| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Mickey Rooney | ... | ||
| Jeanne Cagney | ... | ||
| Barbara Bates | ... | ||
| Peter Lorre | ... |
Nick
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| Taylor Holmes | ... | ||
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Art Smith | ... |
Mackey
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Wally Cassell | ... |
Chuck
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| Richard Lane | ... |
Lt. Nelson
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Patsy O'Connor | ... |
Millie
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| John Gallaudet | ... |
Moriarity
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| Minerva Urecal | ... | ||
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Sidney Marion | ... |
Shorty
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| Jimmie Dodd | ... |
Buzz
(as Jimmy Dodd)
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| Lester Dorr | ... |
Baldy
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Kitty O'Neil | ... |
Madame Zaronga
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Motor mechanic Dan Brady lacks funds for a heavy date with new waitress Vera, the type whose life's ambition is a fur coat; so he embezzles twenty dollars from his employer. To make up the shortage, he goes in debt for a hundred. Thereafter, every means he tries to get out of trouble only gets him deeper into crime, while everyone he meets is out for what they can get. Written by Rod Crawford <[email protected]>
Good crime noir story with a highly energetic(what's new?) Mickey Rooney in the lead role. He also narrated the film and tied together well all loose ends. Great Santa Monica Pier chase scene at the end with a well conditioned Rooney doing all his own stunts. Top camera-work in B&W, with all the light and shadows of great noir. Peter Lorre was his terrific evil, slimy self in a small role, and Jimmy Cagney's sister Jeanne was stiffly effective as Rooney's self-centered girlfriend.
Not a wasted second in the action, and it moves along at breakneck speed as Rooney plays this 40s-50's typical noir morality tale of how criminals typically go from the first petty crime all the way to the worst crimes and finally end up in prison, but always have nice girls waiting for them when they get out.
Interesting to note that almost all his crimes were witnessed, and had the cops on him almost before he finished committing them. Not quite the case in the real world as "nobody sees anything" today and most crimes go unsolved. Don't you wish all crimes were so easily solved as in this film? It would be a very different world than the one we have.