An anonymous masked "Mr. Big" summons three crooks, separately, to a hotel room. He asks each of them if they would like one-fourth of a 1.2 million dollar bank robbery haul. They answer in the affirmative. He gives them each a mask to use during the robbery. He will be the only one who knows the identity of everybody, that way nobody has a chance to backstab any of the others. They pull off the heist, in part, by using a truck that says "Western Florist" right after an actual "Western Florist" truck has pulled up in front of the bank and made a delivery at a flower shop next to the bank. This was by design by Mr. Big who had been casing the bank and knew that the Western Florist truck stopped there every day at the same time.
The gang's decoy/frame up works, and the police nab florist truck driver Joe Rolfe and discover he's an ex con. He's been going straight and trying to keep his head down, but now the cops think he did the robbery and they rough him up numerous times trying to get him to confess. Then they find the actual truck used in the robbery and the cop who has been roughing Joe up seems really disappointed that he can't beat him up some more and use the excuse that is in service of the law. Joe is free, but he has lost his job because of the bad publicity, and would be radioactive to any employer because of the headlines screaming that he was the robber. He finds out who one of the robbers probably was through connections that he has, and sets out on a path of revenge on the guys who ruined his life, although exactly what his revenge will be is unclear.
This is a great film noir with lots of complications and plot twists. The still enforced production code would require that the guilty be punished, but how exactly, given the set of weird circumstances that I shall not reveal? This is part of the suspense. The casting was excellent with granite faced Preston Foster as Mr. Big and Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, and Neville Brand as his accomplices looking like they were formed in the womb just to play villains in a noir. I'd highly recommend this one.
The gang's decoy/frame up works, and the police nab florist truck driver Joe Rolfe and discover he's an ex con. He's been going straight and trying to keep his head down, but now the cops think he did the robbery and they rough him up numerous times trying to get him to confess. Then they find the actual truck used in the robbery and the cop who has been roughing Joe up seems really disappointed that he can't beat him up some more and use the excuse that is in service of the law. Joe is free, but he has lost his job because of the bad publicity, and would be radioactive to any employer because of the headlines screaming that he was the robber. He finds out who one of the robbers probably was through connections that he has, and sets out on a path of revenge on the guys who ruined his life, although exactly what his revenge will be is unclear.
This is a great film noir with lots of complications and plot twists. The still enforced production code would require that the guilty be punished, but how exactly, given the set of weird circumstances that I shall not reveal? This is part of the suspense. The casting was excellent with granite faced Preston Foster as Mr. Big and Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, and Neville Brand as his accomplices looking like they were formed in the womb just to play villains in a noir. I'd highly recommend this one.