Jan Horak is a middle-aged railroad dispatcher stationed at a forsaken spot in the desert, within driving distance of the nearest town. A widower, he has saved his money and goes to town to buy a dog, meets Betty, a flashy blonde who gains his confidence and marries him to acquire his $7,000 "fortune."
Acting
Haas directs himself as tragic sap; Michaels oozes calculated indifference.
Production
Desert railroad isolation on a shoestring budget actually works.
Costume
Betty's fishnets: character development you can see.
Director
Hugo Haas
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Haas was a Czech émigré who made nine 'exploitation dramas' starring himself opposite voluptuous blondes—essentially inventing a micro-genre of middle-aged male wish-fulfillment nightmares.
Beverly Michaels was a 6'1" model whose height and presence made her the perfect towering threat to Haas's compact everyman—a visual power dynamic the film leans into hard.
US
