If every movie maker has their moment in the sun, then this was Joseph Lewis’ – and also John Dall, Peggy Cummins and the King Brothers. A first rate B picture classic, one of the first (and best) “couples on a lam” films. It starts in old 30s Warner Bros style, with young Dall (Russ Tamblyn, who was a busy kid actor around this time – he was in Samson and Delilah too) being packed off to juvey for stealing a gun. It really gets going when a grown up Dall returns home and hooks up with Peggy Cummins, a sharp shooter in a carnival show. They can’t take their hands off each other and eventually wind up robbing banks.
The chemistry between Dall and Cummins is electric –they’re always touching each other, and/or seem to be on heat. Even though Cummins is clearly no good (she’s the one who encourage him to rob banks, and she’s the killer not him), Dall can’t resist her. I always wondered why Dall never became a bigger star – good looking enough, wonderful voice, so excellent in Rope and here. Okay maybe only a villain star but he should have been in more, bigger movies. Cummins' slightly odd looks and voice work well for her here.
Director Joseph Lewis should have made bigger films too – this is brilliantly handled, and shot. The camera is always moving, it’s full of energy and pace, and there are numerous classic sequences, especially the famous one-shot robbery.
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