A 1957 film noir. Opening on a thieves' ploy to rob a ship of some drugs (the industrious fellow has even made a filmed previz of the caper), he successfully gains backing to pull off the heist but now he has to deploy his pawns in order to actually pull the job off. Talk about hopeful thinking as his players come into focus (a doctor who works on the boat who has health issues, a drug addict & the backer's moll, played by June Blair, who is supposed to be a nurse but ends up falling for her co-worker, played by Stuart Whitman). Our thief, played by John Russell (whose cheeks I remember from him playing the bad guy in Eastwood's Pale Rider), is all business but there's a certain amount of relish the audience gets as we witness his well oiled plan go right off the rails until the final frames of the film as he gets his just desserts when he's crushed to death by falling metal girders. Deus ex Machina indeed.
Review of Hell Bound
