A breakthrough movie for Roger Corman in a way as he got some of his best reviews today. It was a leap for Charles Bronson, who when you look back played leads quite quickly.
Bronson is very good but then he tended to be when he had something to play. Kelly is insecure, anxious, secretly cowardy, gun-happy. Wife Susan Cabot is ambitious, frustrated, smarter than him - it's very MacBeth.
The excellence of this lies in its support cast - Connie Gilchrist as the tough brothel madam, disappointed Cabot married badly, kind to the kidnapped kid; Barbara Mouris as a brave nurse; Richard Devon as a lecherous gangster; that terrifyng mobster messenger. The stakes seem bigger because a kid is kidnapped and a lot of violence happens in front of her.
The police are very smart. Bob Campbell wrote a good script with lots of stuff for actors to get their teeth into.
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