Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.
Cinematography
Woody Bredell's shadows deserve co-writing credit.
Acting
Lancaster's eyes said 'I know this ends badly' in every shot.
Writing
Hemingway's 8 pages stretched into existential dread.
Director
Robert Siodmak
Edmond O'Brien
Jim Reardon
Burt Lancaster
'Swede' Andersen
Ava Gardner
Kitty Collins
Albert Dekker
Big Jim Colfax
Sam Levene
Lt. Sam Lubinsky
Vince Barnett
Charleston
Virginia Christine
Lilly Harmon Lubinsky
Jack Lambert
'Dum-Dum' Clarke
Charles D. Brown
Packy Robinson - Ole's Manager
Donald MacBride
R.S. Kenyon
Charles McGraw
Al
William Conrad
Max
Jeff Corey
Blinky Franklin (uncredited)
Gino Corrado
Restaurant Chef (uncredited)
Frank McLure
Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Burt Lancaster's first film—he was a circus acrobat discovered in an elevator. The Swede's backstory as a failed boxer mirrored his own athletic past.
Ava Gardner's breakthrough role made her the definitive femme fatale, though she reportedly found the 'vamp' typecasting exhausting. Her $200/week contract was robbery.
US
