Howard Duff is a Federal narcotics agent. Word comes of a new supply of "stuff". His superiors agree that an undercover operation is in order, but they have no idea of how to make the first contact. Duff goes to see a gangster he knew from growing up: Dan Duryea. Duryea won't be made a stool pigeon. When Duff takes Duryea to the morgue and shows him his wife, and the mortality card, "Heroin", Duryea agrees to help.
After they make their first contact, they're sent to a second location, but they've picked up an associate in Shelley Winters, a girl who always lands on her feet, tailing them from their midst.
This Universal programmer directed by William Castle has an interesting script. Winters and Duryea remain ambiguous figures almost to the end. Are they going to betray Duff? There's also Tony Curtis in his third screen role. He never speaks a word, but he glowers a lot.
It's a high-speed movie, a bit too abruptly drawn for much in the way of emotional involvement, with the characters so narrowly defined as to be uninvolving. Duff is the driven G-Man. Duryea is the angry hood. Winters is the trodden-upon girl too smart for her own good. It's a movie where the plot seems to drive the characters, rather than the other way. The actors are all good, but the speed renders it routine.
After they make their first contact, they're sent to a second location, but they've picked up an associate in Shelley Winters, a girl who always lands on her feet, tailing them from their midst.
This Universal programmer directed by William Castle has an interesting script. Winters and Duryea remain ambiguous figures almost to the end. Are they going to betray Duff? There's also Tony Curtis in his third screen role. He never speaks a word, but he glowers a lot.
It's a high-speed movie, a bit too abruptly drawn for much in the way of emotional involvement, with the characters so narrowly defined as to be uninvolving. Duff is the driven G-Man. Duryea is the angry hood. Winters is the trodden-upon girl too smart for her own good. It's a movie where the plot seems to drive the characters, rather than the other way. The actors are all good, but the speed renders it routine.