Victor Mature stars as Nick Bianco, a down on his luck ex-con that is caught trying to steal jewelry on Christmas Eve in order to get his wife and children some gifts.
The assistant D.A. named Louis D'Angelo (Brian Donlevy) tries to get him to open up and tell him about others who were connected with the crime, but Bianco refuses. While in prison for the third year, Bianco reads that his ex-wife killed herself and his children are in a state run facility.
Nick agrees to help D'Angelo bring down a few top ranking criminals and killers in return for seeing his two little girls. The situation gets very dangerous when Bianco meets up with a giggling, insane killer named Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark).
There are a lot of double and triple crosses in this film and there has never been a more insane killer in the film noir genre than that of Tommy Udo. The all time classic scene of Udo pushing a wheelchair bound woman down a flight of stairs is, and always will be a cinema milestone.
This film moves along at a great pace and I can't see any film noir fan not owning this disc or at least watching the movie. The rest of the stellar cast includes Coleen Gray, Taylor Holmes, Karl Malden and Anthony Ross.
I could go on and on about this movie, but suffice to say, it's a an all time classic that shouldn't be missed.
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