Review: Fire Down Below (1957)
Cynical Robert Mitchum and good-natured idealist Jack Lemmon are a couple of smugglers in the Caribbean who agree to ferry a mystery woman presumably in trouble (Rita Hayworth) illegally from island to island. Both men fall in love with her, but Mitchum wins out because they’re both like-minded people. Meanwhile, Lemmon is left embittered and drunk for losing out. And then tragedy strikes. Bernard Lee plays a doctor, Herbert Lom is a conflicted harbour master, Anthony Newley plays a contact of Mitchum’s, and Edric Conner is Jimmy Jean, the loyal first mate. No, not the late 90s Steven Seagal flick, but a 1957 Robert Parrish ( “Lucy Gallant” , “Saddle the Wind” ) star vehicle. The film starts terrifically, and features top work by Mitchum and especially Lemmon. Even when it switches gears and becomes more of a disaster/rescue movie it still works, largely because of Lemmon’s excellent, likeable performance. Unfortunately it nearly gets torpedoed by one of the most inappropriate, d