Highway Dragnet (1954)

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 photographer and her young female model.

Director:

Nathan Juran

Writers:

Herb Meadow (screenplay), Jerome Odlum (screenplay),

Stars:

Richard Conte, Joan Bennett, Wanda Hendrix

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Conte	...	Jim Henry
Joan Bennett	...	Mrs. Cummings
Wanda Hendrix	...	Susan Willis
Reed Hadley	...	Det. Lt. Joe White Eagle
Mary Beth Hughes	...	Terry Smith
Iris Adrian	...	Dolly
Harry Harvey	...	Mr. Carson
Tom Hubbard	...	Det. Sgt. Ben Barnett
Frank Jenks	...	Marine in Civvies
Murray Alper	...	Ice Cream Truck Driver
Zon Murray	...	Trooper in Cafe
House Peters Jr.	...	Steve
Joseph Crehan	...	Elderly Border Inspection Officer
Charles Anthony Hughes	...	Chubby Border Inspection Officer (as Tony Hughes)
Bill Hale	...	Harry

Storyline

Mrs. Cummings, a free-lance magazine photographer and a recent widow after her husband committed suicide, and her model, Susan, are on an assignment to cover resorts California and Nevada. Driving west from Las Vegas they pick up Jim Henry, a recently-discharged Marine, who is hitchhiking to the home of a friend near the Salton Sea. Meanwhile, back in Las Vegas, a blonde known casually by Jim, is found murdered. Jim becomes the object of a manhunt directed by Police-Lieut. White Eagle of the Las Vegas police.

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Plot Keywords:

photographer | model | killing | assignment | nevada | 

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Taglines:

THREE-STATE ALARM FOR THRILL-KILLER...Along the Roaring Crime Route from Las Vegas! (original poster)

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 January 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

The House in the Sea

Filming Locations:

Apple Valley Inn - Apple Valley Inn Road, Apple Valley, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

William F. Broidy Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

At the camp fire in the desert, Jim put his .45 caliber pistol on the rock with the barrel pointing away from the fire, but subsequent views of the gun show the barrel point toward the camp fire.

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Connections

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

User Reviews

Fast twisty sometimes nutty sometimes beautiful very low budget escapism

Highway Dragnet (1954)

Wow is this an up and down production. Most of it is rather good, with a handful of supporting actors around the dependable leading role played by Richard Conte. And the plot is solid if a little familiar. Conte, a returned G.I. from Korea, is falsely accused of killing a girl in Las Vegas. And to save himself he has to resort to extreme measures, like escaping from the local cops and more or less kidnapping a couple of attractive women along the way.

One of the highlights is the range of location shooting. Foremost, briefly, is Las Vegas, circa 1954. It will blow your mind. It's worth watching the first fifteen minutes alone. Then there are lots of desert scenes leading to a grand finale at the Salton Sea, which was famously flooded. This is amazing stuff, buildings have submerged, and a wide open landscape with hardly a car or house.

And the interaction between Conte and the two women is good if somewhat predictable (one of them falls in love with him, the other wants to kill him). There is even the beginning of a photo shoot at a country motel, with a couple of Graflex cameras shown nicely. It all has a curious low budget tension.

But the tension is often resolved or delayed by a sudden bit of luck. Just when Conte is going to get caught, the phone rings, or that kind of thing. And then the ending, which I can't give away, but ugh. It had huge potential, and was going great overall, until this preposterous scene where a confession is shouted over the waves.

So, take the lumps with the cream here. It's a short, fast, enjoyable movie overall.