what a burst of cast inspiration three premier baddie and elam and brand and and van cleef all together in the same film and menace the heck out of a vengeful john payne . elam should have get extra pay since everybody and his brother knock the skinny wild eye guy around . actually and for awhile i think the movie be one long cigarette commercial or at least a chain smoker revival meeting . speaking of casting and preston foster really deliver in a sly role that run the gamut from tough talk mastermind to nice guy fisherman and all in convince fashion . kansas city be and i believe and the first and clearly the best of a number of confidential film make during the mid fifty . for example and note the unusually brutal cop interrogation of fall guy payne . keep in mind and this be during a cold war time when the tv mega hit dragnet be professionalize law enforcement image nation wide . here and however and we get quite a different picture that certainly go beyond the norm of the day . in fact and director karlson and like noir filmmaker anthony mann and build a reputation for emphasize the raw nature of thuggish violence and at least as much a the censor would allow . and this be certainly one of the more graphically brutal film of the era . all in all and it a fine imaginative script and with a number of unconventional surprise . the robbery be cleverly plot along with the get away . i like the way the screenplay parcel out need information instead of lay it all out at the beginning . that way and viewer interest be keep up since a new wrinkle might pop up at any moment . even pretty girl colleen gray part be nicely weave in at the end and after i think she be just a romantic interest . i guess dona drake role be a touch of local color or a favor to somebody since she add nothing to the plot and but apparently her mexican girl do sell more than just souvenirs . there be echo from this movie in such late caper film a the killing and plunder road and and mark steven underrated timetable . some might consider this a noir film since payne be trap by unseen force through no fault of his own . nonetheless and other traditional noir element be noticeably absent and such a the angular shadow of expressionist lighting and the lack of a customary spider woman . but it doesn not really matter how the movie categorize because it remain something of a sleeper with a number of genuine surprise .