Kansas City Confidential (1952)

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

This is one of my favorite Film Noir period pieces (There are quite a few). The film keeps you going, plenty of tight close ups of the bad guys, good banter back and forth, excellent film noir all around. The director did a great job as did the actors too! Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand and Jack Elam. I know it's great when I can watch a movie more than once and this is one of them. Mike D.

A superb cast of characters. Interesting, suspenseful. Well filmed. One of the better films of the time.

This initially started out as a great movie. A basic bank-robbery/frame-up plot is punctuated with a bit of intrigue, as the robbers are anonymous to each other due to some creepy masks.Our hero's sense of desperation is fairly- accurately relayed throughout his beatings at the hands of the cops, loss of employment, and search for justice in Tijuana. The death scenes are pulled off fairly well, despite the complete lack of blood. (I get it: WWII just ended and soldiers didn't want to see any more carnage. However, it isn't as difficult to change a camera angle as it is to completely suspend one's sense of disbelief.)The movie starts to unravel as soon as our protagonist's love interest comes into the picture. Her acting ability is sub-par, and her dialog does little to endear her to the viewer. In fact, the suspense the film has produced up to this point is completely destroyed... and all for a poorly-interwoven romantic sub-plot. The gritty atmosphere is abandoned for a mediocre romantic angle that goes nowhere - and our hero's belle is nowhere near likable enough to develop the sub-plot to any degree worthy of the digression.As such, whereas I would have given the movie 8/10, it is reduced to 5/10.

A down-on-his-luck ex-GI.He finds himself framed for an armored car robbery.When he's finally released for lack of evidence--after having been beaten up and tortured by the police--he sets out to discover who set him up, and why. The trail leads him into Mexico and a web of hired killers and corrupt cops.Lots of recognizable character actors. The action is tight as a 22 year old and the story equally compelling.Well done, although the the available prints lack quality.