In San Francisco, a psychopathic gangster and his mentor retrieve heroin packages carried by unsuspecting travelers.
Acting
Eli Wallach's Dancer — twitchy, pathetic, terrifying.
Direction
Siegel's final 20 minutes of pure sustained tension.
Cinematography
Vizcaya mansion climax — daylight horror at its finest.
Director
Don Siegel
Eli Wallach
Dancer
Robert Keith
Julian
Richard Jaeckel
Sandy McLain
Mary LaRoche
Dorothy Bradshaw
William Leslie
Larry Warner
Emile Meyer
Inspector Al Quine
Marshall Reed
Insp. Fred Asher
Raymond Bailey
Philip Dressler
Vaughn Taylor
The Man
Robert Bailey
Staples
Warner Anderson
Lt. Ben Guthrie
Francis De Sales
Chester McPhee
George Eldredge
Dr. Turkel
John Maxwell
Norm Thompson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Siegel hated the TV series tie-in and fought to remove the cop procedural scenes; the studio kept them for marketing.
Wallach based Dancer's physicality on watching a cat stalk prey — that nervous energy became his signature.
US
