This is a pretty exciting and unusual crime drama that stars Aldo Ray. Parts of the story are told through flashbacks, though most is not. When the story begins you learn that Ray's being tailed by an insurance investigator (James Gregory) as well as two thugs (Brian Keith and Rudy Bond). All three think that Ray knows about $350,000 in stolen money and the latter two are more than willing to bust him up to find out where it's hidden. The only trouble is, Ray has no idea where the money is because he didn't take it and no one believes him!!
Into this odd little flick is dropped Anne Bancroft for no apparent reason other than to provide SOME female presence in the film or else to provide the clichéd "woman who believes in him" story element. Whatever the reason she was included, it was a bad choice, as she falls for Ray and believes in him based only on the flimsiest evidence and her entire part seems irrelevant. In other words, after just meeting him, she agrees to run from her job and go a thousand miles with Ray because....I dunno exactly!! So we have an excellent actress in a thankless role and I feel compelled to knock off a point from the overall score for this.
Apart from this worthless story element, the rest of the film is excellent--making excellent use of a small budget and using second-tier actors who could really act.
Into this odd little flick is dropped Anne Bancroft for no apparent reason other than to provide SOME female presence in the film or else to provide the clichéd "woman who believes in him" story element. Whatever the reason she was included, it was a bad choice, as she falls for Ray and believes in him based only on the flimsiest evidence and her entire part seems irrelevant. In other words, after just meeting him, she agrees to run from her job and go a thousand miles with Ray because....I dunno exactly!! So we have an excellent actress in a thankless role and I feel compelled to knock off a point from the overall score for this.
Apart from this worthless story element, the rest of the film is excellent--making excellent use of a small budget and using second-tier actors who could really act.