I would have seen this film without watching the opening credits, I would have bet my last cent and shirt on Don Siegel as the director. That doesn't mean that Budd the great had not the talent for such an effective crime drama, but because Boetticher's speciality is the western or bull fughting material, no crime. On the contrary, Don Siegel, that's his stuff, and the directing here has the virtuosity of Siegel's touch, atmosphere. Boetticher made another crime flick, starring Jo Cotten: THE KILLER IS LOOSE, and a couple of others, during his early career. This one, which I present now, fits perfectly in the gangster biography genre that spread in the early sixties, there were so many of them. AL CAPONE, BABY FACE NELSON, PORTRAIT OF A MOBSTER, CRIME INC, PURPLE GANG, MAD DOG CALL.... And the rise and fall scheme is so American in many movies too. Ray danton is absolutely perfect in this one, the character is made for him, a ruthless, ambitious and nasty character, though ambivalent with plenty of charisma. Watch out for a young Warren Oates. So shame that Ray Danton never played in THE UNTOUCHABLES series, he would have made a tremendous gangster too.
