RKO kind of went to seed under Howard Hughes but I have a great affection for many of the films they produced during that era, particularly ones starring Bob Mitchum. Mitchum is a little oddly cast in this one, playing a straight-arrow, incorruptible, slightly self-righteous cop – the sort of Eisenhower Era hero that Glenn Ford spcialised in playing. But he’s always watchable and up against a fine villain in Robert Ryan.
The film gets off to a flying start with gangster Ryan running a town, but in an uneasy alliance with new, smooth criminals; Mitchum is determined to bring Ryan down, and to that end isn’t about using a bit of hard force (which the film seems to think is fine and dandy.
There is a goody-goody non corrupt cop who you know is going to die because he’s played by an unfamiliar, uncharismatic actor; more interesting are the parts of Ryan’s useless brother and his floozie woman (Lizabeth Scott). It gets a bit we-love-law-and-order towards the end but is unpretentious, enjoyable and fast moving.
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