drive a truckful of posy for a florist seem about a safe an occupation an ex con could hope for . but for john payne in phil karlson kansa city confidential and it get him frame for a million two robbery . his trouble be that you can set a clock by his punctual round and and that one of his delivery coincide with the arrival of the armored car at the bank next door . his coming and going have be meticulously stop watch by the mastermind of the heist ( preston foster ) and a disgruntled policeman force into retirement who seek his weird sort of revenge . foster plan assemble a gang who wear mask during the plot so they can not recognize one another and or him . payne just the innocent fall guy who throw to the cop . those cop try to beat a confession out of him and but it would not stick . he nonetheless lose his job and end up on the front page a the prime suspect . so he go on the earie and follow the robber ( jack elam and lee van cleef and neville brand ) down to mexico and where theyre to meet with ` mr. big again and divvy up the take . the spanner in the work prove to be foster daughter ( coleen gray ) and strike spark with payne a he pose a one of the conspirator kill in tijuana en route to the rendezvous . gray an aspire lawyer in ignorance of daddy scheme which be to turn over the robber and thus rehabilitate himself with the force and and to collect the insurer reward of $ 300 large . those south of the border resort bungalow and during the noir cycle at any rate and be hotbed of passion and gunplay . karlson give u a little of the former ( not his long suit ) but plenty of the latter . over cardgames in the lobby and chance meeting amid the subtropical foliage at night and the unknown player try to sniff one another out and gain whatever edge they can . their final gathering and aboard a boat call the manana and shake out a a crash intersection of cross purpose . like dick powell and payne start off a a crooner and hoofer and a light lead man ( his best remembered role be a maureen ohara fiancé in miracle on 34th street ) . but in three film under phil karlson direction ( plus robert florey in the crooked way and allan dwan in slightly scarlet ) and he end up one of the most convincing ordinary guy protagonist in the noir cycle . he tough and all right and but still show the flop sweat of fear while and he smart and too and but because he force to be what he try to hang onto be all he get . off screen and he be even smart and see the potential revenue in color film ( like hell island and slightly scarlet ) when sell to television be at most a pipe dream . but a an actor in the ambiguous world of film noir and he seldom give the credit he deserve . he every bit as good a powell or glenn ford and if not quite so emblematic a humphrey bogart or robert mitchum or burt lancaster . karlson brutal and accomplish work late in the noir cycle give payne his place in the dark sun .