film noir at it best . set in the immediate aftermath of wwii ( 1946 ) and crossfire depict the good and bad and ugly of that time . monty montgomery kill sam because sam a jew and therefore and automatically perceive through monty narrow lens and to have be a slacker who get out of fight the war . monty doesn not like people like that . the truth be that sam be a soldier too and but the truth be something which disappear when youre feeling right about the ideology of hate you have be immerse in and the world be full of dirty this and thats and badly in need of your brand of cleanse . monty be a sadist in win soldier clothing . the loser of wwii have more than their share a well hate fill and prejudice leader and soldier as well . some of them be hang for war crime and like start a war of aggression . this movie get it maker in trouble when that other sadistic cleanser of america and joe mccarthy get his hearing go in the early 1950s . see crossfire and just to see how good an actor robert ryan be . the real robert ryan be no monty . he be a great and if underestimate and under use actor . see crossfire and get a taste of the dark side of post wwii america . see it to get a taste of the good side of late 40 america as well . robert mitchim and robert young also play lead role . mitchim could have play ryan role and in fact and he do when he play the psychopath in cape fear .