Kokain

Howard Duff (Morton) goes undercover to bust a drug gang. However, he needs the help of his former friend Dan Duryea (Johnny Evans) who he has condemned to a life in prison. The two men do not get on with each other. Duryea helps Morton get a new identity and they then have to work as a team to infiltrate a powerful gang of heroin dealers. They make the necessary contacts but they are treated with suspicion, especially by luxury ranch owner John McIntire (Nick Avery). Can they keep their word to each other and stick together?

This is a quick moving film that also stars a young Tony Curtis as a mute bodyguard/hit-man. All the cast do well with Dan Duryea being especially likable as a criminal who doesn't like cops. I have to admire his underhand ways as demonstrated when Duff doesn't allow him to go to the bar to meet Shelley Winters (Terry). Duryea takes advantage of a visit by McIntire to pick up his jacket and let Duff know that he's going to the bar by just walking out of the room leaving Duff powerless to do or say anything infront of a guest. We then see him sitting with Winters and enjoying himself. Good for him – nice move, Duryea! He plays by his own rules and keeps the viewer guessing as to whether or not he is going to betray Duff.

It's filmed on location in San Francisco and Arizona and has an ending that had me cheering!

In what I rate as the greatest year in the golden age of movies, 1949, the ever reliable William Castle cranks out what would seem to be a routine B programmer about federal agents getting in the thick of crime (drug smuggling) to weed out some highly execrable outlaws, only this time Castle has a super cast at his disposal which clearly lifts this noir above B status.

To Castle's credit, he extracts very good performances from Duff, Winters, McIntire, Kelley and, especially, Dan Duryea, a con doing time who has sworn revenge against US Treasury agent Duff, but turns out to be more decent than imagined after seeing his wife killed as a consequence of consuming narcotics.

Soaring above the film's lofty acting standards, Duryea posts possibly his career-best show in a rare and surprising role as a seemingly inveterate baddie with a decent streak which ultimately redeems and finds him love and happiness. The revenge he warns Duff about turns out to be the wonderful woman who recognizes his worth in the end.

Winters and McIntire also deliver superb performances, the latter as the cold and calculating master villain. Interesting to note that the following year, 1950, Duryea, Winters and McIntire would re-assemble in one of the greatest Westerns ever, WINCHESTER '73.

As would a very young Anthony (Tony) Curtis, who in JOHNNY gets a small and wordless but crucial part as a baby-faced good for nothing... other than killing.

Cinematography deserves considerable praise throughout, the highlights being the early scenes at a dockyard, the apparent alacrity of all in a restaurant/dancing room, and the hangar at the end.

Chases and other action sequences are crackingly well staged, including the shootouts and, above all, the decisive plane-police car crash.

True, the script does not rise above some predictability, but then it is based on true FBI reports, and you know that good will win over evil. Thank God!

The movie starts off like a police procedural of the period, but twists into something quite different and intense. Howard Duff is a cop and Dan Duryea is a criminal who infiltrate a drug mob. Both are top notch actors who keep us guessing as to what they're really thinking. Shelley Winters is sexy as the girl who flirts with both in order to escape from her life as a gangster moll. Hanging around on the edges of the film is Anthony (Tony) Curtis. He is quite chilling portraying a cruel thug without saying a word. This was the 24 year-old Bernard Schwartz's third film, but the first one where he is really generating interest. William Castle is known as a director of gimmicky films, but he has some surprisingly effective horror films, "The House on Haunted Hill," and "the Tingler" to his credit. This movie is also surprisingly effective.

Treasury agent George Morton (Howard Duff) convinces a prisoner he knew as a kid (Dan Duryea) to help him go undercover in "Johnny Stool Pigeon" from 1949.

Along the way, they meet Shelley Winters, who works in a mob club, and she becomes involved in their scheme. The three of them wind up at a Tucson dude ranch run by John McIntire as they attempt to uncover a heroin smuggling operation going through Nogales.

Duryea and Duff share a mutual dislike. The question is, will Duryea reveal to the mobsters that Duff is a cop? Meanwhile, a mute mob associate (Tony Curtis) recognizes Duff from somewhere, but he doesn't seem to be able to put it together.

Pretty routine story with good acting, directed by William Castle, told in the sem-documentary style that was popular for movies involving the government in the '40s.

The striking thing about this film to me was how incredibly young these actors were! Shelley Winters was slender and pretty, Duff was trim and handsome, and Curtis was positively adorable. This was his third film; he came to the attention of audiences when he danced with Yvonne DeCarlo in Criss Cross. Easy to see why. I'm prejudiced. I used to work for him.

Enjoyable minor film noir with a good cast, tough dialog, and interesting locations. Dan Duryea and Tony Curtis (in a non-speaking role) would appear the same year in CRISS CROSS, while John McEntire and Barry Kelley would be in THE ASPHALT JUNGLE the following year. Also in the cast Shelley Winters and Howard Duff.

This is a frequently used plot of a government agent or policeman secretly infiltrating a criminal organization and it works very well with Duff and especially Duryea, playing the leads. Winters is a sympathetic call-girl and McEntire is great as a duplicitous character. The day-for-night locations in Mexico (or a stand-in for it) are dramatically shot with overhanging clouds and trees that seem to glow in the shadows. William Castle directs and he's at his best. Not a major noir by any means, but a fine film that deserves to be restored.