Charles D. Brown

A beautician and her crooked boyfriend attempt to rob the bookie operation located in the back room, but when the plan goes wrong, they frame an innocent man. Sexy beautician Clara Calhoun, who has a bookie operation in her back room, connives with her boyfriend, mob collector Duke Martin, to stage a robbery of the day's take. But the caper turns violent; a cop and Duke's partner are shot; and Duke arranges for innocent Steve Ryan, owner of the car they stole, to be framed. At first homicide detective Mickey Ferguson thinks Steve is guilty, despite his attraction to Steve's sister Rosie. And the suave but ruthless Duke won't hesitate to keep it that way with more of his perfumed bullets... —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Two hit men, Al (Charles McGraw) and Max (William Conrad), drive into Brentwood, New Jersey, in search of Pete "Swede" Lund (Burt Lancaster), and stake out a diner he frequents, questioning, among others, customer Nick Adams about Swede's whereabouts. After the men leave, Nick races to Swede's boardinghouse room to warn him and is stunned when Swede seems resigned to his fate. Shortly after Nick's departure, Al and Max find Swede waiting in his room and shoot him to death. When it is discovered Swede had a small life insurance policy with Atlantic Casualty, insurance investigator James Riordan (Edmond O'Brien) begins investigating his murder. Jim first questions Nick, who worked with Swede at a filling station, and Nick recalls that Swede stopped coming to work the week before his murder after waiting on a wealthy, middle-aged stranger at the station. Jim then calls on Swede's beneficiary, Mary Ellen "Queenie" Doherty, a cleaning woman at an Atlantic City hotel. Queenie recalls Swede staying at the hotel some six years earlier, when she stopped him from throwing himself out of the window. Upon returning to his office, Jim learns that Swede was a former boxer, whose real name was Ole Anderson, and that after his fight career ended, he served three years in prison for robbery. Jim visits Swede's arresting officer, police lieutenant Sam Lubinsky (Sam Levine), who tells him that he and Swede had grown up together in Philadelphia and that his wife Lilly dated Swede before her marriage. In another narrated flashback, Lilly then recalls her final date with Swede at a party given by Jake "the Rake" in a lavish apartment owned by "Big Jim" Colfax (Albert Dekker), where they met Blinky Franklin and singer Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner), to whom Swede is immediately attracted. Then Sam adds that some time later, while working on a jewelry heist, a tip led him to Jake and Kitty, whom he suspected of wearing a piece of the stolen jewelry. When Sam tried to arrest her, Swede intervened and claimed responsibility for stealing the jewelry, which landed him in prison. Sam asks Jim if he can help with the investigation and later that afternoon, at Swede's burial service, Sam points out Charleston (Vince Barnette), a small-time hood and acquaintance of Swede's, to Jim, who later questions him. Charleston reveals that he and Swede shared a prison cell together and that Swede referred to Kitty as "his girl," and asked Charleston to visit her upon his release: After Swede is released, Charleston is sent by Colfax to summon him to a meeting with Blinky, another thug, Dum Dum, and a mysterious woman. Colfax has planned a payroll heist at a hat company which promises a $250,000 payoff, but the older Charleston finds the risk too great and withdraws, and never sees Swede again. After leaving Charleston, Jim digs up information that Atlantic Casualty insured the hat company and discovers details of the heist. Sam then contacts Jim to inform him that Blinky has been discovered shot and near death. Both men hurry to the hospital, where Blinky, semi-conscious, rambles about the robbery: After the heist, the group was forced to change their meeting place as the scheduled halfway house had burned down unexpectedly. Swede arrives last and after accusing Colfax of trying to cheat him, takes all the money and flees. Back at the hospital after Blinky dies, Jim feels sure the robbery is connected to Swede's murder and stakes out his old room at the boardinghouse. Soon after, Dum Dum Clark (Jack Lambert) rents Swede's old room and begins an elaborate search. Jim breaks in on him and demands to know more details of the robbery, specifically why the meeting place was changed. Dum Dum admits Kitty was the woman involved and that just after midnight the night before the robbery she had told each of them separately about the change, which Swede later claimed he was not told. Jim tells Dum Dum that Swede had run off with Kitty and that later in Atlantic City, Kitty had disappeared with the money. Dum Dum escapes from Jim and despite a police cordon, gets away. Later when Jim receives notification that the halfway house burned down after 2:00 a.m., not midnight, he is certain Colfax and Kitty are behind Swede's murder, but Sam insists Colfax has gone straight. Jim goes to the factory Colfax is now managing, but Colfax claims no knowledge of the robbery or Kitty's whereabouts. Later, however, Jim receives a telephone call from Kitty, suggesting they meet. Driving away from their agreed-upon rendezvous spot, Kitty and Jim are unknowingly trailed by Al and Max to a night club. There, Kitty tells Jim that the night before the robbery, she convinced Swede that the others were double-crossing him, so he would agree to take her away from Colfax. She insists that she left Swede in Atlantic City with the money and pleads with Jim not to involve her further as she is now married and has a good home. Jim demands that she give him proof of Colfax's participation and she agrees, but as they prepare to leave the club, she disappears into the ladies room. Meanwhile at the bar, Al and Max begin to move in on Jim, but are cut off and shot by Sam who is also at the bar. Jim realizes Kitty has escaped and, with Sam and a police backup, heads to Colfax's house. They arrive to a series of gunshots and find Dum Dum dead at the bottom of the stairs and Colfax fatally wounded on the landing with Kitty hovering over him. Jim tells Colfax he had discovered Kitty was his wife and could not testify against him. Colfax admits to having Swede killed, in fear that the other gang members would find him and realize that Colfax and Kitty had double-crossed them and kept all the money. Colfax dies as Kitty pleads for him to declare her innocent.

After a bank robbery, the loot disappears and is sought after by an insurance investigator, the police and the surviving robbers. The notorious Jarvis gang robs a bank, one member is killed in the subsequent shootout, they ditch the getaway car, but are recognized at a roadblock as they take it on the lam and are killed in a car chase. The getaway car is sold to a carnival sideshow, where an insurance investigator and some surviving gang members start poking around in search of the missing cash. The investigator tracks down the now-dead Jarvis's girlfriend at a cabaret, and several murders and violent incidents (including a dead body on the rollercoaster) occur as he narrows in on the culprits. —goblinhairedguy

(Because the film has a very complicated plot and features many characters, the events will be told mostly in chronological order to render the plot clearer, rather than strictly adhering to the order we see in the film.) General Sternwood has two daughters: the elder one is Vivian (Lauren Bacall) and the younger one is Carmen, who is a carefree, childish and problematic young woman. General Sternwood has a man named Sean Regan working for him. With the help of Sean, the general has made a man named Joe Brody leave Carmen alone, by giving him 5.000 Dollars. Carmen loves Sean but Sean loves the wife of a man named Eddie Mars, so he refuses Carmens advances. One day, Carmen kills Sean when she is drunk because of her unrequited love. Eddie hides Seans body. He then makes up the story that Sean and his wife have run away together and nobody sees Sean after that day. To support this story, he actually makes his own wife go away and start living in a remote place. Even the general doesnt know Seans whereabouts and wonders why he has left all of a sudden. Eddie then proceeds to blackmail Vivian for Carmens murder. As a way of eliciting money from Vivian, Eddie makes her win big money at his gambling house with cheats, and then he takes all the money from her. Carmens troublesome adventures are not over, though. A man named Arthur Gwynn Geiger blackmails General Sternwood to take the gambling debts of Carmen. The general hires Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) to get rid of Geigers blackmail. Vivian talks to Marlowe, thinking that her father has actually hired him to find Sean Regan. Afraid that Carmen may get into trouble, she tries to take words from Marlowes mouth about his inquiry. But she learns that her father has not actually hired Marlowe about Sean. Marlowe goes to Geigers so-called antique books shop and sees a woman named Agnes, who makes it impossible for him to talk to Geiger. Then Marlowe waits at the bookshop across the street until the evening and follows Geiger and his right arm Carol Lundgren to Geigers house. Before Marlowe gets in the house, however, important things happen. Owen Taylor, driver for the Sternwoods, is in love with Carmen. He goes to Geigers house with her and kills Geiger for her. A secret camera, however, takes Carmens photo just at the moment of the murder. Owen then takes the film from the hidden camera, gets in the car and goes away. Joe Brody, also present that night, follows Owen, takes the film from him to blackmail Carmen, (and most probably) kills Owen and pushes his car in the water. When Marlowe gets in Geigers house, he sees Carmen with the dead body of Gaiger lying on the ground. Marlowe takes Carmen home and tells Vivian to say that Carmen has been home all night if asked by anyone. When he goes back to Geigers house, he sees that his dead body has been taken away. Later, Owens dead body is found in the car in the water. He has been killed before falling into the water. Marlowe learns from Vivian that Owen was interested in Carmen. Vivian then tells Marlowe that somebody is blackmailing her for Carmens photo taken at the night of Geigers murder. The blackmailer, who wants 5.000 Dollars, is actually Agnes. It is Joe Brody that makes her blackmail Vivian. Vivian tells Marlowe that she can take the money from Eddie. When Marlowe meets with Carmen once again at Geigers house, she tells him that it was Joe who took her photo that night. Eddie comes along and tries to scare Marlowe out of his inquiries. Later, Marlowe finds Joe Brody and questions him about Geiger. Agnes and Vivian are also at his house. Carmen comes along with a gun and threatens to kill Joe if he doesnt give her the photo. Carmen takes the photo and she leaves with Vivian. Then the doorbell rings again and somebody kills Joe, then escapes. Marlowe catches the man, who turns out to be Carol (Geigers right arm), who thinks that it was Joe who killed Geiger. Marlowe and Carol then go to Geigers house. Marlowe calls his friend Bernie, who comes and takes Carol away for his murder. Marlowe meets Vivian, who gives him money to close the case, but Marlowe sees behind this and does not want to quit his inquiries. He has to solve the Sean Regan issue. A man named Harry Jones tries to sell Marlowe the name of the place where Sean can be found. The money is to be given to Agnes, who has seduced Harry before. Later, one of Eddies men, Canino, kills Harry, because the information he has given to Marlowe will reveal Eddies secret about Sean. Marlowe meets with Agnes. She tells him that she and Joe have seen Eddies wife and Canino together and followed them. She gives Marlowe the address for 200 Dollars. Marlowe goes to that address and is knocked unconscious by two men. When he wakes up, he is tied and Eddies wife is there. Marlowe learns the truth about Sean Regan: He did not run away with Eddies wife, he was already dead and it is only Eddies wife who is hiding away. The wife tries to defend Eddie, saying that it wasnt him who killed Sean. Marlowe tells her that Eddie is a blackmailer and she goes away. Vivian unties Marlowe and he kills Canino. Marlowe calls Eddie to meet with him at his house. Eddie comes with a lot of men but he enters the house alone. Marlowe confronts him with a gun and makes him confess his bad deeds. He drives him out of the house and Eddies men outside, thinking that the one getting out of the house is Marlowe, shoot Eddie. The men leave, thinking they have done their duty. Marlowe calls Bernie again and tells him that it was Eddie who killed Sean Regan. By saying this, he actually saves Carmen from arrestment. But he tells Vivian that she should take Carmen away from here and should try to reform her. Vivian understand that this means a separation between herself and Marlowe, who are by now very much interested in each other. The film ends vaguely about the future of the two lovers.