User reviews

Highway Dragnet (1954)

Wow is this an up and down production. Most of it is rather good, with a handful of supporting actors around the dependable leading role played by Richard Conte. And the plot is solid if a little familiar. Conte, a returned G.I. from Korea, is falsely accused of killing a girl in Las Vegas. And to save himself he has to resort to extreme measures, like escaping from the local cops and more or less kidnapping a couple of attractive women along the way.

One of the highlights is the range of location shooting. Foremost, briefly, is Las Vegas, circa 1954. It will blow your mind. It's worth watching the first fifteen minutes alone. Then there are lots of desert scenes leading to a grand finale at the Salton Sea, which was famously flooded. This is amazing stuff, buildings have submerged, and a wide open landscape with hardly a car or house.

And the interaction between Conte and the two women is good if somewhat predictable (one of them falls in love with him, the other wants to kill him). There is even the beginning of a photo shoot at a country motel, with a couple of Graflex cameras shown nicely. It all has a curious low budget tension.

But the tension is often resolved or delayed by a sudden bit of luck. Just when Conte is going to get caught, the phone rings, or that kind of thing. And then the ending, which I can't give away, but ugh. It had huge potential, and was going great overall, until this preposterous scene where a confession is shouted over the waves.

So, take the lumps with the cream here. It's a short, fast, enjoyable movie overall.

In a Las Vegas casino, just-demobbed Marine (Richard Conte), buying a drink for a case-hardened platinum blonde (Mary Beth Hughes), inadvertently insults her; they have a public spat but kiss and make up, also publicly. Next day he's picked up by the sheriff as the prime suspect in her death by strangulation. He overpowers his captors and sets out on the lam.

Since an all-points bulletin has troopers checking the highways and the state border, he takes up with a couple of women with car trouble. There's a high-profile fashion photographer from New york (the redoubtable Joan Bennett, who helped shape the noir cycle in two early Fritz Lang films); with her is her callow young assistant (Wanda Hendrix). Despite their attempts to ditch him, he sticks with them, ultimately by force, on his journey to the California desert, where he grew up.

Highway Dragnet's title pretty much sums it up: It's a road-chase movie in the fast, flat 50s style, but with a good pulse and a perverse twist or two (alert viewers will pick up on a giveaway clue right after the dog becomes road kill). It also features the other kind of trouper in the person of Iris Adrian, doing what she did better than anybody else: the hash-slinger with a mouth on her.

But the pedestrian, late-noir style undercuts what might have been the film's final showpiece: a final reckoning in Conte's old homestead, under knee-deep water from the floods of the Salton Sea. This strange metaphorical setting gets taken for granted; this was a time when the evocative imagery of earlier film noir had ceded primacy to the literalness of plot.

This is a very unusual and low-budget B/W adventure from producer Roger Corman, directed by skillful Nathan Juran; one whose creators do a neat variation on the old tale of people kidnapped by a fugitive heading to somewhere and needing their vehicle or themselves as hostages. I find the storyline is straightforward and classic noir. Scene:  a casino in Las Vegas, a marine just back from service Marine (Richard Conte), buys a drink for platinum blonde (Mary Beth Hughes), and somehow insults her; so they have a public quarrel but then reconcile the problem.  The following  day, he is taken in by the sheriff an named the prime suspect in the girl's demise; she has been strangled. Using his military skills, he overpowers the officers holding him and sets out on the "lam". Troopers are checking the highways for him, hence the title, and also the state border; So he helps and hitches a ride with with a two women who have had car trouble. One is wealthy fashion photographer from New York, Joan Bennett; her young assistant, Wanda Hendrix, is the other. After a while the two try to rid themselves of him, but he stays with them--finally having to use force to have his way. He heads for the town where he grew up, for a climax, finding it under the waters of the Salton Sea. The film ends happily for Conte, but not before Bennett's dog has been killed, and he has been doubted severely and tested to the limit.  The film is inexpensive-looking and has indifferent dialogue by  but the story line is good, clean and memorable. Roger Corman devised the original story; four others had hands in the screenplay. There is original music by Edward Kay and some decent but hardly outstanding technical work. In the cast along with the principals are stalwart Reed Hadley, Frank Jenks, Iris Adrian, Harry Harvey,Tom Hubbard (one of the writers) and others all showing to advantage. I first saw this film nearly fifty years ago; and it is still memorable and satisfying; with more money and better dialogue, I believe these actors and the director could have made a fine narrative even better.

Interesting chase drama. That opening bar scene with Conte and Hughes is a tacky gem. Too bad Hughes disappears much too soon. And where else can you find two of Hollywood's best cheap blondes, Hughes and Iris Adrian, in the same film. Too bad they don't have a scene together to see who can out-cheap the other.

Anyhow, Conte's escaping across the desert from Las Vegas cops for a murder he didn't commit. Along the way he dragoons two women, Bennett and Hendix, as sometimes helpers, sometimes hostages. The movie's real star, however, is a four-wheel hunk of junk that's a real trouper. That it can roll at all amounts to a Detroit miracle. But why someone would drive it off-road into the desert is a genuine puzzle. And that's a problem with the movie as a whole. It starts off well, but becomes a mounting stretch over time, especially movie star Bennett in her flowing white gown that never gets any dirtier despite a trip across the elements. Good thing Conte's there to carry the show. Too bad he didn't give Hendrix some acting lessons.

Credit some producer, maybe Roger Corman in his first gig, for filming doggedly on location. Those desert and Salton Sea stagings really help hold the flick together. Plus, someone had an eye on trends of the day. The title "Highway Dragnet" combines parts from two of the most successful TV crime series of the time, Namely "Dragnet" and "Highway Patrol". Then add cop Reed Hadley from "Racket Squad", and you've got a cross-section of early 50's thick- ear, which I'm sure didn't hurt attendance.

All in all, it's a pretty good little flick. Then too it's the only film, A or B, that I've seen where the happy couple repairs at movie's end to a run-down house half under water! So Hollywood can come up with new wrinkles, after all.

Highway Dragnet seems like a B movie, and quite a drop in status for Joan Bennett.

Bennett and Richard Conte are the star, along with Wanda Hendrix.

Unjustly accused of the murder of a woman (Mary Beth Hughes) whom he met in a bar, former marine Jim Henry manages to overpower police and take off. After helping two women, Mrs. Cummings, a photographer, and her model, Susan Wilton (Bennett and Hendrix) with a car problem on the highway, Henry wangles a ride.

He has an alibi, a old friend he was with in Vegas who is supposed to help Jim with a problem at his home the next day. And what a problem - it's underwater in the Salton Sea.

With his photo on the front page, and cops coming from all directions, it's not long before Susan and Mrs. Cummings realize who he is - by then, it's too late. After pulling a gun, he pretends to be Cummings' assistant. And he pulls more neat tricks to escape the police. The trio end up taking a hazardous drive in the boiling hot desert.

The movie is notable for showing the old Las Vegas and also Graflex cameras, which were fun to see.

Susan's attraction to Jim after she realizes who he is I found rather odd.

The really odd thing to me was the presence of Bennett, a favorite of director Fritz Lang, the star of many films and a contender for Scarlett O'Hara. Why is it that Harrison Ford at 79 is still playing leads and actresses like Bennett, Merle Oberon, and Lana Turner had to resort to low-budget films?

When it comes to Hollywood, aging in women was fatal back then. It's better now, but I think there is a way to go.

A great story by U.S. Anderse and the legendary Roger Corman! Great plot, good acting & suspense. Wanda Hendrix was lovely & Joan Bennett was her fantastically snooty self.

A returning Korean War vet ends up on the run from Johnny Law after being accused of murdering a woman in Vegas, and his alibi cannot be reached. He is picked up hitchhiking by two women, one of whom actually benefits from the murder. This movie certainly has more twists and turns than the desert roads on which it was filmed.

The first intro of Roger Corman on cinema industry, he wrote the story and co-produced this smallest chase Noir at desert area, when a discharged mariner from Korea Jim Henry (Richard Conte) meets a blonde bombshell Terry Smith (Mary Beth Hughes) a former New York model now a B-girl on the bar catching wealthy customers for a pleasant night, after a small quarrel witnessed by the crowed bar, he slipping away from there, late he Jim is arrested by the police and accused by his murder as Strap Killer due his belongs was found at crime scene.

Get rid from the police he meets at road a broken car of Mrs. Cummings (Joan Bennett) and his model fashion model Susan (Wanda Hendrix), he aids them fixing the car and hitchhikes and start running from the local police, odd enough the two women have a connection with Terry's death due the husband of Mrs. Cummings had an affair with Terry and committed suicide aftermaths, meanwhile the police settles several highway's barriers to catch him, Jim Henry got mislead them and flee into desert, should be a death knell for all them.

Aside some strange coincidences the story is very attractive indeed, mainly at swimming pool at roadside Hotel and on fabulous landscape at California's desert, sadly the beauty Mary Beth Hughes poorly used on movie, should be interesting expose her last day alive on the apartment where she found death, what stunning girl, the low point certainly the contrive confession scene at quicksand, rookie move, overall a good entertainment.

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First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

Recently discharged Marine Jim Henry (Richard Conte) has a heated interaction with drunken bar patron Terry Smith at a Vegas casino. Later while hitchhiking, he gets picked up by the cops. He's interrogated by Lt. Joe White Eagle (Reed Hadley) who reveals Terry Smith's dead body. He escapes from custody and encounters magazine photographer Mrs. H. G. Cummings (Joan Bennett) and her model Susan Willis (Wanda Hendrix) after their car breaks down.

The big name here may be Roger Corman who co-wrote the story. It's one of his first credits. The premise is fine. The tension isn't that high or at least, it could be higher. This may work better if Jim isn't played like falsely accused right from the start. Give the man some murky mystery. It would make the girls' predicament a bit more dangerous. As for the twist, convenient is not enough of a word. The twist, the reveal, and the confession all together is a bit too much. I would skip all that.

This film is a real treat to watch due to the many absurdities that abound from scene to scene. After a shouting match in a barroom with a buxom over-the-hill blonde ex-model, Richard Conte, finds himself hitch- hiking to the Salton Sea where his house is rapidly disappearing from the rising shoreline! He's picked up by the police, who claim he murdered aforementioned blonde bombshell. Before you can blink an eye Conte's outta there and shooting holes in a classic Kaiser patrol car. He escapes in an old Nash which he abandons upon seeing Joan Bennett(wearing a dress made out of a parachute) and Wanda Hendrix trying to fix a broken-down sedan. He fixes things up while Joan's pooch becomes roadkill. Any 10 year-old has figured out the films outcome at this point. Conte becomes "Mr. Leash", the crazed killer, who gets a whole resort full of vacationers running for their lives. Conte, Joan and Wanda do everything but roast marshmellows over a desert campfire before Joan teaches them both how to do the "Twist" in an improbable puddle of quicksand near Conte's rapidly decaying, drowning dreamhome in the Salton Sea. This movie has a lot of unintentional laughs in it. A great bad movie.

Richard Conte, newly released from the armed forces, is in Las Vegas to meet a friend. First, he has an encounter with a B-girl. The next morning, as he tries to hitch a ride seven miles outside the city, he's picked up by the police under the command of Reed Hadley. The girl has been strangled, and Conte's dog tags were found beneath her. He gets the drop on the cops and high tails it out of town, only to hook up with magazine photographer Joan Bennett and her model, Wanda Hendrix.

There are some big holes in the plot, and some wild coincidences to make everything come out in Hollywood fashion. On the other hand, the actors are solid, Harry Harvey has a small, semi-comical role that advances the plot, and the denouement in a house in the Salton Sea makes a good setting for this early Desert Noir.

Part of the problems in the script can be ascribed to this being the first credited writing and producing job for Roger Corman. He had done some uncredited script work on THE GUNFIGHTER, but now, he had Allied Artists doing the distribution, William Broidy producing and Nathan Juran directing. All were exponents of the we-want-It-Tuesday school of non-excellence.

I guess it was good enough to turn a profit.

Although Miss Bennett is wasted in her role, the other named actors are good, and there are lots of other old-time performers to space things up.

Richard Conte plays Korean War veteran, Jim Henry, who goes on the run after a woman he met in Las Vegas is found murdered. Henry happens upon two women (Joan Bennett and Wanda Hendrix) having car trouble. After fixing their car, he hitches a ride with them. As they travel along, we discover that Henry's not the only one with a secret.

Meanwhile, the dogged detective Joe White Eagle (Reed Hadley) is on Henry's trail.

HIGHWAY DRAGNET is a snappy little noir-thriller. Conte is great in his pursued role, as is Hadley in his. Ms.' Bennett and Hendrix are also well cast.

Recommended for fans of noir-ish chase films...

Somewhat Straight-Forward at times Overheated Open-Sky Desert Police Chase.

Directed by Journeyman Nathan Juran and Notable as Roger Corman's First Screen Credit for Producer and Story.

Starring Joan Bennett, Richard Conte, and Wanda Hendrix,.

This Decidedly B-Movie did Bennett's Sliding Career No Favors as She seems Out-Of-It and Looks Awful and Beleaguered.

Richard Conte is OK and Wanda Hendrix is Sparky and Spunky while Playing Bennett's Assistant, and Perhaps more, as a "Tomboyish" Model.

The Dialog has some "Pulpish" Nuance.

But the Predictable Story Unfolds almost at a Leisurely Pace, with a Cliched Climax.

Although the Setting of "The Salton Sea" in the End makes for an Off-Beat Backdrop.

This One has its Fans but is Overrated.

Watchable and Enjoyable as a Time-Passer but Don't Expect an Edgy Noir or anything that Raises this to the Heights of the Genre.

After meeting a girl in a Las Vegas bar, a Korean veteran leaves town but later she is found dead and the police pick him up on suspicion of murder. He escapes from custody and hitches a ride with a photographer and her model.

Low-budget but worthwhile crime film and the first for which Roger Corman had a credit, this time as co-writer. Richard Conte plays the man on the run with Joan Bennett and Wanda Hendrix co-starring as the photographer and model, although the two are only along for the ride.

Highway Dragnet is directed by Nathan Juran and written by Herb Meadow, U.S.Anderson, Roger Corman and Jerome Odlum. It stars Richard Conte, Joan Bennett, Wanda Hendrix and Reed Hadley. Music is by Edward J. Kay and cinematography by John J. Martin.

All I did was buy her a drink. One drink, and for 65 cents I bought a martini mixed with dynamite!

Though indexed in some sources as film noir, this barely resonates as such. It is basically a man on the lam picture, where Conte is wrongly accused of murder and has to go on the run to escape police arrest. He hitches with two gals, who start to become wary of their newly acquired companion. So, we have cops trying to capture their target, with near misses and with Reed "The Voice" Hadley heading up the dragnet operation, whilst there's the mystery element of who is the killer hanging in the air. Cast are fine and the production is standard fare, the finale at least serves up an atmospheric locale, and there's some decent snatches of dialogue. But really it's average at best and not one to seek out as a matter of urgency. 5/10

Once the poor dog (who was supposed to be on a leash) was hit by a car and killed, I knew what the murder weapon was. Still, I found this desert road-trip film with the often-used "wrong man" theme to be quite a fun film noir.

The budget on this noir film is as thin as dental floss and the story was rushed into a limited time frame. But Highway Dragnet does have its moments as Richard Conte newly discharged Korean War veteran has himself in a beautiful jackpot over the beautiful Mary Beth Hughes.

Not the quick moments with her. But the fact Conte is accused of killing her after having a quick fling. In fact Mary Beth's small role at the beginning of Highway Dragnet is the best thing in the movie.

Conte's arrested by Las Vegas cop Reed Hadley but he escapes from him and now there's a big manhunt on for him. Conte happens to hook up with magazine photographer Joan Bennett and model Wanda Hendrix. That turns out to be a dubious occurrence.

The plot is a thin one and about halfway through you know exactly what the real story is. Still there's a modicum of suspense.

And any film with Mary Beth Hughes and Iris Adrian playing a truck-stop hash slinger is worth watching.

A classic noir thriller that presents a spectacular crime story. This very first production by the talented Roger Corman, contains a good solid script that presents someone accused of a crime willing to try to prove his innocence, although he ends up involved in a kidnapping of two young girls and one of them being a crucial part of the plot twist. Final. Although it is a production that is not linked to one of the major Hollywood studios, it is a film with impeccable quality in every sense. Highway Dragnet is another amazing 1950s film worth checking out. My final rating for this movie is a 9/10.

I wonder what would be the odds of a man running away from the police for a murder he did not commit running into the real murderer on the road while he is trying to get away? 1000 to 1? 10,000 to 1? Better chance of winning the Lotto? That is what we are faced with in this film. We are expected to believe that a lotto coincidence takes place and that Richard Conte (decent actor) eventually finds a way to extract himself from a Rambo-type situation manhunt with the help of a convenient Hollywood ending. I'm sorry, but this film falls under the category of good try, but no cigar. The chances you would find a romantic interest as well as having your problem solved in the same time frame is also highly unlikely.