Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Director:

Phil Karlson

Writers:

Rowland Brown (story)
George Bruce (writer)

Release Date:

28 November 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Tagline:

Exploding! Like a gun in your face!

Plot:

An ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits.

Plot Keywords:

Yacht | Tiajuana Taxi | Taxi Driver | Third Degree | Florist

Cast

John Payne	...	Joe Rolfe / Peter Harris
Coleen Gray	...	Helen Foster aka Punkin
Preston Foster	...	Tim Foster
Neville Brand	...	Boyd Kane
Lee Van Cleef	...	Tony Romano
Jack Elam	...	Pete Harris aka Johnson
Dona Drake	...	Teresa
Mario Siletti	...	Tomaso
Howard Negley	...	Scott Andrews
Carleton Young	...	Asst. Dist. Atty. Martin
Don Orlando	...	Diaz (Tijuana cabbie)
Ted Ryan	...	Morelli

Also Known As:

The Secret Four (UK)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut: 1955) | West Germany:18 (nf) | USA:Unrated | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:(Banned) (1953) | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating: 2008) | Sweden:15

Company:

Associated Players & Producers

Trivia:

Veteran actor Preston Foster plays a character whose last name is also Foster.

Quotes:

Joe Rolfe: Look, you're a nice girl, but in case you're thinking of mothering me, forget it! I'm no stray dog you can pick up, and I like my neck without a collar. Now get lost!
Helen Foster: Now I'm supposed to be hurt. Maybe even cry. But I won't. I think you're in trouble, and I'm going to help you.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "M*A*S*H: The Gun (#4.13)" (1975)

"All right, so I'm flying blind, but I've got you as a bird dog."

Kansas City Confidential is one of my favorite noir films and films of John Payne. It's one you can watch over and over again and still be entertained.

John Payne is a ex-con who drives a florist truck and one of his usual stops is a delivery next door to a bank. Three masked robbers use the same kind of truck to pull off an armored car heist and Payne is suspected of complicity. It don't help he's an ex-con.

This robbery has been organized a fourth man and the beauty of his scheme is that the robbers all wear masks with him and with each other so that no one can rat anyone out. They're supposed to meet in a small Mexican fishing village for the split.

Payne is freed, but the Kansas City cops are still suspicious. He gets a lead on a possible participant and tracks him down to Mexico. And that's where the fun really starts.

The suspense in Kansas City Confidential is not about who did it. The three robbers are Neville Brand, Jack Elam, and Lee Van Cleef, three of the nastiest dudes in film history. The suspense lies whether Payne can put it all together. As he says to one of them, he's flying blind in this one. After all the men don't even know each other or Mr. Big. The viewer knows all, but I won't say more.

John Payne gives a riveting performance of a desperate man and one you don't leave holding the bag without consequences. This is one of the best noir films ever done, not to be missed.