- WW2 veteran Lucky Gagin arrives in a New Mexico border-town intent on revenging against mobster Frank Hugo but FBI agent Bill Retz, who also wants Hugo, tries to keep Gagin out of trouble.
- In the bordertown of San Pablo, preparing for an annual 'Mexican Fiesta,' arrives Gagin: tough, mysterious and laconic. His mission: to find the equally mysterious Frank Hugo, evidently for revenge; or is it blackmail? FBI agent Retz is also after the elusive Hugo. Everyone in town is enigmatic, especially Pila, a mystical teenager who follows Gagin around and has premonitions of his death. Also involved are a classic femme fatale and an antique carousel with a pink horse...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
- When a bus arrives in San Pablo, the mysterious American Lucky Gagin looks for the La Fonda Hotel and he meets the local Pila that offers to take him there. Gagin is a tough man and army veteran and he seeks out a man called Frank Hugo and he learns that he will be back to his room only on the next day. Gagin stumbles upon FBI Agent Bill Retz, who is chasing the powerful mobster Frank Hugo, and he warns Gagin to forget his scheme for revenging his friend Shorty that was murdered by Frank. Then Gagin looks for a hotel room and he goes to the Bar Tres Violetas, where he befriends the owner of carousel called Pancho and he buys drinks for his friends in the bar. Pancho offers a place to Gagin to spend the night. On the next morning, Gagin goes to the hotel and meets Frank Hugo. He blackmails the mobster, asking for 30,000 dollars to give a check that incriminates him. Frank Hugo accepts the deal and tell that the money will be available only at 7:00 PM. Will Gagin succeed in his extortion of money from Frank?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Arriving on the eve of the annual colonial celebration of Fiestas de San Pablo, Lucky Gagin (Robert Montgomery) is a disaffected veteran on a mission to avenge the death of best pal Shorty. He enters a village divided by ancient class structures where Spanish heritage is valuable and the indigenous are only worth their white market value. A stranger in a strange land, Gagin heads for the posh La Fonda hotel where he's told there's no room for him. Snubbed and harboring his own prejudices, Gagin must rely on the kindness of the local proletariat to snake his way to war profiteer mobster Frank Hugo (Fred Clark). Aided by a mystical indigenous girl that accompanies him to an antique merry-go-round run by gregarious mestizo Pancho (Thomas Gomez, nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role), Gagin's biases soften amidst his new friends who unwittingly shelter him as he readies to strike. Robert Montgomery directs and stars in this striking noir adapted from a novel by IN A LONELY PLACE author Dorothy B. Hughes. Produced and co-adapted by Joan Harrison, who-by the filming of RIDE THE PINK HORSE-had established her reputation co-writing a number of key Alfred Hitchcock films. Harrison was one of the few female producers of her generation.—Mae Moreno
- Easing into San Pablo on a Greyhound bus, Blackie Gagin (Robert Montgomery) wastes no time in securing a locker where he leaves a canceled check. He has come to confront gangster Frank Hugo (Fred Clark) who is responsible for the death of Gagin's war buddy and intends to extort the criminal for a sizable sum of money or he will send the check to the police. As it turns out an FBI agent in town, Bill Retz (Art Smith) has been tracking Hugo and intends to bring him to justice and when he discovers that Gagin has a telltale piece of evidence that can help he lets the man know he wants it. Gagin is planning his own kind of justice but needs a hotel room and none are available due to a Mexican holiday celebration that has all the places to stay booked. When young waif Pila (Wanda Hendrix) attaches herself to Gagin and introduces him to the local carousel owner Pancho (Thomas Gomez), a drinking friendship is formed and Gagin gets to sleep in a small shack owned by Pancho. Hugo's girlfriend Carla (Rita Conde) secretly meets Gagin to tell him he should extort as much as he can from Hugo and share with her, and Gagin discovers too late that she has her own agenda, and that to mete out his own form of justice he has to fight for his life.
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