This little gem is a must see for all noir fans. The plot is simple, and told mostly in flashback. The hero(or should we say anti-hero) is introduced as a mechanic in a small town with a shady past but trying to forget that and live a normal life courting the towns most like-able girl portrayed with usual nonchalance by Robert Mitchum. The opening scene is itself a gem - We see a highway somewhere near the California mountains and a shady looking man trudging over the local garage but instantly the viewer realises that it is a planned visit by the sequence of events. The narrative is in electric speed and we are told the story of Mitchum in his not so far past as a Private Eye who double-crosses his gangster boss and gets away with the bosses gorgeous girl (the femme fatale of the flick). The gangster and his moll are excellently portrayed by Kirk Douglas and Jane Greer. The past has come back to torment the private eye and he is pulled into another vortex of betrayal, murder and his self extinction unable to be redeemed by his new found love, the plain American girl next door. Any more of the movie would only spoil the viewers delight.
Review of Out of the Past
