Hugh O’Brian plays Daniel Hardy, who has the misfortune of being trapped in the vault during a bank robbery and winds up facing a 10-year prison sentence.
Robert Evans is Felix Griffin, his psychotic cell mate, who has a special penchant for beating women. Lay a hand on Felix, and it might be the last thing you do.
Hardy makes the mistake of confiding in Griffin. He tells him the identity of the man who planned the bank robbery. He frets over the fate of his pregnant wife (Linda Cristal as Ellen Hardy) and their young daughter. And he worries that his fellow bank robbers won’t fulfill their promise to make sure she’s taken care of while he’s in prison.
That spells trouble when Griffin gets out of jail first. He winds up with the bank loot and at Hardy’s home, suggesting that Ellen might as well consider her husband dead and settle in for a good ol’ time with him.
She’s frightened so badly, she suffers a miscarriage. And Hardy begins looking for ways to get out of jail.
He needs to protect his family. And he needs to stop Griffin from harming anyone else.
Review:
Well-done, offbeat horror Western with Evans turning in a convincing performance as the psychopath and O’Brian serving up one of his better early Western performances as an imprisoned man tormented by what could happen to his family while he’s behind bars.
Stephen McNally plays the sheriff sympathetic to Hardy’s plight. Dolores Michaels is the girlfriend/whore Griffin recruits following his release from prison, then uses as a punching bag whenever he pleases.
The script serves up an early warning of how deranged Griffin is. He has a miniature glass animal that keeps him company in his jail cell. Then a fellow inmate crosses him. So Griffin grinds up the glass and feeds it to the man, causing his death.
Loosely based on 1947’s “Kiss of Death,” starring Richard Widmark as the psychopath, Victor Mature as the ex-con.
Directed by:
Gordon Douglas
Cast:
Robert Evans … Felix Griffin
Hugh O’Brian … Daniel Hardy
Linda Cristal … Ellen Hardy
Stephen McNally … Marshal Frank Emmett
Shari Lee Bernath … Janie Hardy
Edward Andrews … Judge Parker
Dolores Michaels … May Matthewson
June Blair … Saloon girl
Ron Ely … Deputy Jim Dyer
Ken Scott …. Paul Finney
Emile Meyer .. Ames
Gregory Morton … Defense attorney Gage
Runtime: 101 min.
Memorable lines:
Felix Griffin: “My name is Griffin, Felix Griffin, after my pa.”
Deputy Jim Dyer: “Where’d you get all this money anyway, Griffin?”
Felix Griffin: “It was left to me from a man who died.”
Deputy: “He die of natural causes?”
Felix: “You might say he died hard. Like I think you will some day.”
Daniel Hardy, of Felix: “He’s only trying to help us.”
Ellen Hardy: “Help us? He’ll help, alright. He’ll help you right back to Fort Smith (prison), if you give him a chance. And then he’ll be ready to help himself to me.”
Felix Griffin to Daniel Hardy: “Why try to get some money when you can starve to death for free.”
Felix Giffin to Daniel Hardy: “I can think right inside your head. I can feel what you’re going to do even before you do it. Just like with little Miss May here. I even know when she’s going to hurt herself.”
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