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Unlucky Joe And The Torn In Half Kings. Kansas City Confidential (AKA: The Secret Four) is directed by Phil Karlson and written by George Bruce and Harry Essex. It stars John Payne, Preston Foster, Coleen Gray, Neville Brand, Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef. Music is by Paul Sawtell and cinematography by George E. Diskant. Plot sees four robbers hold up an armoured truck and get away with over a million dollars. Sadly for everyday and ordinary Joe Rolfe (Payne), he's set up and accused of being involved in the robbery. But he wont go down without a fight, and promptly calls upon his dark half to seek out the actual culprits himself. "In the police annals of Kansas City are written lurid chapters concerning the exploits of criminals apprehended and brought to punishment. But it is the purpose of this picture to expose the amazing operations of a man who conceived and executed a "perfect" crime, the true solution of which is "not" entered in "any" case history, and could well be entitled "Kansas City Confidential". Produced by Edward Small, Kansas City Confidential is believed to be the only film released out of Small's own Associated Players and Producers studio. Still, if you are going to only have one film on your studio résumé, you have to be thankful that it's a little cracker. More "B" movie grit than film noir flecked nastiness, Karlson's movie is lean, mean and structured with knowing skill by the director. From the tremendous tension fuelled opening of the heist planning and execution, through to the deadly payoff at the finale, film is awash with knuckle slappings, shifting identities and the turning of the protagonist's psychological make up. Were it not for one of "those" endings, and the telegraphing of optimism slightly shunting the pessimistic atmosphere out of the headlights, this would undoubtedly be far more revered and better known in film noir/crime movie circles. First thing to note of worth is the cast assembled for the picture. Payne was already leaving behind his formative acting years in family fare like Miracle On 34th Street and Footlight Serenade, reinventing himself as a dramatic actor in films such as The Crooked Way. He's a perfect fit for Joe Rolfe, an ex-con war veteran down on his luck, he has his every man qualities pummelled out of him by the police, so much so he has to turn bad to prove that he's good. The change is believable in Payne's hands, his face that of normality in the beginning, but latterly icy cold and untrustworthy. A trio of "B" movie stalwarts make up the thugs gallery, Jack Elam is sweaty and worm like, Lee Van Cleef is snake faced and pulsing bad attitude, while Neville Brand exudes borderline psychotic menace. Unfortunately Preston Foster as the "boss" man is not altogether convincing, but in a film where characters are not always what they seem, this doesn't hurt the film. Coleen Gray shows a nice pair of legs for the boys, but with Karlson not bothered about fleshing out the romantic and flirting aspects of her relationship with Payne, she exists only as a secondary cog between Payne and Foster's characters. This is no femme fatale character, sadly, no sir. Music is standard fare and Diskant's photography only fleetingly shows some noir flourishes. However, with two fists full of grit from which to punch, and some boldness in the narrative involving police brutality, Kansas City Confidential comes out as one of the better "B" ranked crime movies of the 50's. 8/10
This is quite a clever, well paced crime-noir with a really rather good performance from John Payne as "Joe", a former soldier/ex-con who, whilst on his routine flower-delivery rounds - ends up getting framed for a massive armed robbery. Luckily for him, the police can't press charges - all the robbers wore masks - and so he decides to track down the thugs and claim a share of the cash for himself. You get where this is going early on, but when you see Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef on the cast list, you know that you are in for a bumpy ride. There are plenty of crosses and double-crosses as he and the gang (none of whom know the identity of their criminal mastermind) try to get to Mexico and to the loot. It's a good end-to-end action adventure, with a taut, eery score from Paul Sawtell adding much to the sinister lighting effects that give this film a much better than average sense of suspense.
A cop investigates the shooting of another policeman... that may have been involved in crooked activities.
A police lieutenant fights to prove a boy's innocence after he's accused of murder. The fourth of five Ben Schwab productions that starred Bill Elliott as a detective lieutenant in the L.A. Sheriff's department.
A veteran homicide detective who has witnessed his socialite girlfriend kill her husband sees his inexperienced brother assigned to the case.
A young man who steals valuable Oriental objects for a crooked antique dealer is hunted down by the police after his latest Chinatown robbery turns violent.
Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.
In 1940s Los Angeles, when womanizing composer Keith Vincent is found dead, the inquest concludes it was a suicide but police detective Joe Warne isn't so sure.
Danforth is assigned to take over the police department in a section of a large city saddled with juvenile delinquency, petty crimes, graft and also a recent unsolved murder of a strip-tease dancer. Recognizing the laxity of the department he implements many changes and soon finds himself under fire by the newspapers, the attorney of a racket leader and the denizens of this human jungle.
A manipulative diva blackmails a married man and insults her secret lover, leading to her murder. As the husband tries to cover his tracks, the lover sabotages him and suggests turning the case into a TV show episode.
After his best friend and war buddy is mysteriously gunned down, Mike Hammer will stop at nothing to settle the score for the man who sacrificed a limb to save his own life during combat. Along the way, Hammer rides a fine line between gumshoe and a one-man jury, staying two-steps ahead of the law—and trying not to get bumped off in the process.
Soon after thumbing a ride from a truck driver, Johnny McBride is badly burned and suffers from complete amnesia when the vehicle he’s riding in blows a tire and goes over an embankment in a fiery blaze. McBride later receives a tip from an acquaintance that a photo of him was placed prominently in the window of a photography studio in a town called Lyncastle, so Johnny immediately leaves for the burg in the hopes that something there will jog his memory.