edwagreen

(2013-05-17 18:00:32)

Confidentially Great- K.C. Confidential ***1/2

Excellent film with marvelous plot twists revealed express film noir atits best in "Kansas City Confidential."To think of the double crossing abound here is an amazing achievementby itself.It just shows you that hell hath no fury like a maligned policeofficer. What revenge he plots. The three losers chosen for his awesomescheme are about the best of acting villains you could have in a movie-Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand and Jack Elam. They're fabulous to watchon screen.John Payne's character is quite perplexing in itself. At times, youdon't know if his character, framed by the gang, is sympatheitc orgetting into it to bring them to justice.The officer's daughter entering the film is more than coincidental, butit just adds to a very good story.

(2013-05-17 10:01:11)

A fitting end to the Film Noir Genre

Kansas City Confidential is a skilled and exciting Film Noir made at the tail end of the Film Noir Genre. Preston Foster (Tim Foster), the former head of detectives, puts together a major caper after being ousted from office by a shift in the political structure. His idea, to rob a bank using three local thugs played by Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef and Nevil Brand, three of Hollywood's premier Bad Guys at the time. Foster's plan is to maintain anonymity by requiring all the men to wear masks when they meet for the first time. He also issues each man half of a playing card as the key of mutual recognition for when the men reunite in Mexico to split the score. Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is an ex-con who gets inadvertently pulled in and accused of complicity in the crime. Once released, Rolfe chases the men down in Mexico. Kansas City Confidential brings a ton of suspense and you will root for the bad guys to get away with it. Can Preston Foster pull it off? Add this Classic Film Noir to your collection to find out.

sol1218

(2013-05-14 14:09:29)

Flower Power!

***MAJOR SPOILERS*** It was bad enough for drummed out of thedepartment and forced to retire police captain Tim Foster, PrestonFoster,to get these three on the lamb hoodlums to pull off a milliondollar heist of a Kansas City bank. What was even worse was Fosterplanning to later double-cross the hoodlums he hired and, like anarsonist pulling a fire alarm to throw off suspicion's on himself, thenturning them in for a big fat cash reward. But by far the biggestmistake that Foster made was in framing the local flower delivery manJoe Rolfe, John Payne, in the crime that he and his fellow crookscommitted!You see Joe Rolfe loved his job delivering flowers and when he lost itdue to his arrest by the cops for his alleged participating in the bankrobbery the guy just blew a fuse. And that fuse ignited and blew tosmatterings the well thought out plan that Foster, in his scheming andconniving mind, had dreamed up!Even though released because of lack of evidence Rolfe was greatlypi**ed off in him spending a few days behind bars and being worked overby the interrogating police. Joe Rolfe was even more then mad in losinghis job, because of all the bad publicity, as a flower delivery manthat he,in being the best in the delivery service company that heworked for, loved so much. Determined to clear his name and get his jobback Rolfe tracked down one of the bank robbers Pete Harris, JackElam,in Tijuana Mexico who, after twisting his arm, spilled the beanson his fellow crooks. It turns out that they all, after laying low fora couple of days, are to assemble in this town, on the Mexican Coast,called Barados. It's there were they'll split the take that the gotfrom the robbery back in Kansas City! Unfortunately for Harris he nevermade it to Barados in him getting gunned down by the police, afterresisting arrest, at the Tijuana Airport.Taking Harris' identity and the one thing that can identify him, a halfcut playing card, to his fellow crooks, who wore masks all during thebank robbery, Rolfe shot down to Barados to find out, besides the nowdeceased Harris, who framed him. Rolfe's sham as being Pete Harris fellapart almost as soon as it started with him being exposed as animpostor with the news of Harris' death reaching Foster. Still the tworemaining bank robbers ladies man Tony Romano, Lee Van Cleef, andpsycho cop killer Boyde Kane, Neville Brand, were unable to do Rolfein. Despite them knowing that he's not only ripping them off of theirhard earned cash but very possibly setting them up in a police sting!The very thing that their cohort in crime the mysterious ex-cop TimFoster is planning to do to them!****SPOILER ALERT**** The slick and slimy Foster is himself compromisedby the sudden arrival of his law student daughter Helen, Coleen Gray,who falls heads over heels for the tall dark and handsome flowerdelivery man Joe Rolfe. This all leads to a breakdown in Fosters plansto have Romano and Kane caught so he can collect the big reward,$200,000.00, offered for their arrest! It also has Rolfe freed tomanipulate both bank robbers to do themselves in, together with Foster,by the time the movie finally ended!P.S The films happy ending has Rolfe not only get his job back, andhave those who caused him to lose it pay for it, but get a goggled eyedand madly in love with him Helen to marry him as well!

(2013-05-14 08:40:31)

Blu Ray Excellence

This review is from: Kansas City Confidential Blu-Ray + DVD Combo Pack (Blu-ray) This is a review of the Blu Ray release, you can look elsewhere for a review of this great film. I was, at first, unsure of this company that I had never heard of: HD Cinema Classics, but they did an excellent job. The picture is beautiful, most noticeable in how great the clothes look on the main characters. The difference in clothes quality was always lost in other releases, a suit just looked like a suit, but this blu ray gives you textures that have been lost since the movie premiered in theatres more than fifty years ago. This blu ray is worth the money.

(2013-05-14 03:15:04)

FAST-PACED CRIME NOIR OF REVENGE & JUSTICE

From 1952, this taut crime noir with its perfect cast has been widely noted as a prime influence on Quentin Tarantino's RESEVOIR DOGS. John Payne is Joe Rolfe, he's a reformed ex-con whose florist delivery van matches an identical truck used in a Kansas City bank robbery. Picked at random (fate is like that, you see) Joe is being framed by Tim Foster (Preston Foster), a bitter ex-cop who's the mastermind of the heist. Joe tries to clear his name and follows the trail to a Mexican hideaway and a confrontation with Tim's gang of bad guys beautifully played by Jack Elam, Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef. Phil Karlson directed from a story and screenplay by a team of writers including George Bruce and Harry Essex. Don't miss this fast-paced thriller of revenge and justice now in a nice HD transfer.

Michael_Elliott

(2013-05-13 22:15:45)

Good Noir for Payne

Kansas City Confidential (1952) *** (out of 4) Well-made noir about a war vet (John Payne) who fell on hard times andcontinues to find himself struggling and things don't get any betterafter he's accused of being involved in a heist. He decides to try andclear his name so he goes after those men involved as well as the guy(Tim Foster) who set the whole thing up. There's no denying that thisis a pretty strong noir but at the same time I can't help but feelsomewhat disappointed after hearing so many great things about it.After reading some reviews it seemed this would be one of the greatest"B" noirs out there but I don't think it came close to anything likethat. I'll start off with my biggest problem and that was the characterplayed by Preston Foster. He sets this heist up and makes sure thethree mugs where masks so that they don't know who each other is andthey don't know who he is. He goes through all this trouble to pull offthe perfect crime and then he invites all three men to an island wherehe plans on setting them up for a reason I won't spoil. Fine. However,all of this could have been avoided had he simply never contacted themen and none of his troubles would have happened. The plot tries tomake up about dirty money but the ending simply didn't work well enoughfor me to buy into everything it was selling. One other weak spot wasthat the film ran about five or ten-minutes too long as I felt some ofthe build up started to lose its tension as it dragged onto theconclusion. Outside of those issues this was a pretty good film withsome extremely strong performances leading the way. Payne is perfect asthe down-on-his-luck hero who gets into one mess after another andfinally gets tired of it and decides to clear himself. I thought he wasquite believable early on as this loser and he perfectly fit the partwhen its time for the revenge to take place. I thought he was veryenjoyable to watch and certainly carried the film well. The supportingcast has some great character actors with Foster really impressing asthe top dog. The other bad guys include terrific work by Neville Brand,Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef as the tough guy. All three are excellentbut I thought Elam stole the film as the crook with a nervous twitch.The B&W cinematography was very good especially when you consider thebudget and the music score sets a nice tone as well. There's enoughdark shadows for three films and this certainly helps build up theatmosphere. KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL didn't turn out to be themasterpiece I was expecting but it was still a fine movie that's worthseeing for the performances.

(2013-05-08 03:39:19)

"You been giving me the fisheye all night."

Revenge fueled noir about a police chief forced into an early retirement who nearly gets away with the perfect crime. Using masks all the time to conceal their identities, even from each other, he recruits three tough guys (Neville Brand, Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef!) to help him rob an armored car using a fake florist delivery van. That way the driver of the real florist van (John Payne) will initially get blamed for the robbery.They go through with the plan and it goes off without a hitch, now they split up with the intention to meet up at a later date to divide the money, and at this later meeting the ex-cop will bust `em and get the $300,000 reward. Only problem is he didn't guess just how pissed off the fall guy would be. Once freed, but not before the cops beat his [...]hole up one wall and down another, he hunts down the bad guys and let `em have it. "Thanks - FOR NOTHING!" Some of the scenes are a little cheesy with the tough guy stuff and the final scene is too soft, but those fight scenes were riveting. I especially enjoyed Van Cleef.The DVD by Alpha Video has a rough looking picture and no extras, but hey is 8 bucks so what do you expect?

writers_reign

(2013-05-07 07:56:00)

Three Card Tricksters

Riding in on the coat-tails of noir in 1952 this would have made anideal programmer or 'B' picture. Well and tightly plotted (well,almost) helmer Phil Karlson keeps the action coming and if thecharacters are, inevitably, cardboard the cardboard is fromNieman-Marcus rather than the five-and-dime. John Payne is in the wrongplace at the wrong time - a florist next to a bank when a heist isgoing down - and because he has a police blotter he is arrested andthird-degreed before being eventually cleared. Future job prospects arezero so he decides to clear his name by tracking down the realcriminals, four in number, mastermind Preston Foster who fell foul ofpoliticians and lost his job on the force, and petty crooks Jack Elam,Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef. Recruited one at a time by a maskedFoster the other three are also issued masks so that they do not knoweach other, a scheme so perfect it can only go wrong. Payne tracks downElam, an advanced junky, who tells him of the plan to meet in Mexicowhen the heat is off and shows him the torn half of a playing cardwhich will identify him. Elam is recognized by cops at the airport enroute to Borados with Payne, fatally wounded thus leaving the way clearfor Wayne to take his place - the gang were masked, remember, so onlyFoster will know the truth. On route he meets Foster's daughter,studying law yet, who falls for him but Foster has an agenda of his ownwhich you can bet doesn't involve sharing the one point two millionwith anyone. In its day it probably got lost in the shuffle of thingslike Build My Gallows High, The File On Thelma Jordan, etc but todaywhen Hollywood fodder of this class is thin on the ground it makesgreat viewing.

OldAle1

(2013-05-05 09:47:25)

no superstar tough guys here, but as fine a noir as most

My pursuit of the best in noir continued with this classic from theheight of the era, newly released in a beautiful DVD. Starts out withplenty of action and suspense as Mr. Big (Preston Foster) hires fourex-cons to help him in a big bank heist, while putting the frame-up onanother ex-con, a deliveryman for the florist down the block from thebank. Foster and his crew dress in masks – in fact, none of them exceptFoster know what any of the others looks like – and drive a truck madeup to look just like the florist's van, then split up and agree to meetat a to-be-specified-later date and split up the loot. Herein lies oneof a few major flaws in the plot (why would any of the hoods believeMr. Big and just accept that he's getting his share later, when none ofthem even knows who Mr. Big is or what he looks like?) but the film istold with such fluid pacing and style that one can forgive the holes.The twist that was the most interesting was that the floral deliveryguy (John Payne) actually becomes the "hero" of the film as he becomesan amateur sleuth and hunts down the men who framed him, eventuallywinding up in a Mexican resort with the group and pretending to be oneof them after witnessing the hood come to an unlucky end at the handsof Mexican police. For the most part this is a sunnier and funnier thanusual noir, particularly light in tone when the action goes south ofthe border, and some of this is probably due to the simpler charms ofPayne – no Bogart or Mitchum though effective enough – but also thescreenplay which keeps the hoods and pretend-hood switching guns andone-upping each other often enough that it becomes more than a littlecomic. And the ending is fantastically blunt and dark on top of it all.One of the best noirs I've seen in a year of seeing many fine ones.

(2013-05-05 04:17:29)

Kansas City Confidential

This review is from: Kansas City Confidential (MGM Film Noir) (DVD) If you love the old movies of the Silver Screen era you will probably like this movie. The movie has several well know supporting cast "Bad Guy" type actors. If you are lookng for high tech action forget this one.

(2013-05-04 19:16:48)

Blu-ray KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL Looks Better Than Ever

Film noir is a very particular genre of motion pictures. Mainly, it refers to the stylish approach to crime dramas often ripe cynicism and/or sexual attitudes. Scholars will tell you that it's an `Americanization' of German Expressionist cinematography (hat tip: Wikipedia), but I tend to see it more of a visual response to hard-boiled fiction that emerged as a particular unique writing style from the early 20th century. However you define it, it's often times depicted by characters who are always operating from their own hidden agendas. Terrific examples of film noir in film include Howard Hawks' 1946 THE BIG SLEEP (one of my personal favorites); Jacques Tourneur's 1947 OUT OF THE PAST; and Phil Karlson's 1952 KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL, recently released on Blu-ray by Film Chest, Inc. (Note: the film now belongs in public domain.)A former cop forced into retired, Tim Foster (played by Preston Foster), conspires to pull of the ultimate heist: he recruits three bad guys - played by Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand, and Jack Elam - to aid him in a bank heist only the pretense that no one (except him) will know the other's identity (all men are provided masks). Anonymity means that no one can turn on the other. However, Foster's secret plan is to lure the criminals to a secret location where he'll double-cross them by surrendering all of them to police in a bid to get his job back with the force. However, Foster's plans encounter a snare when the patsy they've framed - Joe Rolfe (John Payne) - turns out to be an ex-con with nothing to lose! He hunts the men to their secret rendezvous with hopes of getting his share of the loot!CONFIDENTIAL has aged remarkably well. At just under 100 minutes, the film is fairly tightly edited with most sequences revolving around the central plot - Rolfe's attempt to get his part of the bank heist while also turning the tables on those who framed him - though there is a romantic subplot involving Foster's daughter, an aspiring law student (Colleen Gray), that more than stretches the bounds of believeability. Payne and Foster remain the main focus consistently, though neither is fully aware of the other's hidden designs until the last quarter of the picture. Van Cleef and Brand make terrific baddies - the kind of guys most true noirs are replete with - two short fuses just waiting for a chance to flex their muscles. There are a couple of other small players who also fill out the noir bill because they're running their own scams - fairly successfully - in the most benign pursuits available to them. Everyone here has something to hide, and it's a bit of surprise that the film still manages to pack in a (somewhat) happy ending despite all the double-crosses; if anything, it's that (somewhat) happy ending that feels out of place here, certainly not the performances or the story.CONFIDENTIAL has been restored by Film Chest, and the disc comes with a brief demonstration of the old look versus the updated look. Much of it is very minor - some darks pop much better in the Blu-ray restoration, and there's a marked improvement in graininess throughout. There's also the movie trailer and Spanish sub-titling available for those who need it. The disc includes a postcard bearing the original movie art, and, if you're a noir purist, this is definitely one worth adding to your collection. I would've liked a commentary track by a film historian or studio executive; I think the experience of these older classics is greatly enhanced by a scholar highlighting what impact the film had ... but, alas, it wasn't meant to be.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.In the interests of fairness, I'm pleased to disclose that the fine folks at HD Cinema Classics provided me with a DVD screener for the expressed purposes of completing this review.

JohnWelles

(2013-05-04 05:56:09)

Hard-Edged Film Noir.

"Kansas City Confidential" (1952) is a film noir directed by theundervalued Phil Karlson, famed for his tough B-features of the 1950's.This is one of his best, a hard, rough little movie that gives usexcellent performances from the underused (in American cinema at least)Lee Van Cleef and Jack Elam.The script (by George Bruce and Harry Essex) has Joe Rolfe (John Payne)framed for a brilliantly efficient robbery in Kansas City of anarmoured truck carried out by men masked so as to not be able to tellon each other, trying to cut into the split of the money in Mexico,pretending he is one of the robbers.One of the best parts of the film is the great muscular direction thatmakes Karlson so distinctive. His mise-en-scГѓВЁne is full of tightclose-ups, harsh lighting and, for its time, brutal violence. The filmis fast paced, leaving little time to breathe and packs a real wallop.The acting is excellent, with John Payne, formerly a crooner in theforties, successfully making the transition to tough guy. The rest ofthe cast is full of hard actors like Van Cleef, Neville Brand and Elamthat rarely had the chance to play such pivotal parts in films; theyreward Karlson's trust in their abilities in spades.The photography by George E. Diskant is very good, and combined withBuddy Small's editing, exudes violence throughout the film. The run upto and the actual robbery itself is masterpiece of construction and agreat example of the both Diskant's and Small's professions workingtogether to create something totally cinematic.A cracking, hard-nosed film noir that is infused with cinematicexuberance, this is a film any movie lover should see.

(2013-04-30 19:01:47)

A slick plot with an eclectic cast of unique characters make this film a winner!

This review is for the 2002 Alpha/Gotham DVDThe movie starts with a mysterious man named Tim Foster (Preston Foster) trying to pull off the perfect robbery. We don't know much about this mastermind and neither do the three crooks, Boyd Kane (Neville Brand), Pete Harris (Jack Elam) and Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef) who were essentially blackmailed into being his accomplices. In all phases of the recruiting, planning and execution of the robbery, Foster keeps his identity a secret by wearing a mask and so do his coerced thugs so if anyone does get caught, the others are protected from a potential stool pigeon. The robbery goes off without a hitch, but unfortunately at the expense of patsy name Joe Rolfe (John Payne). After the police finally come to the conclusion that someone setup Rolfe and the real crooks got away, Rolfe is released, and decides to track down the vermin that set him up. Meanwhile, the four robbers go their separate ways with Foster taking the loot with a plan to meet the rest of the gang in Mexico to divide up the money. Rolfe manages to tail Harris and later meets up with the remaining criminals at a Mexican resort and this sets up a suspenseful and thrilling second half of the film. One major wrinkle is also added when Foster's daughter Helen (Colleen Gray) drops in by surprise to visit her father at the resort in the midst of this complex and potentially explosive situation.For being a public domain, low cost DVD, I was pleasantly surprised how well this story was intelligently crafted. Tim Foster not only masterminds a slick robbery, but figures out a brilliant means of settling things up with his cohorts in Mexico - of course to his own advantage. John Payne is impressive in this leading role and based on this performance, I'm surprised he didn't have a much more successful career as a leading actor. The three young accomplices, Brand, Elam and Van Cleef all did an exceptional job in their roles and of course each went on to have successful movie careers over several decades. I highly recommend this film, especially to someone who appreciates the classic era of post-WWII noir pictures.This is an Alpha/Gotham DVD and they typically turn out poor quality presentations of older movies. The picture quality of this film is actually very good by their track record, but still far from the standards one would expect from a major studio. It's still lacks sharpness and has plenty of noticeable flaws over the course of the movie, but the picture is still very viewable.Movie: A-DVD Quality: C

kenjha

(2013-04-30 12:36:36)

Terrific B-Movie

With the help of three low-life's, an ex-cop robs a bank but the gangmust contend with the vengeful man who is initially accused of thecrime. A terrific B-movie with Payne quite effective as the man intenton clearing his name and settling the score with the bad guys. Theactor never rose above B pictures, but had a commanding screenpresence. Gray is pretty as the love interest. The bad guys are wellplayed by Foster and a trio of actors who made careers out of playingheavies: Brand, Van Cleef, and an unbelievably thin Elam. Karlson, whomade two other films with Payne and specialized in these kinds oflow-budget action films, keeps things moving at a nice pace.

(2013-04-30 09:44:46)

A beginning / a middle / a ending

This review is from: Kansas City Confidential (MGM Film Noir) (DVD) Love old movies because they have A BEGINNING - A MIDDLE and A ENDING. This one is really quite good. I'm not going to say too much as it would ruin it but if you like old movies this is a good one. You can follow the plot from beginning to end, some things you know are coming but that's just fine.

Eric Chapman

(2013-04-29 22:55:20)

NOT A Good Film

A huge disappointment from the director of some real taut, smart crimeflicks such as "99 River Street" and "Scandal Sheet". This one is clumsilyplotted, poorly scripted and cheap-looking. It substitutes gallons of sweatfor real tension (it may be the sweatiest movie I've ever seen.) And it'sbarely even set in Kansas City! The majority of it takes place in one ofthose low, low budget third world country sets. You know, generic bungalow,ceiling fans, palm trees. About halfway in, after Jack Elam gets slappedaround entertainingly by John Payne, Coleen Gray appears for absolutely nogood reason as (TA DAA!) the depressingly obligatory love interest. Theaction grinds to a halt, the routine plot keeps getting explained andre-explained in the most perfunctory, lame-brained fashion. Characterscontinuously talk to each other in a painfully stilted, exposition-heavyway, and it all bogs down and becomes terribly tedious.I'm not sure what happened here. The editing is skittish, uncertain, somaybe there was studio interference or post production difficulties of somekind. Hard to fathom how this could be from the same director/star tandem of"99 River Street". Also hard to comprehend how it could have such a highrating here and a good review from Maltin. Those assessments are wildlyinaccurate. A lot of quality people involved (though the mastermind PrestonFoster makes little impression and appears under-directed and purpose-lessin most of his scenes) but this is not a well made film. Not evenclose.

bluejay52

(2013-04-28 12:27:45)

A real gem with a perfect ending

This film has it all: a tightly scripted and constantly intriguingplot, excellent cast, sharply defined characters (even the peripheralones) who all respond credibly to their motivations, and a protagonistyou can and do care about. As for the love interest, it's representedby a surprisingly progressive female role model for the period, andthere's genuine chemistry between her and the protagonist.For lovers of film noir, Kansas City Confidential offers the expectedhigh-contrast b&w photography and close camera angles conveying bothimmediacy and menace. Balancing out the latter is real humanity andheart that's generally absent from other more formulaic films of theperiod.If you only know John Payne from his superb performance in Miracle on34th Street, you'll like him even more after this film, which gives himgreater opportunity to show his considerable skills as an actor. Paynetook full advantage of it, bringing to the role a compelling blend ofstrength, fear, audacity, and determination that leaves viewers bothadmiring and identifying with him right to the very end.Which brings me to what's best about this movie: its conclusion.Without revealing anything here, I can say that it's so unexpectedlysatisfying and complete a resolution that I watched it all over againand marveled at the skillful scripting. Nothing superfluous, nothingwasted--just great storytelling done on a shoestring.I almost didn't watch Kansas City Confidential because its title didn'tgrab me or seem particularly promising. In retrospect, I'm trulygrateful I gave it a chance because I've discovered a new personalfavorite. The only reason I'm not giving it ten stars is that it wasobviously done on a severely limited budget. But hey, that's part ofthe joy of 1950s film noir, isn't it?

(2013-04-28 09:05:56)

Kansas City Confidential

This review is from: Kansas City Confidential (MGM Film Noir) (DVD) Classic '50's Noir. I know a lot of people that say that can't watch black and white films and I honestly don't understand that. They will never know what they're missing. I enjoyed this one. John Payne never made "A List" status but he was a good actor just the same and when combined with 3 future great character actors (Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand and a very young Jack Elam)you're in for a good caper.

(2013-04-20 10:12:05)

Finally - The Official MGM DVD Release! Great Film Noir!

This review is from: Kansas City Confidential (MGM Film Noir) (DVD) For years Kansas City Confidential has languished in the Public Domain Hell. Released in a woefully substandard version from Alpha (watch the video wiggle at the bottom of the screen every 10 seconds), and a much better, but still flawed version from Image (the picure is just a bit too dark and has some minor print damage), along with several "dollar" DVD versions that were even more flawed than the Alpha and Image releases, Kansas City Confidential was a movie that most Film Noir fans thought would never see an "official" DVD release by MGM (owner of the master print, and - presumably - the negatives).But here it is - MGM is actually releasing (or has released, depending on when you read this) the "official" DVD for this fantastic Film Noir. Based on their track record of releasing official versions of movies previously relegated to public domain releases (see He Walked By Night as an example - MGM's DVD is flawless!), this should see a drastic improvement in both image and sound quality over all of the previous versions released to date.The movie itself is tightly written, well acted (John Payne is fantastic, and the supporting cast of Preson Foster, Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand, Jack Elam, and Coleen Gray are all near perfect in their roles), and extremely well directed by Phil Karlson. This is a classic crime/wrong man framed and sets out for revenge movie. For fans of Film Noir this is truly a, "Must Have," DVD.Update - The DVD is, as expected, a HUGE improvement over the Image release, which istself is much better than the Alpha version. MGM/Fox have done a very nice job on the quality of this release - the print used is excellent. Even if you already have a previous version of Kansas City Confidential you still may want to get this one for the much improved picture and sound.

brocksilvey

(2013-04-19 20:45:10)

One of My Favorites

This vaulted to the top of my list of favorite films noir the second itwas over.This truly stylish and excellent little crime thriller stars John Payneas an ex-con who's framed for being involved with a bank robbery he hadnothing to do with. Fueled by a sense of wronged justice, he tracksdown the real culprits, who have met down in Mexico for the moneyexchange. The plot gets much more intricate than that, though, when itturns out that the boss of the operation, an ex-cop gone bad, isplanning to double cross the other members of the team and collect thereward money for himself. And it gets more intricate when Payne fallsfor the boss's daughter, who has come down to visit him at his tropicalgetaway.Many of the usual noir touches are present in this film: the anti-herowho finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time; the hard-boiledtough-guy patter; the blurred lines between the law and the criminals.The film clips by at a tense pace, and it's an awful lot of fun.Grade: A