The story is so simple and its characters so elemental, that there’s plenty of room for this film’s fog, cigarette smoke and fedoras to take over. Director Joseph H. Lewis is high on light and shadow. He’s obsessed with lamp light and silhouettes.
This is his other great crime movie alongside Gun Crazy. It’s pulp so pure you could plotz. Every frame swells with conflict. The only two characters here who trust each other at all are gang leader Richard Conte’s henchman, Fante and Mingo (Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman, respectively). They’re best buddies. And they’re KILLERS. Everyone else in this sad world is on their own.
It’s the world that police detective Cornel Wilde is stuck in as he tries to take down fat cat Conte. NO ONE wants to talk. Everyone is scared. And we understand why because this movie takes the time to illustrate the villain’s hubris and brutality. Richard Conte is a pure snake. He’s richer and nastier than everyone else. He taunts the cops with his power. He skillfully emasculates his underlings. He’s a rare reserved force of nature (a GREAT performance from Conte). We genuinely doubt that haunted cop Wilde has a chance against him. All that Wilde has on his side is the sweaty persistence of a man so obsessed that even his fellow lawmen think he’s going too far. Even if he wins, you get the feeling that it won’t be enough. His demons are buried too deep. The pessimism of this film is impenetrable. There is no happiness in this place. It’s a perfect noir landscape.