Vicki is a 1953 American Film Noir directed by Harry Horner, starring Jeanne Crain, Jean Peters, Elliott Reid, and Richard Boone. It is based on the novel I Wake Up Screaming by Steve Fisher, previously adapted for the screen in 1941.
When supermodel Vicki Lynn (Peters), whose face is seen everywhere, is murdered, ace homicide cop Ed Cornell (Boone) cuts his vacation short to take the case personally. In flashback we see how Vicki rose from ambitious waitress to big black headlines, courtesy of clever publicity man Steve Christopher (Reid). Now Cornell seems determined to get Christopher convicted in what begins to seem like a bizarre personal vendetta. Is Steve caught like a rat in a trap? Or can he and Vicki's sister Jill (Crain) find the real killer and clear his name?
Tropes:
- Ambition Is Evil: Even though Vicki claims she is not ambitious, this is patently not true (and Steve even outright states this during one of Perp Sweating sessions). She uses those around her to ruthlessly claw her way to the top of the New York social scene, and then tosses everyone aside to move to Hollywood. It is her decision go Hollywood that gets her murdered.
- The Butler Did It: Jill meets up with Steve at the all-night movie house. Steve tells her that he has sat through the movie three times and "the butler did it". He is being being jocular because the movie showing is Laura.
- Character Title: A Posthumous Character title.
- The Corpse Stops Here: Jill arrives back at her apartment and finds Steve kneeling over Vicki's body. This makes him the number one suspect for the police and Lt. Ed Cornell becomes obsessed with pinning the crime on him.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Jill impersonates her murdered sister Vicki on the phone to spook her killer into breaking down and confessing.
- Detective Mole: Lt. Ed Cornell knows who the real killer is, but he is so hopelessly in love with the dead girl Vicki, who herself despised him, that he intends to railroad an innocent man to the electric chair.
- Frame-Up: Lt. Ed Cornell knows who the real killer is, but he is so hopelessly in love with the dead girl Vicki, who herself despised him, that he intends to railroad the innocent Steve Christopher, who he blames for taking Vicki away from him, to the electric chair.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Invoked. When Steve arrives at the apartment to pick up Vicki, Jill opens the door with a frying pan in her hand (she had been making breakfast when he knocked). Steve looks nervously at the pan and assures her she won't need it. Jill's expression indicates that she is not convinced.
- Handy Cuffs: Lt. Cornell cuffs Steve's hands in front when he arrests him. This allows Steve to cut himself free by locking a hacksaw in a vise after he escapes.
- One-Word Title
- Perp Sweating: Contains multiple examples of the police subjecting suspects to the 'fifth degree': dark room, bright lights in the face, etc. Lt. Ed Cornell is especially brutal in his interrogation of Steve Christopher.
- Posthumous Character: The film opens with Vicki Lynn's murdered body being carried out of her apartment building and loaded on to the meat wagon. She appears throughout the film only in flashback.
- Power Fist: Lt. Cornell plants a set of brass knuckles in Steve's apartment to frame him for Vicki's murder, and then attempts to rough Steve up them; planning claim that he resisted arrest.
- Shout-Out: To Laura. The film opens with a view of Vicki's portrait, which looks eerily like Laura's portrait—same pose, same dress—as if Gene Tierney's head was replaced by Jean Peters' head. Later, Steve and Jill meet up in an all-night movie house which is showing Laura.
- Stalker Shrine: Cornell's apartment is a shrine to Vicki with photos of her everywhere.
- Stalker with a Crush: Both Vicki's actual murderer, Harry Williams, and Lt. Ed Cornell, who covers up the crime for him, were in love with, and totally obsessed with, her.
- Trespassing to Talk: Steve wakes up to find Lt. Cornell sitting is his bedroom waiting to interrogate/threaten him.
- Tap on the Head: Jill knocks out Lt. Cornell by hitting him once on the top of the head with a doorstop.
