Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

arthur_tafero This is top-notch noir. The queen of the femme fatales, Gloria Grahame is perfectly cast in this sleazefest. Even the miscast Gene Barry (Bat Masterson, War of the Worlds) as a really bad guy is very good in the film as well. It was amusing to see Chuck Conners (The Rifleman, The Big Country) as a cop; a role he was well-suited for. He was a much better actor than baseball player. The story is pretty good with one exception; why would you hold on to a gun that killed a cop if you were wealthy? The escalation of violence and the gruff Sterling Hayden (perfectly cast) harassing the suspect from the beginning of the film without let-up is perfectly logical, although not legally sound. The film is in the top echelon of this genre; don't miss it.

robert-temple-1 This is worth watching because Gloria Grahame is in it. But otherwise it is a rather disappointing noir. Gene Barry certainly manages to be very menacing and volatile as the bad guy. Sterling Hayden is rather wooden as the tough cop. But Gloria Grahame, though she is not particularly good at shimmying when she sings, keeps our attention with her pouty lip, her doubtful look, her slumbering voice, her worldly-wise fragility, and all those other qualities too numerous to mention which are irresistible about her. So consider this 'a minor Gloria Grahame picture' and it is at least able to entertain, if not to enthrall.

timshelboy For the first half of this movie we get a rather ordinary policier, with "innocent" Gene Barry seemingly the victim of Bad Lieutenant Sterling Hayden's obsessive violence- Hayden suspects Barry of being a cop killer. Hayden's temper gets him the sack. Things perk up considerably when Barry goes on the run to the border and seeks out old flame Gloria Grahame - and her advent livens things up immensely. We first see her in a sleazy border bar miming and shimmying her way through "ace in the hole", spaghetti straps straining, mouth pouting, earrings dangling. Its an amazing entrance and the director knows it - following her after the number finishes as she fends off drunks and exits the bar to wander back to her room, where Barry surprises her - her complaints about his negligence in the lover department are stilled by a swift slap round her chops - and she of course kisses him more passionately and drags him into the room... discreet fadeout. That whole sequence is essence of Gloria - its all there - the masochistic sexuality, the wisecracks, the wiggling, the face half in shadows, the tawdry glamour, - and my god - that shimmy . The remainder of the film offers few surprises, including Gloria stopping a bullet to aid the hero and expiring glamorously in his arms but it was designed as a follow up to The Big Heat and the public liked it enough to make it a hit.

Nicholas Rhodes I saw this film many years ago in England and remember being shocked by it. Saw it once in France under the title "Alibi Meurtrier". It's a good film but I could not tolerate Hayden's "manipulation" of Gloria Grahame. Since that time, every time I see Sterling Hayden's face in a film I am filled with hate for this man !! But decors and music are good and the whole thing is a good example of a pessismistic film or 'film noir".