But there's some fun to be had here in this slightly lame-brained noir. (Sorry to the above doctrinaire defender of a very narrow definition of noir, but "noir" is about a feeling and there's no strict definition I know of. There doesn't always have to be a femme fatale a la Barbra Stanwyck or Mary Astor to qualify -- though I won't argue it doesn't help!)
Mainly, the fun in this from is from the always great Robert Ryan who sinks his teeth into a out-and-out nasty character. Ryan even finds a little bit of complexity.
Poor Robert Mitchum, however, seems a bit uncomfortable playing a thoroughly stalwart lawman. It's more of a Gary Cooper part and there's nothing roguish for Mitchum to have fun with.
Still, there's tons of familiar faces doing good work including the always good Lizabeth Scott (not quite a femme fatale in the classic sense, I admit) and William Talman as a braver but stupid cop. (I'm not sure if we're supposed to think he's not smart, but he the risks he takes are beyond foolhardy.)
I particularly got a kick of out seeing the great Bill Conrad (aka Quinn-Martin's "Cannon" and "Rocky and Bullwinkle"'s bombastic narrator) as well as Don Porter as a sleazy ward healer. 20 years later Porter would play an equally oily (though arguably less evil) political type, as the Nixonian/Reaganesque Senator Crocker Jarman in "The Candidate."
Mainly, the fun in this from is from the always great Robert Ryan who sinks his teeth into a out-and-out nasty character. Ryan even finds a little bit of complexity.
Poor Robert Mitchum, however, seems a bit uncomfortable playing a thoroughly stalwart lawman. It's more of a Gary Cooper part and there's nothing roguish for Mitchum to have fun with.
Still, there's tons of familiar faces doing good work including the always good Lizabeth Scott (not quite a femme fatale in the classic sense, I admit) and William Talman as a braver but stupid cop. (I'm not sure if we're supposed to think he's not smart, but he the risks he takes are beyond foolhardy.)
I particularly got a kick of out seeing the great Bill Conrad (aka Quinn-Martin's "Cannon" and "Rocky and Bullwinkle"'s bombastic narrator) as well as Don Porter as a sleazy ward healer. 20 years later Porter would play an equally oily (though arguably less evil) political type, as the Nixonian/Reaganesque Senator Crocker Jarman in "The Candidate."