for the most part, spot on. Although this is not a detective story, McGivern does plant clues that foreshadow upcoming plot twists. As I have written elsewhere, McGivern’s writing style, subject matter and themes are not for the fainthearted nor for those seeking high amounts of classic detection. He zeroed in on the weaknesses of society and created compelling crime stories that are still entertaining and meaningful half a century after they were written.
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