Fast paced Warners melo about truckers from the expert no-nonsense hand of director Raoul Walsh which marked something of a high water mark of George Raft's career at Warners. He's not too bad, Raft - he has a smooth charisma, being especially confident in scenes with women and when he rises in society; it's just that he's not as charismatic as Bogart, who plays his brother.
Plenty of stuff happens in this film, although it seems like two movies - the first half about the battling brothers, the second half about Ida Lupino who is so in love with Raft she kills her husband. This change is a little abrupt - maybe there could have been a scene at the beginning where Lupino and Raft are going out and he doesn't know she's married or something.
Marvellous slangy dialogue, especially among truckers and with hash waitress Ann Sheridan in a perfect role for her: tough, no-nonsense, but susceptible to the right kind of smile. Lupino is very good, too, in a showy role that really launched her (her English accent slips in at times); she has an effective "breakdown" sequence.
Why no similar film about Aussie truckers? You could do one easy enough.
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