John Garfield stars as low-life crook Nick Robey. He takes part in an armed robbery that leaves a cop dead. Nick befriends Peg Dobbs( Shelley Winters) who thinking this may be the love interest she has been waiting for, invites him to her family's apartment. Peg, along with her father (Wallace Ford), mother (Selena Royle) and little brother (Bobby Hyatt), become terrified hostages, never knowing if or when Nick may blow-up and kill them all.
This small-scale, modestly-budgeted independent production does a tremendous job of evoking the nervous, sweaty environment of its characters. Garfield is terrific as usual, playing a very unsympathetic character with surprising honesty and no glamor. Winters and Ford are also very effective. This film marks the last movie of John Garfield, an amazingly gifted actor, who never had a breakthrough film. While his body of work is substantial, the elusive blockbuster remains just that. Good performances all around, but the screenplay and the setting make for a claustrophobic experience.
Just an aside, but Ford's character's name is Fred Dobbs, Bogie's character in Treasure of the Sierra Madre made three years before. I found that very distracting.
This small-scale, modestly-budgeted independent production does a tremendous job of evoking the nervous, sweaty environment of its characters. Garfield is terrific as usual, playing a very unsympathetic character with surprising honesty and no glamor. Winters and Ford are also very effective. This film marks the last movie of John Garfield, an amazingly gifted actor, who never had a breakthrough film. While his body of work is substantial, the elusive blockbuster remains just that. Good performances all around, but the screenplay and the setting make for a claustrophobic experience.
Just an aside, but Ford's character's name is Fred Dobbs, Bogie's character in Treasure of the Sierra Madre made three years before. I found that very distracting.