The combination of Edgar G. Ulmer (of "Detour" notoriety), Zachary Scott, Sidney Greenstreet, Raymond Burr and Martha Vickers, under the title "Ruthless," promises a fairly robust slice of film noir. Alas, what one gets is a faintly Citizen-Kaneish look back over the life of a heartless tycoon (Zachary Scott, who, whatever his strengths, was no Orson Welles). It's a puzzling movie. Scott was a poor child (Burr briefly plays his dad, dressed up to look like a carnival barker) who saved the life of a wealthy girl, whose family then took him under its wing. This, for some reason, became his sole act of altruism, as he turned into a self-centered, manipulative ladder-climber. The story does manage to keep one's interest, but just barely; Greenstreet provides some welcome slices of ham. But the script is tedious, the stylishness nonexistent. If this is your kind of movie, by all means enjoy, but don't mistake it for something it isn't. What it isn't is a tense little shocker along the lines of Anthony Mann's Raw Deal or Railroaded (which I foolishly thought it might be).
