Highway Dragnet (1954)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Nathan Juran

Writers:

U.S. Anderson (story)
Roger Corman (story)

Release Date:

7 February 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir

Tagline:

SHOCK AFTER SHOCK! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Wrongly accused of killing a bar-girl he was seen with earlier, a Korean War vet flees from the police in the company of a woman author and her young secretary. |

Plot Keywords:

Mistaken Identity | Beautiful Woman | Murder | Road Trip | B Movie

Cast

Richard Conte	...	James Henry
Joan Bennett	...	Mrs. Cummings
Wanda Hendrix	...	Susan Willis
Reed Hadley	...	Det. Lt. Joe White Eagle
Mary Beth Hughes	...	Terri Smith--bar girl
Iris Adrian	...	Sally--cafe waitress
Harry Harvey	...	Mr. Carson
Tom Hubbard	...	Det. Sgt. Ben Barnett
Frank Jenks	...	Marine in Civvies
Murray Alper	...	Ice Cream Truck Driver
Zon Murray	...	Cafe trooper with mustache
House Peters Jr.	...	Steve--Border Inspection Officer
Joseph Crehan	...	Elderly Border Inspection Officer
Charles Anthony Hughes	...	Chubby Border Inspection Officer (as Tony Hughes)
Bill Hale	...	Harry--Trooper in Cafe

Also Known As:

The House in the Sea (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

70 min | Germany:72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #16784, General Audience)

Filming Locations:

Riverside County, California, USA

Company:

William F. Broidy Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Roger Corman (#1.5)" (1999)

JOAN BENNETT INVENTS "THE TWIST" WHILE IN QUICKSAND!!!

This film is a real treat to watch due to the many absurdities that abound from scene to scene. After a shouting match in a barroom with a buxom over-the-hill blonde ex-model, Richard Conte, finds himself hitch- hiking to the Salton Sea where his house is rapidly disappearing from the rising shoreline! He's picked up by the police, who claim he murdered aforementioned blonde bombshell. Before you can blink an eye Conte's outta there and shooting holes in a classic Kaiser patrol car. He escapes in an old Nash which he abandons upon seeing Joan Bennett(wearing a dress made out of a parachute) and Wanda Hendrix trying to fix a broken-down sedan. He fixes things up while Joan's pooch becomes roadkill. Any 10 year-old has figured out the films outcome at this point. Conte becomes "Mr. Leash", the crazed killer, who gets a whole resort full of vacationers running for their lives. Conte, Joan and Wanda do everything but roast marshmellows over a desert campfire before Joan teaches them both how to do the "Twist" in an improbable puddle of quicksand near Conte's rapidly decaying, drowning dreamhome in the Salton Sea. This movie has a lot of unintentional laughs in it. A great bad movie.