Exceptionally gritty and realistic--and hold on tight towards the end!

MartinHafer

The first half of this very realistic and gripping crime film is very good. However, this is a case where a film keeps getting better and better--culminating in an exciting and rather violent conclusion. And, while this film isn't exactly "Film Noir" in every way, it has many Noir sensibilities that will no doubt please fans of the genre.

The film stars Eli Wallach, though interestingly enough he doesn't even appear in the film for about the first 15 minutes. Instead, the film begins with a robbery gone bad in which, inexplicably, a tourist's luggage is stolen and the getaway car runs into a truck and kills a cop! The crime is so violent and senseless--until the police understand the real reason why they needed the suitcase. It turns out that tourists are unknowingly transporting souvenirs that are actually filled with heroin--and the mob will stop at nothing to get the drugs back--and I mean NOTHING! Wallach's job in the film is to retrieve these drugs and for a rather ordinary looking guy, he was amazingly cold and violent. He has no problem at all killing these tourists and ultimately he takes a mother and daughter hostage because they have inadvertently destroyed the heroin hidden in a doll. Instead of killing them, he takes them prisoner because he wants to prove to his superiors that he is not trying to cheat them. However, despite this, they don't believe him--leading to one of the more violent and amazing confrontations I have ever seen on film. I made my jaw drop--as did the very end as well. For a 1950s film, it was super-violent and highly reminiscent of Noir.

Speaking of Noir, as I said this film had many of the usual Noir elements. However, its dialog was much more polished and less gritty than Noir and the lighting and camera angles were too normal and polished (like a TV episode) to be considered Noir by many fans. Still, despite me being a huge fan of the genre, I really didn't mind as the film was still a thrilling and taut suspense film.

A highly underrated and under-appreciated little film that deserves to be seen.

score 8/10

MartinHafer 28 May 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1882592/