Hep me out here. When Riordan's waiting around outside the theater to meet Kitty, there's a little guy in a derby, with a cane, smoking and lurking in the background. He hops the next cab after theirs and follows them to The Green Cat. Who the hell is he? TYVM
shareI've wondered about the little man who jumps into the cab, too, and assume that he was following Reardon and Kitty for Colfax. Whatever he was up to, it's a great little bit, of the sort the movie is chock full of. Lots of little detailed bits of business, some of which mean a good deal, while others mean nothing. Maybe the little guy was just stalking Kitty for himself, for reasons totally unrelated to the main plot...
shareWasn't it Lubinski, the cop friend? He was tailing them to the restaurant as backup.
shareDefinately not Lubinski. He was shorter and clean shaven. He disappeared up the stairs behind Kitty, just before she told her story. Besides, Lubinsky already knew where Reardon was going to go.
The guy had to be a spy for Big Jim. The two thugs would have been way to conspicuous, if they had trailed Kitty too closely.
He was in the movie earlier on. He was the guy that the insurance agent was getting drunk because he wanted more info.
I think he was helping out Riordan and the police.
No, he wasn't the guy earlier on -- that was Vince Barnett, who played Lancaster's cell mate (the one with the stars fixation). Slight resemblance though.
I got more of an impression of him being a cop working with Lupinski. I thought I saw him in the Green Cat cafe where Riordan was supposed to be set up, and helping to take down the two killers.
"Take 'em to Missouri"
That would be Ernie Adams. He played in more than 400 movies; most of them un-credited.
shareRewatched the film a coupla days ago. Kitty seems to react to the little guy when he's at the bar. He either clicks his glass or does something with his face; that's when she tells Riordan she's nervous and wants to leave, which leads to the shootout.
shareI haven't watched it in a while, but could it possibly be the guy she was sitting with in Lou Tingle's cafe, when she was wearing the stolen brooch Lupinsky wanted to arrest her for?
shareI agree with you. I believe it was Jake the Rake who was with her in the cafe, and later tipped off Colefax as to where to send the killers for Reardon.
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I believe he was Jake the Rake.
What are you gonna do? Kill me? Every body Dies. John Garfield (Body and Soul)
The little guy with a cane was Ernie Adams.Jake was played by John Miljian,a
well known silent actor reduced to small parts by 1946. He was not in the last part of the story other than his name being mentioned by Ava.
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Strange, that there is no consensus as to who this guy was. I cannot place this guy either. He could have been working for the bad guys, to watch over Ava Gardner perhaps, but then, the bad guys were already represented by the two killers, so there was no need for the little guy. He could have been with the police, but what would have been his mission in this operation?
shareHere is a close up of our mystery man at the bar right before Kitty spots him. http://imgur.com/a/PPRXI
Perhaps his part was cut from the movie?