The Walking Target

This one has most of the crime film cliches - good girl, bad girl, double crosses, cocky cop, illogical choices - but for all of its averageness, it is actually an entertaining film. Pretty good pacing and a quick watch, and some really odd, fun little moments. High art it isn't, but if you enjoy old crime movies with a bit of melodrama, it is worth your time. I enjoyed it.

A 5-year jail sentence for a payroll robbery seems to have left Nick (Ronald Foster) looking as unreformed as when he went in. That's how the prison governor sees it. Ditto a detective watching closely, and the local press too. That's why Nick feels he's walking around with a target on his back, as the only survivor, the only one who knows where the loot is stashed.

Merry Anders plays the blonde cutesy-pops who has supposedly been waiting faithfully for Nick all along, but then it seems that 'faithful' isn't quite the word, and Nick switches his attention to the widow of one of the gang, for whose death he feels a bit of survivor guilt. (A flashback shows Nick persuading him that it'll be a pushover, and organising the concealment of the money in the chassis of the getaway car.)

Rather improbably, Nick is able to trace the car to a junkyard in the desert, its precious contents still undiscovered. But there we must leave the plot, so as not to spoil the fun - though you might reflect on why the wisecrack "Happiness won't buy money" should be uttered near the end.

Ron Foster, Joan Evans, and Merry Anders star in "The Walking Target" a B film from 1960.

Foster is Nick Harbin who, after five years in prison for robbery, is released. However, the money was never recovered. Most people assume that Harbin knows where it is and will eventually go for it. The police plan on watching his every step.

To me this was a faux pas. This was an interstate crime of robbing payroll, meaning that the federal statute of limitations was five years. If they really wanted the money, they should have let him serve three or four years.

But I digress. Nick is extremely jumpy with his girlfriend Susan (Anders) and a friend of hers, a businessman. What he doesn't realize - but figures it out soon enough - is that Susan didn't bother waiting for him; she's in cahoots with her new beau to get the money.

During the robbery, a close friend of Nick's (Norm Alden) was killed running from the cops. Nick is determined to find his widow, Gail (Joan Evans) and give her half of the money. He locates her finally in her home town of Gold City, Arizona. He's followed.

Pretty decent crime drama.

"The Walking Target" is a cheaply made crime film starring a cast of mostly unknown actors of the day. Despite this, it turns out to be very watchable and good for what it is.

Nick (Ron Foster) has been in prison for sometime for his part in a robbery that netted nearly a quarter of a million dollars! What makes this REALLY interesting is that now that his sentence is up, he could always return and get the loot, as no one living knows where it is. However, on his trail throughout the film are cops as well as Nick's 'friends', who would just as soon kill him. Where does all this go? Watch the film..

The acting is good, the script is good. What isn't good are a couple fight scenes, where in both cases, the gang leader just stands there as his men tangle with Nick. And, when Nick beats them up, the boss just stands there! The same goes with Nick's lady friend late in the film....just standing there as Nick fights to the death....doing and saying nothing!! A very bad cliche but an otherwise well made film.

Well-made, well-written film noir. The Walking Target is a nice reminder that the wellspring of film noir is a great journey.

You will be rewarded for appreciating the simplicity of the many early scenes. The movie is lean. The protagonist makes a beeline for his target.