Unsurprisingly, the screenplay comes from blacklisted Hollywood writer Dalton Trumbo ( Johnny Got His Gun) under the pseudonym Ben Perry. When his business successes lead him into politics with the help of a corrupt lawyer, it somehow all gets even worse as his thirst for power and control becomes unquenchable. He's arrogant, violent, unkind, and completely without mercy or remorse. John Payne turns in a despicable performance as a narcissist with virtually no positive traits. With a cold ruthlessness and hunger to own it all, Matt Brady is about to trade his soul for success.
Before you can say "you've had enough, Matt," he's drunkenly married a plain woman that he thinks is a prostitute and inherited his brother's business, leaving him as the boss of the entire outfit. But Matt has a mighty temper and a taste for liquor that comes at a high cost, including a relationship with the love of his life. He plays Matt Brady, a returning war vet (that's Dubya Dubya One) who has come home from the front lines to find his brother running an empire. With titles like Kansas City Confidential, 99 River Street, and Hell's Island, Payne's career path took him down the dark side streets of cinema.ġ956's The Boss is unlike any other John Payne movie I've seen, stripping this likable actor of any charisma and affability. But in the decade that was to follow, the actor would continue his career by appearing in a bevy of crime, noir, and western pictures that were about as far as you could get form the fantastical charm of his earlier successes. My first exposure to John Payne, like so many others, was through 1947's Miracle on 34th Street, a feel-good holiday movie that finds the actor starring opposite Maureen O'Hara in a romantic, good guy role that remains a favorite of many, reportedly including Payne himself.
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