There's a cult for this Lawrence Tierney film noir, in part due to its great title and Tierney's presence. A lot of screen time is taken up by the dopey smiling Ted North as the cheerful idiot who gives a ride to Tierney who has just killed someone in a robbery. The plot requires him to be stupid a lot of the time (giving Tierney a ride, picking up two women, forgiving him for running over a cop, taking Tierney's word when someone goes missing). I know that happens in life but they also want North to be a sort of hero... he should've been an elderly guy or a woman who was scared of Tierney. Would've made more sense.
For the first half I struggled with this. Too much time spent with North and the plot about the witness and cops pursuing him and playing poker games. Not enough with Tierney. It picks up at the end when a blonde moll gets involved with Tierney and goes along with him despite his ruthlessness and you go "oh that's what the film should've been about. You two."
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