The House on Carroll Street (1988)

I am glad I gave Peter Yates a second chance. The House on Carroll Street is a pretty good drama that takes place during the McCarthy communist witch hunts. It stars 80s queen Kelly McGillis and a pretty young Jeff Daniels. Mandy Patinkin also throws in a great performance as a corrupt government official, but he’s good in everything that he does.

The story centers on Emily , a young woman that works as a photo editor for LIFE magazine. She ends up stumbling on a plot to smuggle Nazi war criminals into America. She also happens to be under investigation by the House of Un-American Activities for her role in a socialist club, but that is never really fully developed. The movie is mostly about her getting mixed up in the smuggling of the war criminals. Jeff Daniels plays an FBI agent that is supposed to be watching Emily but ends up falling in love with her and helping her solve the Nazi scandal.

The movie gets kind of silly when Emily is being chased on some ridiculous things like the rafters at Grand Central Station and through subway tunnels all while wearing high heels.
It’s pretty fun to see a movie that takes place during the red scare. The McCarthy hearings have always been very interesting to me. I only wish the movie would have been more about that instead of the Nazi smuggling.

I wouldn’t say this movie is a lost gem, but it’s not a complete waste of time like Eyewitness. Which is probably the worst film I have watched so far on my way to 300. A ranking list is definitely in order when this is all said and done. To get this done I am probably going to have to have a few days this year where I watch like 8 movies back to back. So if anyone is up for a film watching endurance test feel free to join me and help keep me awake.

Jeff Daniels takes us to the next movie which is 1996’s crime film 2 Days in the Valley.