"Highway 301" is a very good film but a flawed one. Unlike most other film noir pictures, this one is about a real life group of terrorists who murdered and robbed with abandon in the Maryland-Pennsylvania-Virginia area in the mid-1930s. They were so notorious and awful that they were the subjects of an episode of the TV show "The Untouchables" as well as this film. But, on the other hand, MUCH of the film (apart from the gang members' names) is fictional and many of the gang's worst actions aren't even in the movie. It's a shame, as what IS in the film is terrific.
In the film, Steve Cochran stars as the coldblooded murderer and leader of the gang. Apart from killing many people with little provocation, he leads the gang in bank robberies and an armored car robbery. Oddly, the real gang ALSO was involved in a kidnapping, postal robberies, cigarette truck robberies AND a bloody escape from prison after two of the members were convicted of their crimes and were soon to be executed. Why would they leave this out of the story? Perhaps they wanted to shorten the film but why no mention? And, why would they make the capture of the gang 100% fictional? It's all a darn shame, as the movie IS great...but it's just very, very wrong as well when it comes to details.
If you can ignore the bad history lesson and moralistic prologues, the film is excellent and doesn't hold back when it comes to violence and believability. Cochran is at his best and the rest of the cast quite good as well. In particular, I loved the film noir-style cinematography.
In the film, Steve Cochran stars as the coldblooded murderer and leader of the gang. Apart from killing many people with little provocation, he leads the gang in bank robberies and an armored car robbery. Oddly, the real gang ALSO was involved in a kidnapping, postal robberies, cigarette truck robberies AND a bloody escape from prison after two of the members were convicted of their crimes and were soon to be executed. Why would they leave this out of the story? Perhaps they wanted to shorten the film but why no mention? And, why would they make the capture of the gang 100% fictional? It's all a darn shame, as the movie IS great...but it's just very, very wrong as well when it comes to details.
If you can ignore the bad history lesson and moralistic prologues, the film is excellent and doesn't hold back when it comes to violence and believability. Cochran is at his best and the rest of the cast quite good as well. In particular, I loved the film noir-style cinematography.