The Phenix City Story
A year or two ago my daughters were living in Columbus, Georgia, for reasons, and I paid them a Christmas visit. They took me to the local museum – which is good for a community of that size – and the historical part revealed the existence of THE PHENIX CITY STORY. This is a ‘based on a true story’ account of the war against the criminal machine that ran Phenix City, Alabama, transforming it into the Las Vegas of the Chattahoochee. In my older years I’ve turned away from military history and become more interested in crime. So, obviously I added this to my Letterboxd watchlist and if you wait long enough the film will show up somewhere.
This unconventional film makes the most of limited resources. When it begins, it is literally a documentary, with Los Angeles broadcast journalist Clete Roberts meeting some of the citizens of Phenix City. After about a quarter-hour of this, the real film kicks in. It features a lot of familiar faces from American television during the 1955-75 era, but no big stars. I can’t top this bit of prose from Bosely Crowther about it: ‘[It catches] in slashing, searching glimpses the shrewd chicanery of evil men, the callousness and baseness of their puppets and the dread and silence of local citizens.’ It’s all well done, perhaps led by a scene when a body is flung by a villain from a car onto the lawn of one of the good people of Phenix City. The story, however, is far less innovative, climaxing with a contrived showdown between our hero John Patterson (Richard Kiley) and the face of the criminal machine, Rhett Tanner (Edward Andrews). Perhaps it was really like that, but I hope not.
I would note that if one asked most people about the Deep South in the 1950s, one would expect the Civil Rights Question would predominate. This being a production of Hollywood in the 1950s, it’s not surprising that segregation is barely present. It’s obvious the few black people in the film are restricted both in the work they can do and the places they can live. The film, however, gambles that its audience will notice that, rather than pointing it out. However, it’s worth my while bringing to your attention that the hero Patterson was backed by another absence from the film, the Ku Klux Klan. I very much doubt the Phenix City Syndicate was doing much for civil rights, but not only was Patterson a candidate for public office with Klan backing, he was actually a prominent segregationist later in the 1950s. (It should be pointed out that at the time the film was released Patterson was not yet a prominent segregationist, but think about how differently THE PHENIX CITY STORY would be made today.)
© 2026 Paul Brewer
This unconventional film makes the most of limited resources. When it begins, it is literally a documentary, with Los Angeles broadcast journalist Clete Roberts meeting some of the citizens of Phenix City. After about a quarter-hour of this, the real film kicks in. It features a lot of familiar faces from American television during the 1955-75 era, but no big stars. I can’t top this bit of prose from Bosely Crowther about it: ‘[It catches] in slashing, searching glimpses the shrewd chicanery of evil men, the callousness and baseness of their puppets and the dread and silence of local citizens.’ It’s all well done, perhaps led by a scene when a body is flung by a villain from a car onto the lawn of one of the good people of Phenix City. The story, however, is far less innovative, climaxing with a contrived showdown between our hero John Patterson (Richard Kiley) and the face of the criminal machine, Rhett Tanner (Edward Andrews). Perhaps it was really like that, but I hope not.
I would note that if one asked most people about the Deep South in the 1950s, one would expect the Civil Rights Question would predominate. This being a production of Hollywood in the 1950s, it’s not surprising that segregation is barely present. It’s obvious the few black people in the film are restricted both in the work they can do and the places they can live. The film, however, gambles that its audience will notice that, rather than pointing it out. However, it’s worth my while bringing to your attention that the hero Patterson was backed by another absence from the film, the Ku Klux Klan. I very much doubt the Phenix City Syndicate was doing much for civil rights, but not only was Patterson a candidate for public office with Klan backing, he was actually a prominent segregationist later in the 1950s. (It should be pointed out that at the time the film was released Patterson was not yet a prominent segregationist, but think about how differently THE PHENIX CITY STORY would be made today.)
© 2026 Paul Brewer
Mini Review: An unconventional film that makes the most of limited resources, featuring a lot of familiar faces from US television during 1955-75. One can easily imagine it as a Western.