Nick Garcos comes back from his tour of duty in World War II planning to settle down with his girlfriend, Polly Faber. He learns, however, that his father was recently beaten and burglarized by mob-connected trucker Mike Figlia, and Nick resolves to get even. He partners with prostitute Rica, and together they go after Mike, all the while getting pulled further into the local crime underworld.
Direction
Dassin squeezes maximum dread from trucks, apples, and foggy highways.
Cinematography
San Francisco locations glow with noir menace, every shadow earned.
Acting
Lee J. Cobb's Mike Figlia: sweaty, snarling, unforgettable capitalist villainy.
Director
Jules Dassin
Richard Conte
Nick Garcos
Valentina Cortese
Rica
Lee J. Cobb
Mike Figlia
Barbara Lawrence
Polly Faber
Jack Oakie
Slob
Millard Mitchell
Ed Kinney
Joseph Pevney
Pete
Morris Carnovsky
Yanko Garcos
Tamara Shayne
Parthena Garcos
Kasia Orzazewski
Mrs. Polansky
Norbert Schiller
Mr. Polansky
Hope Emerson
Midge
Percy Helton
Roadside Bar Manager (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin
Officer Riley (uncredited)
Robert Bice
Announcer (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Dassin was blacklisted by Hollywood shortly after this film; Fox buried it and removed his name from promotion.
The film exposes the brutal exploitation of independent truckers, a real postwar labor issue Dassin researched at actual California produce markets.
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