IMDb RATING
7.2/10
8.1K
YOUR RATING
Rough city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain and is sent upstate, to a snowy mountain town, to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.Rough city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain and is sent upstate, to a snowy mountain town, to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.Rough city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain and is sent upstate, to a snowy mountain town, to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.
- Awards
- 1 win
Patricia Prest
- Julie Brent
- (as Pat Prest)
Roy Alexander
- Town Resident
- (uncredited)
Frank Arnold
- Man
- (uncredited)
Vince Barnett
- George
- (uncredited)
Leslie Bennett
- Newsboy
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Nicholas Ray
- Ida Lupino(uncredited)
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA hand-held camera was used in many scenes to give a "live action" feel to those sequences. This was extremely rare in feature films of the time.
- GoofsAfter Walter Brent knocks the lamp over, starting a fire, Mary Malden brings a lantern from the kitchen and places it on the end table where the lamp had been. A few minutes later, however, when she brings the tea tray, the table is on its side and Jim Wilson hurries to right it before she trips on it.
- Quotes
Jim Wilson: Why do you make me do it? You know you're gonna talk! I'm gonna make you talk! I always make you punks talk! Why do you do it? Why?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann (1999)
Featured review
A Film Noir With A Heart
I liked this better than I thought I would. I read a number of reviews (here, but mostly elsewhere) before seeing it, so I knew the two main things to expect: a hard- hitting film noir in the first half and a melodramatic romance in the second. What I found was an interesting, fairly intense movie for all but the last 10 minutes (but I liked that part, too.) That second half was still a crime story a lot more than any romance as two guys tracked down a killer.
To digress, the first part was in the big city and it portrayed Ryan as a too-gung- ho cop who's fast getting burned out on the job. He's sick of all the punks in the world and just wants to beat the crap out of everyone. When he is one punch away from being suspended and losing his job on a police brutality charge, the boss sends him up north to snow country to find a murderer on the loose in the great outdoors.
That second half isn't some slow melodrama, as it's so often described. It's mostly more adventure as Ryan and Ward Bond track down the killer. Bond, whose daughter was the victim in this crime, is hell-bent for revenge. He makes Ryan like a calm-and-collected guy. Along the way, they meet "Mary Malden" (Ida Lupino), who is the sister of the kid on the run. She's also blind. Ryan befriends her and she pleads with him to promise to bring her brother in unharmed. Her trust in him helps bring about his personality change. You can see he's starting to soften up, become a little more caring toward his fellow man.
The ending of this film is not hokey - either in what happens in the manhunt or what happens to Ryan afterward. It's just a nice job of screen writing. I think this is a fine story, perhaps even underrated. I also think it is one of Ryan's finest acting jobs because he shows callous brutal toughness, loneliness and compassion all in the same film and he shows it convincingly.
To digress, the first part was in the big city and it portrayed Ryan as a too-gung- ho cop who's fast getting burned out on the job. He's sick of all the punks in the world and just wants to beat the crap out of everyone. When he is one punch away from being suspended and losing his job on a police brutality charge, the boss sends him up north to snow country to find a murderer on the loose in the great outdoors.
That second half isn't some slow melodrama, as it's so often described. It's mostly more adventure as Ryan and Ward Bond track down the killer. Bond, whose daughter was the victim in this crime, is hell-bent for revenge. He makes Ryan like a calm-and-collected guy. Along the way, they meet "Mary Malden" (Ida Lupino), who is the sister of the kid on the run. She's also blind. Ryan befriends her and she pleads with him to promise to bring her brother in unharmed. Her trust in him helps bring about his personality change. You can see he's starting to soften up, become a little more caring toward his fellow man.
The ending of this film is not hokey - either in what happens in the manhunt or what happens to Ryan afterward. It's just a nice job of screen writing. I think this is a fine story, perhaps even underrated. I also think it is one of Ryan's finest acting jobs because he shows callous brutal toughness, loneliness and compassion all in the same film and he shows it convincingly.
helpful•4312
- ccthemovieman-1
- Dec 2, 2006
- How long is On Dangerous Ground?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 22 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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