Gritty film noir with a young Burt Lancaster playing armoured truck driver Steve Thomson led by the nose by his beautiful ex-wife Anna, played by Yvonne DeCarlo into pulling a hold-up of his own truck with a gang led by Dan Duryea's Nick Dundee, in the hope of getting away with her.
Told in a series of flashbacks by Thomson the film is aptly named as double and even triple crosses proliferate throughout before one final betrayal sees a shockingly bleak conclusion to proceedings.
Unlike other noirs, this one is shot mostly in daylight but the dark motives of its participants, violence and deceptions fully identify the movie with noir trademarks. Occasionally Lancaster looks a little inexperienced in his lead role but grows into his part as the plot thickens. No problems on that score with experienced heavy Dan Duryea while Yvonne De Carlo perhaps just lacks that air of mystery and dark streak to fully convince as the femme fatale. There's good support behind the lead triangle with Stephen McNally as the pursuing detective with a conscience, while 60's TV fans will spot Allan Napier in a pre-Alfred, Batman's butler role as a dipsomaniacal criminal logistician and Richard Long, well before his "The Big Valley" days in a minor role as Steve's sister's young boyfriend. Look even closer and you might catch Tony Curtis getting his start as a good looking young gigolo dancing Anna around before Steve stakes his claim. He of course would go on to taste the sweet smell of success years later and meet up again with Lancaster at the same time.
Filmed on location in the bright daylight sun of Los Angeles just after the war, the dialogue is convincingly mundane among the characters in their everyday pursuits but sharpens up for the key dramatic scenes. There's one superb high-viewpoint shot of the delivery truck arriving at the scene of the heist, emphasising the film's title while elsewhere, some slight confusion over when Steve's flashbacks begin and end notwithstanding, this is a convincingly depicted fast-paced thriller well deserving of its high regard amongst noir admirers, not least for that unforgettable closing shot
Told in a series of flashbacks by Thomson the film is aptly named as double and even triple crosses proliferate throughout before one final betrayal sees a shockingly bleak conclusion to proceedings.
Unlike other noirs, this one is shot mostly in daylight but the dark motives of its participants, violence and deceptions fully identify the movie with noir trademarks. Occasionally Lancaster looks a little inexperienced in his lead role but grows into his part as the plot thickens. No problems on that score with experienced heavy Dan Duryea while Yvonne De Carlo perhaps just lacks that air of mystery and dark streak to fully convince as the femme fatale. There's good support behind the lead triangle with Stephen McNally as the pursuing detective with a conscience, while 60's TV fans will spot Allan Napier in a pre-Alfred, Batman's butler role as a dipsomaniacal criminal logistician and Richard Long, well before his "The Big Valley" days in a minor role as Steve's sister's young boyfriend. Look even closer and you might catch Tony Curtis getting his start as a good looking young gigolo dancing Anna around before Steve stakes his claim. He of course would go on to taste the sweet smell of success years later and meet up again with Lancaster at the same time.
Filmed on location in the bright daylight sun of Los Angeles just after the war, the dialogue is convincingly mundane among the characters in their everyday pursuits but sharpens up for the key dramatic scenes. There's one superb high-viewpoint shot of the delivery truck arriving at the scene of the heist, emphasising the film's title while elsewhere, some slight confusion over when Steve's flashbacks begin and end notwithstanding, this is a convincingly depicted fast-paced thriller well deserving of its high regard amongst noir admirers, not least for that unforgettable closing shot