Martin Teller Lawrence Tierney plays a homicide detective who gets kicked off the force for his bad temper. He lands a bodyguard job, but soon finds himself framed for murder. Although it's hardly a noir masterpiece, it's an enjoyable film that ranks among Fleischer's better efforts. The script (by a young Robert Altman, of all people!) is tight and lean, with some fun bits of business. The photography is not especially memorable, but it gets the job done and there are a few unusual close-ups. It's nice to see Tierney in a role that allows him to stretch a little more than his usual "psychotic heavy" parts, and he has a lively chemistry with the adorable Priscilla Lane. The whodunit aspect of the film isn't all that satisfying (you can guess who the bad guy is the moment you see him/her) but it's got some nice details and is sufficiently entertaining.

HEFILM Because the formula of the movie required (and restricted) what the film would/could have in it. This is a well made fast paced movie with flashes of effective style and some novel touches. Like the following: The "boss" of the meat packing business, the character that requires a bodyguard, is an older woman for instance. And the setting of a conspiracy at a meat packing plant is also kind of novel. The set up with the angry cop getting tossed off the force has a nice pay off in the plot. There are some effective shock moments in the film too though most of these are in the first half.But what's missing, and not "required" from a B picture in much real drama. It's by the numbers without anything other than those numbers being hit. There seems to be no real emotions at stake for the characters. Good guys, Good gals, bad guys fill in their zone of the script without becoming, or allowed to become, real people who have real lives at stake. This doesn't become the existential nightmare for the lead bodyguard or the Kafkaesque descent of the outsider tosses into darkness that the great noirs sometimes achieve. The actors could be partially faulted for this, Tierney is so tough that he never stops to be really concerned about his own fate or anyone Else's. There is a good element of mystery as to who the real villain is. But what that this does is keep the film from having any real menace. And what the villain or villains do isn't gripping enough, frequently enough, to keep any sense of suspense of danger to the proceedings. It's a puzzle the main character must solve--not much more. Rumors of a longer cut? Never heard those rumors before the IMDb. Though the "remaining" movie doesn't feel like it's missing anything--other than a deeper script. The style of the direction hints at deeper darker things but that's not in the program so to speak. It's very good for what it is allowed to be, or "B" if you prefer. Plot, Action, style-no resonance or deeper secrets allowed.

robert-temple-1 This film is not about bodyguards. It is based on a story co-authored by the 23 year-old Robert Altman, his first screen credit. Dick Fleischer, just getting into his stride, here directs his first noir thriller, which was followed the next year by his brilliant 'The Clay Pigeon'. This film is not brilliant, but it is good, and would have been better if many minutes had not been cut out of it. Lawrence Tierney (no relation to Gene Tierney), who for years was a reliable tough guy, here plays a sympathetic cop who wants to get rough with the bad guys and is thrown off the Force, briefly taking on a bodyguard role (though that is just incidental), and becomes enmired in a frame-up and plenty of trouble. His doting girl friend is played charmingly by Priscilla Lane, in her last film before retiring from the screen at the age of 33. Tierney has a knockabout charm of his own, and grim-faced though he tends to be, can be grimly determined to nail the baddies and not only grimly determined to be wicked, as he was in other movies. There is a lot of harrowing business in a meat-packing plant, with dangerous saws and hooks on all sides, people getting killed by them, etc. So the menace is not spared. This is a solid if light-weight B thriller.

MartinHafer This is a relatively short low-budget little sleeper from 1948. For the money spent, this is a wonderful film--with good gritty acting and a dandy fast-paced Film Noir script. Like many Noir films, the actors are generally not top-tier names and faces--and this is a plus, as this both heightens the realism and intensified the experience. Lawrence Tierney plays a hot-headed cop who would rather beat a confession out of a perpetrator or search a home without a search warrant. As a result, he's suspended from the force. But, being such a volatile and violent person, he takes this poorly and tries to push his boss' face out the back of his skull--so he's fired.Later, a stranger approaches him with a huge wad of cash and wants to hire him as a bodyguard. Tierney, though, is a smart guy and smells something fishy--the money is too good and there MUST be a catch! However, he eventually relents and is pulled into a vicious murder conspiracy and is set-up to take the fall!! So, in Noir fashion, he needs to avoid the cops AND prove his innocence.All this works so very well,...that is up until the end. While his girlfriend, Lane, is fine in most of the film, at the end she stupidly goes to the hideout where the murders are hiding and is herself in great danger. This "brain lapse" is pretty inconsistent with the rest of the film and seems more like a cliché than anything the characters really would have done. But, aside from that, it's a fine and entertaining example of the genre.