Knock on Any Door (1949) on Netflix
Nick Romano, a hoodlum from the slums, is charged with shooting a policeman. Lawyer Andrew Morton, who grew up in the same slums, takes the case over his partners' objections.
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- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.6/104,994 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes69%
Trailer
Plot summary
A holdup ends with a police officer shot dead, and the police round up known criminals in the neighborhood. Among them is Nick Romano, a young hoodlum nicknamed Pretty Boy, who is charged even though the evidence against him is thin. He turns to Andrew Morton, a lawyer who has known him for years and who grew up in the same slums. Morton's partners warn that taking the case could cost him a partnership at the firm. Nick says he was drinking with his friends Butch and Sunshine when the officer was shot, so Morton needs to find them. Morton also wants the jury to weigh what the slums did to a man like Nick.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Knock on Any Door (1949)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer Mark Hellinger bought the rights to Willard Motley's 1947 novel and intended Humphrey Bogart and Marlon Brando to star in the film.
- After producer Mark Hellinger died in late 1947, Robert Lord and Humphrey Bogart formed their own company, Santana Productions, named after Bogart's sailing yacht, to make the film; Jack L. Warner was reportedly furious, fearing other stars would do the same and studios would lose power.
- Knock on Any Door was Hollywood's second major-studio film adapted from a novel by an African-American author, after The Foxes of Harrow (1947), adapted from a novel by Frank Yerby.
