Ralph Meeker stars as Jerry Barker a man who kidnaps a runaway child and plans to hold him for ransom. Due to an accident the child dies and Barker goes on with his plan after dumping the child's body where nobody will ever find it.
Barker collects the $200,000 ransom, but is caught by the police. Since there is no body and no proof of murder or kidnapping he is charged and convicted of extortion and sentenced to 1 year. In prison he meets Rollo Lamar (Broderick Crawford), William Mason (William Tallman), Alamo Smith (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and Benny Kelly (Charles Bronson).
A cleaver FBI agent named James Madden (Reed Hadley) believes that the other inmates will want a share of the money the authorities could never find and so he waits for news from the prison, Sure enough Rollo and his gang want Jerry to escape prison with them and take them to the hidden $200,000.
This results in a very good chase climax and a satisfying ending to a solid film noir gem. The cast is top notch and also includes Roy Roberts and Willis Bouchey.
The blu-ray looks very, very good and I am pleased Kino has put this out. The only extras are some great film noir trailers of other films from Kino. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
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