In HIGHWAY 301 Steve Cochran leads a bunch of suave goons. Most notable is Robert Webber in his motion picture debut as a buddy who gets snuffed out a third of the way into the story. Plus we have Richard Egan near the beginning of his screen career.
The molls are played by accomplished ladies. There is loose lips Aline Towne, bumped off early on, because she won't keep her trap shut and Cochran can't have that. There is sassy Virginia Grey doing her level best to keep things together. And then there is a naive French-Canadian (Gaby Andre) who gets mixed up with this group, because she has started dating Webber unaware of his actual profession.
Much of the action is told pretty straightforward, in the classic semidocumentary style with considerable voiceover narration. The film begins with introductory remarks by then-governors of three states in which the real-life Tristate gang operated-- Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. One of the governors says these men were criminal terrorists who committed their acts out in the open without masks, killing anyone that got in the way. One of the other governors reminds the audience that these lawbreakers learned the hard way that crime does not pay and it never will.
HIGHWAY 301 is not quite as good as other gangster flicks from Warner Brothers...but there are some must-see moments. The deaths are spectacular. Cochran's character meets his maker when his getaway car hits a pole and then flips upside down with him trying to crawl out but dying as police catch up to him.
My favorite scene involves our foreign heroine. She has realized she knows too much and that the gang will surely kill her after her boyfriend Webber has died and is no longer around to protect her. Cochran makes a play for her and she rejects him so that means she is now disposable.
That night she sneaks out of the apartment and there is a suspenseful cat-and-mouse chase with Cochran going after her. She rushes up to some drunken strangers on a street corner and asks if they will stay with her while she gets a cab, fearing Cochran will suddenly reappear. One of the drunks waves down a cab and they put her inside. As the car pulls away we see that Cochran stole a taxi and he is driving her to her death. He shoots her at point blank range inside the moving vehicle. It is a totally shocking moment.
The molls are played by accomplished ladies. There is loose lips Aline Towne, bumped off early on, because she won't keep her trap shut and Cochran can't have that. There is sassy Virginia Grey doing her level best to keep things together. And then there is a naive French-Canadian (Gaby Andre) who gets mixed up with this group, because she has started dating Webber unaware of his actual profession.
Much of the action is told pretty straightforward, in the classic semidocumentary style with considerable voiceover narration. The film begins with introductory remarks by then-governors of three states in which the real-life Tristate gang operated-- Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. One of the governors says these men were criminal terrorists who committed their acts out in the open without masks, killing anyone that got in the way. One of the other governors reminds the audience that these lawbreakers learned the hard way that crime does not pay and it never will.
HIGHWAY 301 is not quite as good as other gangster flicks from Warner Brothers...but there are some must-see moments. The deaths are spectacular. Cochran's character meets his maker when his getaway car hits a pole and then flips upside down with him trying to crawl out but dying as police catch up to him.
My favorite scene involves our foreign heroine. She has realized she knows too much and that the gang will surely kill her after her boyfriend Webber has died and is no longer around to protect her. Cochran makes a play for her and she rejects him so that means she is now disposable.
That night she sneaks out of the apartment and there is a suspenseful cat-and-mouse chase with Cochran going after her. She rushes up to some drunken strangers on a street corner and asks if they will stay with her while she gets a cab, fearing Cochran will suddenly reappear. One of the drunks waves down a cab and they put her inside. As the car pulls away we see that Cochran stole a taxi and he is driving her to her death. He shoots her at point blank range inside the moving vehicle. It is a totally shocking moment.