By 1927, jazzy cornet player Jack Webb (as Pete Kelly) and his seven-piece combo are the house band at a speakeasy in Kansas City, Missouri. All seems well until gangster Edmond O'Brien (as Fran McCarg) demands Mr. Webb hand over 25 percent of the band's earnings in return for his marginal managerial skills. Webb is also required to make Mr. McCarg's attractive girlfriend Peggy Lee (as Rose Hopkins) his instrumental group's lead singer. Webb must pay up or see his band members roughed up and/or gunned down. After some debate, the band is persuaded to play it safe. Then, Webb changes his tune and decides to fight...

"Dragnet" radio and TV star Webb directs his cast and crew very well. He does not waste an inch of the "CinemaScope" screen. When space is used, it's for dramatic effect. What this story needed was better exposition and some more time given Mr. O'Brien's character. Strangely, Webb gets fine performances from all except his leading man. He varies his stiff stance by repositioning his hands, but Webb seems to have his mind on directing and his character never really forms. Trying to romance Webb in her scenes, beautiful Janet Leigh (as Ivy Conrad) is fighting a lost cause. There are no sparks flying between the two...

Given the juiciest part, as an alcoholic singer, Ms. Lee is excellent; she won Film Daily's annual "Supporting Actress" award. Andy Devine, Lee Marvin and Martin Milner are impressive, in featured roles. Webb used Mr. Milner when he produced "Adam-12" as a younger, hipper "Dragnet" for the 1960s (and 1970s). It's amusing to watch Webb punch any male member of the cast who gets in his way. He repeatedly knocks out Mr. Marvin, a much bigger man, with surprising ease. And, you can't go wrong when Ella Fitzgerald appears as a lounge singer. The music, cast and wide screen visuals made this one worth watching.

******* Pete Kelly's Blues (7/27/55) Jack Webb ~ Jack Webb ~ Jack Webb, Janet Leigh, Peggy Lee, Edmond O'Brien

I was eager to see this film, as it was a rare chance to see Jack Webb star and direct a film where he does not play a cop. While the topic of the film (jazz) might surprise some, it didn't catch me by surprise as I have read a biography about Webb and know he adored jazz. He had one of the best record collections anywhere and in the 1950s and 60s, he was responsible for many collections of jazz recordings. Apart from playing a cop, jazz was Webb's love.

Webb plays the title character--a cornet-playing band leader in the 1920s. His band has a moderate amount of success when they are approached with an 'offer' from a mobster (Edmund O'Brien) who wants to be the band's agent...and collect 25% of their take. The bottom line is that they must work with this cheap hood or, if they are lucky, just have their heads kicked in! Well, through some bad choices, one of the more headstrong members of the band is killed and Webb just walks away---forming a new band and knuckling under to O'Brien's thuggish tactics. But, despite swallowing his pride, deep within Webb's conscience is eating at him...as he has trouble sleeping with this devil.

The film is very interesting for its look and sound. While I am no fan of jazz, I really liked the cool jazz sound and it gave the film a great ambiance. Webb chose his selections well. I also liked all of the characters...save one. Webb was just too laconic--too stiff. While this worked well when he played Joe Friday on "Dragnet", here he seems too wooden--at least until the end. He wasn't bad...he just wasn't as good as he could have been. Otherwise, some fine performances by Janet Leigh, Rosemary Clooney (in a pretty tough role) and O'Brien. Despite the lovely Warner Brothers color, the film played a lot like film noir with its gritty dialog and heavies. An interesting film--and one well worth seeing even with its faults. Plus, despite his oddly controlled acting, Webb directed this film very well--keeping it taught and entertaining throughout.

By the way, you gotta love that scene with the disco ball. When you see it, you'll know what I mean.

The background of the Prohibition Era of Tom Pendergast's Kansas City in the Twenties at its height is the setting for the story of Pete Kelly's Blues. Jack Webb's crisp documentary like style honed by years of doing Dragnet on television is the manner in which Pete Kelly's story of resistance to the mob is told. All Webb in the title role wants to do is play jazz, but playing jazz in mobbed up Kansas City came at a price.

The one who wants the payoff is political ward boss/gangster Edmond O'Brien. He's got the swinging part of Kansas City in his pocket where all the speakeasies and clubs are and he's thought of a new racket, charge protection to the musicians, even to the extent of moving their own legitimate agents out. And O'Brien wants 25% not the usual 10% real agents charge.

Webb's defiant, cowed, and then defiant again during the course of the film. The murder of his drummer Martin Milner takes a lot of the fight out of him. But O'Brien pushes way too hard and he's a really crude sort of thug. In the end Webb snaps.

With one exception the cast is great. The music end is taken by two really great singers Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee who have some great numbers that show why they were the best in their business. Lee even copped an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to Jo Van Fleet for East Of Eden. Lee Marvin is here and not playing a thug, but is a clarinetist and Webb's best friend. Webb plays the trumpet. Andy Devine is law enforcement and deadly serious. The squeaky voice is moderated and Andy's bulk is used similarly to Laird Cregar in I Wake Up Screaming and Orson Welles in Touch Of Evil. Andy never had a role this serious on screen. And Peggy Lee even with that Oscar nomination never followed up on it, my guess being she thought of herself as a singer not an actress primarily.

Janet Leigh who usually is great disappoints me here. Her role as an air-headed party girl is really out of place and why Webb is falling for her is a mystery. Later on she nearly gets him killed when he finally decides to face down O'Brien. Janet does her best, but the part makes no sense at all to me.

The locale of Pete Kelly's Blues in Pendergast controlled Kansas City is interesting. O'Brien is just the kind of guy Pendergast would have as a lieutenant. Pendergast's name is not mentioned, in 1955 it didn't have to be. The recent president of the United States, Harry S. Truman was a product of that machine and that was never out of the public's mind even after Pendergast was dead.

Dixieland jazz fans will really like the music from Pete Kelly's Blues, I certainly did along with the rest of the film.