Phil Karlson directed Kansas City Confidential, a well mounted film noir, starring John Payne and Coleen Gray.
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Theatrical release poster
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Karlson and Payne would team a year later for 99 River Street, also a film noir, followed by another collaboration, Hell’s Island, a film noir in color.
A man (Preston Foster) identifying himself as Mr. Big is timing the arrival of two trucks. One is an armored car routinely picking up bags containing money from a bank. The other truck delivers to a flower shop next door. For a few minutes, the trucks would park next to each other.
Needing help to rob the armored car, he selects three men: the addictive gambler Peter Harris (Jack Elam) who’s wanted for murder, gum-chewing thug Boyd Kane (Neville Brand), and the womanizing Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef). They were selected because each has a reason for fleeing the US.
When interviewing them, he wears a mask so they cannot identify him. The plan involves making an innocent patsy out of the floral truck driver and ex-con Joe Rolfe (John Payne), a look-alike getaway truck that the police will pursue instead of Mr. Big’s truck. Thhiswould allow buying time to successfully escape the country.
Foster’s plan is skewed when his daughter Helen (Coleen Gray) arrives unexpectedly. She meets Rolfe while registering for a bungalow and takes a liking to him. She’s studying law and ready to pass her attorney’s exam. She tells her father that, like a courtroom argument, she has presented his case of premature retirement to Kansas City’s mayor, and the mayor has agreed to reconsider putting Foster back on the force.
In thr end, Rolfe and Helen comfort each other after her father’s death. When Rolfe asks Scott how she’s taking it, Scott gestures at Helen and says, “Why don’t you ask her?” She smiles and they kiss.
With exception of the soupy happy ending, director Karlson reins his cast in a grim atmosphere that develops momentum through the succeeding actions.
John Payne delivers an impressive portrayal of an unrelenting outsider who cracks the ring.
About Director Phil Karlson
One of the most underestimated Hollywood directors, Philip N. Karlstein (July 2, 1908 – December 12, 1982), known professionally as Phil Karlson, perhaps because he specialized in gritty crime films and films noir. His notable works, mostly made in the 1950s, included Kansas City Confidential (1952), Scandal Sheet (also 1952), 99 River Street (1953), Hell’s Island (1955), The Phenix City Story (also 1955), Tight Spot (also 1955), and 5 Against the House (also 1955).
Karlson’s other films including Gunman’s Walk (1958), Hell to Eternity (1960), The Young Doctors (1961), the Elvis Presley vehicle Kid Galahad (1962), Dean Martin spy comedy The Silencers (1966), the horror film Ben (1972), and the original Walking Tall (1973).
Credits:
Directed by Phil Karlson
Produced by Edward Small
Screenplay by George Bruce, Harry Essex
Story by Rowland Brown, Harold Greene
Music by Paul Sawtell
Cinematography: George E. Diskant
Edited by Buddy Small
Distributed by United Artists
Release date: November 11, 1952
Running time: 99 minutes
