10 Gangster Movies That Mess With Your Brain
5. The Chase (1946)
Arthur Ripley's dark, expressionistic film noir tells the tale of war veteran Chuck Scott, suffering from terrifying dreams caused by post-traumatic stress disorder, who is hired by a wealthy businessman as a chauffeur. He soon discovers that his new boss is a criminal and a murderer, and that his wife Lorna is trapped in a loveless marriage with the cruel, game-playing tyrant.
Falling in love, the two abscond to Havana together, chased down by Lorna's husband. Lorna is murdered with Scott's own knife, and he's the prime suspect. He runs from the police through the claustrophobic back streets of Havana, until he himself is finally killed and then he wakes up back in Miami again.
The whole trip to Cuba had been a dream, a nightmare brought on by the pills he was taking for his PTSD.
Recalling almost too late that he'd promised Lorna hed escape with her to Cuba, Scott flees with her once more, once again pursued by the husband. This time however, the evil man is killed on the road, and the pair make it to Havana to embrace in the same nightclub that Scott saw in his dream...
In this movie, reality becomes fantasy and fantasy reality - the effect of the film is already nightmarish, so Scott's extended dream sequence feels no more unusual than the rest of the film. And has he truly woken up or is Lorna about to be stabbed once more, and Scott forced to flee through Havanas choked streets once again?
Will the chase ever be over?