The Moving Finger (1963)
81 min
A rare beatnik artifact of the early 1960s, one of only a few such films made before the hippies took over Hollywood. Low budget and in b&w, it's set in Greenwich Village, with what seems like a mostly improvised script. It begins as a late film noir crime tale involving a bank robbery where only one of a group of thieves escapes with his life, as well as $90,000 in loot. Injured and on the run, he hides in a local tour bus and is soon taken in by a group of bohemians who shoot him full of morphine to ease his pain and let him sleep it off on a mattress. Mason is the head beatnik. There's also the owner of both an upstairs coffeehouse and garret, where these beatniks hang out. They, in turn, bring the tourist trade in. Although the robbery is supposed to be the main focus of the plot, it quickly turns into more of a character study featuring these rebellious bon vivants and their odd lifestyle...
- Release date
- December 1, 1963
- Country of origin
- United States
Cast
- Lionel Stander as Anatole
- Barbara London as Angel
- Art Smith as Doctor
- Wendy Barrie as Gloria La Marque
- Alan Ansara as Jimmy
- Monroe Arnold as Detective Zac
- Barry Newman as Mason
- Otto Mjaanes as Huntington
- Garry Goodrow as Sweater
- Cornelius Jones as Randy
Crew
- Larry Moyer · Director
- Charles R. Allen Jr. · Writer
- Robert Cordier · Writer
- Richard Dowling · Writer
- Carlo Fiore · Writer
- Larry Moyer · Producer
- Shel Silverstein · Composer
- Teddy Vann · Composer
- Max Glenn · Cinematographer
- Larry Moyer · Editor