**Spoilers** Getting framed by the mob in the bar-room brawl death of Mr. Dinetto SFPD cop Steve Rollins, Allen Ladd, is sent away to San Quentin for five years for manslaughter. It's while he was incarcerated that Rollins gets the news through the prison grapevine from a man high up in the Victor Amato, Edward G. Robinson, Mob known only as Mr. Ragoni that he has proof that he is innocent of Dinetto death and he's more then willing to prove that fact once Rollins' get out of prison.
Released from prison Rollins soon finds out that the person who can clear his name Mr. Ragoni had disappeared, and is later found murdered. Rollins is now only interested in getting even with Victor Amato and his mob and even his long-suffering wife night-club singer Marcia, Joanne Dru,is thrown aside in his efforts to get Amato. Rollins is determined t get even regardless of who or what get's in his way even if it's the entire mob running the San Francisco waterfront.
One of Allen Ladd's better late, after Shane, movies as he as ex-cop Steve Rollins does a Dirty Harry bit without a badge or gun and rids the docks of that city of the mobsters and crooked politicians who control them.Getting at Amato through his wimpy nephew Mario, Perry Lopez, Rollins beats the truth out of him about who was responsible for Dinetto's death. Mario implicating both his gangster boss uncle Victor and the hoodlum he hired to do it John Brodie Evens, Rod Taylor. Amato getting the news from his police informant Det. Connors,Peter Hansen, of the scared to death little Mario ratting on him has his top henchman Scarface Joe Lye, Paul Stewart, do a job on Mario making it look like he killed himself. Where the clever as a fox Victor Amato screwed himself up was when he opened his big mouth in Scarface's apartment about him doing in Mario. Amato boasted of his crime in the presence of Scarface's girlfriend actress Kay Stanly ,Fay Wray, who overheard it. With that eyewitness evidence as well as Amato's brutal treatment of the person, Kay Stanly, who witnessed it that was all that was needed to get the slippery eel Victor Amato indited tried and sentenced behind bars for life or a one way trip to the San Quentin gas chamber.
Working over a number of Amato's hoods Rollins gets the boss of bosses trapped in a corner where he can't get out, As all the murders including that of his top henchman who later fell out with him, over how Amato treated his girlfriend Kay Stanly, Scarface Joe Lye comes back to haunt him. Amato is then forced to make his getaway on a motorboat in San Francisco Bay with the now really mad, if he wasn't already, as hell ex-cop Steve Rollins more then willing to swim the length and breath of that waterway in order to get his hands on him.
Very brutal crime movie for it's time, 1955, with Allen Ladd's Steve Rollins somewhat of a precursor to the later ruthless and no holds barred San Francisco cop Inspector Dirty Harry Calahan who gets things done his way and his way only. Edawrd G. Robinson as big boss Victor Amato is far more convincing as a Mafioso bigwig then even Marlon Brando Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were in "The Godfather" movies. Robinson comes across as a man completely in charge and knowing just what strings to pull to get what he want's done. Thats until he overreaches himself by mindlessly overreacting to the I don't give a damn Steve Rollins who showed the Mafia chieftain that what he feels is Rollins' most important commodity, his life, doesn't mean a thing to him unless he puts his butt behind bars or in the grave for what he, Amato, did in destroying it.
Released from prison Rollins soon finds out that the person who can clear his name Mr. Ragoni had disappeared, and is later found murdered. Rollins is now only interested in getting even with Victor Amato and his mob and even his long-suffering wife night-club singer Marcia, Joanne Dru,is thrown aside in his efforts to get Amato. Rollins is determined t get even regardless of who or what get's in his way even if it's the entire mob running the San Francisco waterfront.
One of Allen Ladd's better late, after Shane, movies as he as ex-cop Steve Rollins does a Dirty Harry bit without a badge or gun and rids the docks of that city of the mobsters and crooked politicians who control them.Getting at Amato through his wimpy nephew Mario, Perry Lopez, Rollins beats the truth out of him about who was responsible for Dinetto's death. Mario implicating both his gangster boss uncle Victor and the hoodlum he hired to do it John Brodie Evens, Rod Taylor. Amato getting the news from his police informant Det. Connors,Peter Hansen, of the scared to death little Mario ratting on him has his top henchman Scarface Joe Lye, Paul Stewart, do a job on Mario making it look like he killed himself. Where the clever as a fox Victor Amato screwed himself up was when he opened his big mouth in Scarface's apartment about him doing in Mario. Amato boasted of his crime in the presence of Scarface's girlfriend actress Kay Stanly ,Fay Wray, who overheard it. With that eyewitness evidence as well as Amato's brutal treatment of the person, Kay Stanly, who witnessed it that was all that was needed to get the slippery eel Victor Amato indited tried and sentenced behind bars for life or a one way trip to the San Quentin gas chamber.
Working over a number of Amato's hoods Rollins gets the boss of bosses trapped in a corner where he can't get out, As all the murders including that of his top henchman who later fell out with him, over how Amato treated his girlfriend Kay Stanly, Scarface Joe Lye comes back to haunt him. Amato is then forced to make his getaway on a motorboat in San Francisco Bay with the now really mad, if he wasn't already, as hell ex-cop Steve Rollins more then willing to swim the length and breath of that waterway in order to get his hands on him.
Very brutal crime movie for it's time, 1955, with Allen Ladd's Steve Rollins somewhat of a precursor to the later ruthless and no holds barred San Francisco cop Inspector Dirty Harry Calahan who gets things done his way and his way only. Edawrd G. Robinson as big boss Victor Amato is far more convincing as a Mafioso bigwig then even Marlon Brando Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were in "The Godfather" movies. Robinson comes across as a man completely in charge and knowing just what strings to pull to get what he want's done. Thats until he overreaches himself by mindlessly overreacting to the I don't give a damn Steve Rollins who showed the Mafia chieftain that what he feels is Rollins' most important commodity, his life, doesn't mean a thing to him unless he puts his butt behind bars or in the grave for what he, Amato, did in destroying it.