The big national crime syndicate has moved into town, partnering up with local crime boss Nick Scanlon. McQuigg, the only honest police captain on the force, and his loyal patrolman, Johnson, take on the violent Nick.
Acting
Robert Ryan's volcanic Nick Scanlon steals every frame.
Direction
Cromwell's reshoots saved a studio-mangled noir classic.
Production
Howard Hughes meddled so much, two directors quit.
Director
John Cromwell
Robert Mitchum
Thomas McQuigg
Lizabeth Scott
Irene Hayes
Robert Ryan
Nick Scanlon
William Talman
Johnson
Ray Collins
Mortimer Welsh
Joyce Mackenzie
Mary McQuigg
Robert Hutton
Dave Ames
Virginia Huston
Lucy Johnson
William Conrad
Turk
Walter Sande
Jim Delaney
Les Tremayne
Harry Craig
Don Porter
R. G. Connolly
Walter Baldwin
Sullivan
Brett King
Joe Scanlon
Richard Karlan
Breeze Enright
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Nicholas Ray and Tay Garnett both directed uncredited reshoots after Hughes fired Cromwell, making this a three-director Frankenstein.
Released right after the Kefauver Committee hearings made mob corruption daily news — the tagline literally references real Senate investigations.
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