AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

calvinnme Now this film does have its faults and plot holes - an able-bodied able-minded engineer in post-war America (Richard Denning as "Buzz") who is living life as a drifter in need of a job, an alcoholic lawyer, not practicing for years who doesn't have the money for a drink or a smoke but DOES have a home and plenty of food AND an exotic pet, and plenty of people turning up murdered and yet the police who are apparently not corrupt can't figure out who has done what but really do enjoy slapping suspects around.The story revolves around a feuding brother (Reno) and sister (Lilly). Lilly inherited three oil wells, and brother Reno inherited just one, yet Lilly wants Reno's well too because Reno shot Lilly's fiancé in an argument over gambling. It was judged a justifiable shooting, but considering how poor the legal system works in this town, maybe Lilly has a point with her legal dissatisfaction. Buzz agrees to help Reno bring in his well...in a small town where the sister is known to cause trouble of both the economic and physical kind for anybody who gets in her way? In 1950 why didn't he just get a job with an oil company? Because then we'd have no story.This film is very sexually provocative for 1950, considering the production code was still in full force. My assumption was that Terry and Reno were husband and wife - they are in and out of each other's hotel rooms without knocking and just give off that impression. But they are not married. The conclusions are unspoken but inevitable. Also, wealthy vindictive sister Lilly seems to be married to somebody who has lost her interest and respect. Well, he (James Griffith as Walter) has lost her interest and respect, but they are not married either although Walter is apparently living at Lilly's home. Again the conclusions are unspoken but inevitable. Also, Lilly seems to be laying every man in town who is involved in the oil business. This is apparently how she keeps them under her thumb - that and money. Don't these guys ever compare notes or do they care? Again, quite sexually frank for 1950.Don't let the clichés in the opening moments of the film fool you - things are not as they appear. I'd recommend this one as a good but not great film noir.

dougdoepke The material here would have made a fine noir had it been made by a visual stylist; and coming from the Mecca of noir, RKO, I'm surprised at the straightforward filming. After all, many icons of noir are already present—the lonely bus, the seedy bar, the penniless male lead, and, of course, the queen of slutty vamps, Marie Windsor. Except here, she's playing a good girl, of all things, a role a thousand lesser actresses could have handled.Nonetheless, it's a good little potboiler that manages to avoid many clichés of its kind. Everybody's conniving to get hold of an oil well that has gusher potential, including good guy Denning. But I'm especially impressed by Fay Baker who makes a scary hard-nosed villainess, plotting as ruthlessly as the men. The cast itself is full of colorful characters, especially Taylor Holmes who can't pass up anything that's spelled a-l-c-o-h-o-l. The script also includes a good surprise ending I didn't see coming. All in all, the 70-minutes is better than most programmers of the time, even if the great Marie Windsor is wasted.

goblinhairedguy How many B-films start with a stranger hopping off a bus in a lonely town, sidling into the local bar, sliding up to the femme fatale, and getting up to his neck in trouble? In this version, the hero (Richard Denning) google-eyes Marie Windsor's frame, breaks up a crooked dice game, and finds himself embroiled in an internecine oil-wildcatting war. It's a potboiler, but very watchable thanks to a decent plot, sharp dialog, and especially the offbeat characters and tried-and-true B-list performers who play them. Unfortunately, like most low-rent films of the time, the visual quality is only a couple of notches above TV, and most scenes are pretty static until the breakneck climax.Miss Windsor gets a softer role than usual here; it's Fay Baker who scores the man-eating ice-queen role. Best of all are Jim Hayward as a world-weary bartender (talking like a Ben Hecht creation), and Tom B. Henry (of the formidable proboscis) as a hardboiled but fair sheriff. Oh, and a pet monkey plays deus ex machina.

howdymax This movie should have been titled "Triple Deal". It has a dozen plot twists, some very surprising sexual overtones, and a totally unexpected ending. This is the kind of perfect "B" that will never be made again. Richard Denning, Marie Windsor, Taylor Holmes, and James Griffith - all reliable "B" players we have learned to appreciate over the years. It is movies like this that make us mourn the studio system.