Robert Montgomery has come to town for some blackmail. He's got a canceled check that mobster Fred Clark has sent to someone as a payoff and he intends to get rich from it. For himself and for a friend that Clark had rubbed out.
In the sleepy U.S./Mexican border town Montgomery falls in with the locals and makes some friends of Wanda Hendrix and Thomas Gomez who got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. And he's got a pretty shrewd FBI agent in Art Smith trailing him. Smith is in the tradition of Regis Toomey, a pretty smart cop himself in The Big Sleep.
It's a good film, not a great one by any means. Montgomery was far better in such pre World War II items like The Earl of Chicago insofar as gangster roles are concerned. Fred Clark as the mobster is minus his slow burn routine which he does so well in comedies. Clark had the best slow burn in films next to Edgar Kennedy.
But the best performance in the film hands down has got to be Andrea King. She's Clark's mistress/moll and she sets the rather gullible Montgomery up, but good. You don't want this woman working against you by any means.
In the sleepy U.S./Mexican border town Montgomery falls in with the locals and makes some friends of Wanda Hendrix and Thomas Gomez who got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. And he's got a pretty shrewd FBI agent in Art Smith trailing him. Smith is in the tradition of Regis Toomey, a pretty smart cop himself in The Big Sleep.
It's a good film, not a great one by any means. Montgomery was far better in such pre World War II items like The Earl of Chicago insofar as gangster roles are concerned. Fred Clark as the mobster is minus his slow burn routine which he does so well in comedies. Clark had the best slow burn in films next to Edgar Kennedy.
But the best performance in the film hands down has got to be Andrea King. She's Clark's mistress/moll and she sets the rather gullible Montgomery up, but good. You don't want this woman working against you by any means.