For the most part, this is a fairly interesting crime drama involving a counterfeit money racket, but it loses steam when the principal character Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges) is put away about two thirds of the way through. Stewart's contact Sylvester (James Todd) didn't have the charisma to carry the picture to it's ultimate conclusion, and if anyone deserved to be 'trapped' at the finale, it should have been the guy at the top of the credits. Speaking of which, and I hate to nitpick the flaws here, but what happened to Sylvester's henchmen after they brought Laurie (Barbara Payton) in to expose agent Downey (John Hoyt)? They just oddly disappeared before the cops made their entrance for the shootout with Sylvester.
It's cool though when a picture manages to get clever with itself like this one did. When Hackett/Downey brings in Stewart after his arrest, he tells the desk cop to book him under another name. The cop's response - "How's the name of Bridges do"? I replayed that line just to be sure I got it right.
Anyway, there's enough of the old cross and double cross here to keep most viewers interested. Bridges and Hoyt make for an attractive couple, maybe even too attractive to be a couple of cons. As the government agent, John Hoyt appears to be on the wrong side of the badge most of the time, and one might wonder why his and Bridges' role weren't reversed. Then again, having Hoyt's character hook up with the gorgeous Barbara Payton wouldn't have worked at all.
Some good lines of dialog in the picture, my summary quote by Laurie is one of the better ones. But I also got a kick out of Sylvester's snarl at Agent Downey - "You're all washed up Copper"! It sounded like something Bugs Bunny said to a gangster once in one of those old Warner Brothers cartoons.
It's cool though when a picture manages to get clever with itself like this one did. When Hackett/Downey brings in Stewart after his arrest, he tells the desk cop to book him under another name. The cop's response - "How's the name of Bridges do"? I replayed that line just to be sure I got it right.
Anyway, there's enough of the old cross and double cross here to keep most viewers interested. Bridges and Hoyt make for an attractive couple, maybe even too attractive to be a couple of cons. As the government agent, John Hoyt appears to be on the wrong side of the badge most of the time, and one might wonder why his and Bridges' role weren't reversed. Then again, having Hoyt's character hook up with the gorgeous Barbara Payton wouldn't have worked at all.
Some good lines of dialog in the picture, my summary quote by Laurie is one of the better ones. But I also got a kick out of Sylvester's snarl at Agent Downey - "You're all washed up Copper"! It sounded like something Bugs Bunny said to a gangster once in one of those old Warner Brothers cartoons.