This movie is a very complex film for its time that combines elements of the old tried and true gangster film, film noir, and melodrama. It makes for good viewing today and is a very good showcase of Bogart's versatility as an actor. The main character is Roy 'Mad Dog' Earle (Bogart), a man released from prison by a wealthy old associate so that he can pull off a big jewelry heist at a resort near the California/Nevada state line. On his cross-country trek to reach the destination of the robbery, Roy meets the Goodhue family. The Goodhues have lost their farm and are on the way to stay with relatives that just happen to live near Roy's destination. When Roy arrives where the rest of the mob is staying, he finds two tough-guy wanna-bes, Babe and Red, that are constantly fighting over a girl - Marie Garson (Ida Lupino). At first the younger hired guns don't respect Roy. They think he is old and washed up. However, he soon shows them who is in charge and they don't challenge him again.
Only a few of the minor characters are painted totally good or bad - such as the elder Goodhues on one extreme and Babe and Red on the other. The major characters have subtle shades of both good and evil in their personalities. This is particularly true of Roy. He longs for the simple life among good people that the Goodhues remind him of, yet during the course of the robbery he must pull off and its aftermath he thinks nothing of killing in order to accomplish his aim. Roy is actually capable of great kindness, helping out the Goodhues when they get in an auto accident and don't have any insurance, and even paying for Velma's operation to remove a birth defect so that she can walk normally. Roy falls in love with Velma, one of the Goodhues' relatives, believing her to be a simple and decent girl. However, he finds she changes into the most hard-boiled of people once her handicap is removed. Her final rebuff to Roy is filled with almost unwatchable cruelty.
The woman who actually cares for Roy is Marie. It takes time for Roy to accept this, since it seems hard for him to believe that people can have both good and bad in them, even though this is very much a trait of Roy's own character. Marie has a background completely opposite that of Velma's, mentioning how she was beaten by her father as a child and then went on to work for a "dime a dance" place before winding up with Red and Babe. She has great heart, but she lacks judgment, which she herself admits. The odd piece of symbolism built into this movie is Pard, the "hard-luck dog", who has seen each of his owners die untimely deaths. In spite of this, Roy makes a pet of the dog, seeming to confirm the fact that he is indeed "running towards death". In the end, it is this friendly little dog that is in fact Roy's undoing.
Only a few of the minor characters are painted totally good or bad - such as the elder Goodhues on one extreme and Babe and Red on the other. The major characters have subtle shades of both good and evil in their personalities. This is particularly true of Roy. He longs for the simple life among good people that the Goodhues remind him of, yet during the course of the robbery he must pull off and its aftermath he thinks nothing of killing in order to accomplish his aim. Roy is actually capable of great kindness, helping out the Goodhues when they get in an auto accident and don't have any insurance, and even paying for Velma's operation to remove a birth defect so that she can walk normally. Roy falls in love with Velma, one of the Goodhues' relatives, believing her to be a simple and decent girl. However, he finds she changes into the most hard-boiled of people once her handicap is removed. Her final rebuff to Roy is filled with almost unwatchable cruelty.
The woman who actually cares for Roy is Marie. It takes time for Roy to accept this, since it seems hard for him to believe that people can have both good and bad in them, even though this is very much a trait of Roy's own character. Marie has a background completely opposite that of Velma's, mentioning how she was beaten by her father as a child and then went on to work for a "dime a dance" place before winding up with Red and Babe. She has great heart, but she lacks judgment, which she herself admits. The odd piece of symbolism built into this movie is Pard, the "hard-luck dog", who has seen each of his owners die untimely deaths. In spite of this, Roy makes a pet of the dog, seeming to confirm the fact that he is indeed "running towards death". In the end, it is this friendly little dog that is in fact Roy's undoing.