Early in his career film maker Andrew Stone was bitten by the Delmer Daves bug (i.e. "I can write AND direct this sucker!") and the results, as with Daves, were less than fortuitous. In other words this is typical 50s crime stuff with the action scenes well handled and Steve Cochran doing his usual solid work of embodying scum but with a general flatness of dialogue and story that drags the whole thing down into a dull vat of standardization. If I'd been the producer instead of Bryan Foy I'd have fought for outsourcing the screenplay to Phil Yordan or Bill Bowers. And while I was at it I'd ask the cinematographer to do a better job of having downtown LA stand in for Richmond Va (as in losing the oil drums, arid foothills and palm trees). Give it a C plus.
PS...Ever wonder where the genesis of Black Lives Matter and Defund The Police lies? Check out the broken windows/ "don't coddle young hoods" speech by the law enforcement geek at the film's conclusion.
PS...Ever wonder where the genesis of Black Lives Matter and Defund The Police lies? Check out the broken windows/ "don't coddle young hoods" speech by the law enforcement geek at the film's conclusion.