What was it between Howard Hughes and Robert Mitchum? The millionaire used to lend Mitchum office space when he was starting out; when at Hughes-controlled RKO, he protected Mitchum's career after the dope bust, then kept him in starring roles.
We don't see Mitchum for seventeen minutes, but already get the feeling he's going to be the incorruptible cop everyone's talking about, as the plot is introduced - we have the standard tough crime boss (Robert Ryan), but also the new fifties element of the 'syndicate' - organised crime of a much bigger and more powerful nature - working behind the scenes (in this case, run by 'The Old Man', who we never see).
In a very ironic ending, the Old Man's bent cop, William Conrad, shoots Ryan rather than let him testify, so whilst the nominal bad guy is beaten, the real bad guys are still at work. This, then is deflated by a last minute arrest of the bent Judge (Roy Collins) and (we think) Conrad - something of a last minute cop-out (forgive the pun), which seems a compromise.
Also going on is a budding relationship between a young newspaper man Robert Hutton and singer Lizabeth Scott. Dedicated cop is played by William Talman (who had quite an old face for 36).
William Wister Haines and W.R. Burnett (Scarface, The Asphalt Jungle, This Gun For Hire) adapted Bartlett Cormack's play, first filmed in 1928. Sam Fuller apparently worked on it too.
Photographer George Diskant wouldn't like the terrible quality print that Sony Classic Movies ran this week.
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