Kansas City Confidential (1952) User Reviews

The first Payne/Karlson collaboration: Everyman thrown to the wolves

[bmacv · 8/10 · 18 April 2004]

Driving a truckful of posies for a florist seems about as safe an occupation an ex-con could hope for. But for John Payne in Phil Karlson's Kansas City Confidential, it gets him framed for a million-two robbery. His trouble is that you can set a clock by his punctual rounds, and that one of his deliveries coincides with the arrival of the armored car at the bank next door. His comings and goings have been meticulously stop-watched by the mastermind of the heist (Preston Foster), a disgruntled policeman forced into retirement who seeks his weird sort of revenge.

Foster's plan assembles a gang who wear masks during the plotting so they can't recognize one another, or him. Payne's just the innocent fall guy who's thrown to the cops. Those cops try to beat a confession out of him, but it won't stick. He nonetheless loses his job and ends up on the front pages as the prime suspect. So he goes on the earie and follows the robbers (Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef and Neville Brand) down to Mexico, where they're to meet with `Mr. Big' again and divvy up the take.

The spanner in the works proves to be Foster's daughter (Coleen Gray), striking sparks with Payne as he poses as one of the conspirators killed in Tijuana en route to the rendezvous. Gray's an aspiring lawyer in ignorance of daddy's scheme – which is to turn over the robbers, thus rehabilitating himself with the force, and to collect the insurers' reward of $300-large.

Those south-of-the-border resort bungalows, during the noir cycle at any rate, were hotbeds of passion and gunplay. Karlson gives us a little of the former (not his long suit) but plenty of the latter. Over cardgames in the lobby and chance meetings amid the subtropical foliage at night, the unknown players try to sniff one another out and gain whatever edge they can. Their final gathering, aboard a boat called the Manana, shakes out as a crashing intersection of cross-purposes.

Like Dick Powell, Payne started off as a crooner and hoofer, a light leading man (his best remembered role is as Maureen O'Hara's fiancé in Miracle on 34th Street). But in three films under Phil Karlson's direction (plus Robert Florey's in The Crooked Way and Allan Dwan's in Slightly Scarlet), he ended up one of the most convincing ordinary-guy protagonists in the noir cycle. He's tough, all right, but still shows the flop-sweat of fear; and he's smart, too, but because he's forced to be – what he's trying to hang onto is all he's got.

Off-screen, he was even smarter, seeing the potential revenue in color films (like Hell's Island and Slightly Scarlet) when selling to television was at most a pipe dream. But as an actor in the ambiguous world of film noir, he's seldom given the credit he deserves. He's every bit as good as Powell or Glenn Ford, if not quite so emblematic as Humphrey Bogart or Robert Mitchum or Burt Lancaster. Karlson's brutal, accomplished works late in the noir cycle gave Payne his place in the dark sun.

great noir visuals

[annabates · 8/10 · 19 April 2008]

Film noir at its best. All of the positive comments by other reviewers are accurate regarding the acting, directing and appropriately flawed "noir tale" script. John Payne is a textbook noir guy -- just out of prison, tormented, misunderstood and kicked around by the cops (who do not come out smelling good in this story) and a terrible trio of criminals. Add to that extraordinary film noir visual effects. This is exemplary film noir. The framed-in, claustrophobic scenes actually made me short of breath. The scene on the boat at the end is classic, and probably the prototype for subsequent scenes in other movies and TV shows. It reminded me of the Sopranos episode where Tony & Co. killed Big Pussy. The robbers in their creepy masks were so interesting to study that I watched that part several times. It reminded me of Kabuki theater. A real box of candy for noir connoisseurs. I recommend it highly.

Good, But Tough To Live Up To That Opening

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 25 July 2007]

I liked this film but I got spoiled with the first 20-30 minutes. It started off so intense that I thought this was going to be fantastic: an incredibly edgy film noir. It still wound up good overall, but it never lived up to that great beginning.

The story slows down a bit once the scene shifts from the heist in Kansas City to the rendezvous of the bandits down in Mexico. It has as a full lulls here and there but still does enough things right to keep your interest.

What it does is right is emphasize two things that a good film noir provides: tension and paranoia. All the crooks are assembled in one spot but only the boss knows who the others are. They don't know what any of the gang members look like since all of the thieves had to wear masks throughout the planning and execution of the crime. However, since the boss hired them, he knows them all. Also, down in Mexico, the good guy in the film, "Joe Rolfe" (John Payne) is an impostor, pretending he's "Peter Harris," one of the crooks who got caught by the cops and knocked off just before heading south. Rolfe doesn't know, however, that the boss knows he's a phony. Payne's character got unfairly fingered in the robbery so he's down there trying to clear his name. All of this may sound complicated, but it isn't once you watch the film. Suffice to say it's interesting to see how all these guys slowly figure out who's who.

I thought "Tim Foster," played by Preston Foster, was the best character in the film, probably because he was right in the middle of everything. He was a bitter ex-cop and the brains behind the whole scheme, which could easily have been pulled off . He was just wasn't lucky, because he had a great plan.

One of the people he had to fool was his daughter, who surprises him down in Mexico and further complicates the situation. Colleen Gray plays "Helen Foster," but she doesn't really come into the story much until the last half hour. Her character did one implausible thing after another, things NO woman would do and softened the rough edges of this movie, which was a mistake. "Helen" wasn't even needed in this film. It would have been better as a straight male- only tough film noir.

Speaking of tough: how about this "Rogue's gallery:" Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef and Neville Brand? Now there are three good faces for this genre of film. They were the other gang members

There are a number of holes in this story, but you have to ignore them and go along for the ride which, for the most part, is a good one. It's recommended for all film noir buffs.

Nicotine Meets Noir

[dougdoepke · 17 June 2008]

What a burst of casting inspiration-- three premier baddies, Elam, Brand, and Van Cleef all together in the same film, menacing the heck out of a vengeful John Payne. Elam should have gotten extra pay since everybody and his brother knocks the skinny wild-eyed guy around. Actually, for awhile I thought the movie was one long cigarette commercial or at least a chain-smokers' revival meeting. Speaking of casting, Preston Foster really delivers in a sly role that runs the gamut from tough-talking mastermind to nice-guy fisherman, all in convincing fashion.

"Kansas City" is, I believe, the first and clearly the best of a number of "Confidential" films made during the mid-fifties. For example, note the unusually brutal cop interrogation of fall-guy Payne. Keep in mind, this was during a Cold War time when the TV mega-hit "Dragnet" was professionalizing law enforcement's image nation-wide. Here, however, we get quite a different picture that certainly goes beyond the norm of the day. In fact, director Karlson, like noir filmmaker Anthony Mann, built a reputation for emphasizing the raw nature of thuggish violence, at least as much as the censors would allow. And this is certainly one of the more graphically brutal films of the era.

All in all, it's a fine imaginative script, with a number of unconventional surprises. The robbery is cleverly plotted along with the get-away. I like the way the screenplay parcels out needed information instead of laying it all out at the beginning. That way, viewer interest is kept up since a new wrinkle might pop up at any moment. Even pretty girl Colleen Gray's part is nicely woven in at the end, after I thought she was just a romantic interest. I guess Dona Drake's role was a touch of local color or a favor to somebody since she adds nothing to the plot, but apparently her Mexican girl does sell more than just souvenirs.

There are echoes from this movie in such later caper films as The Killing, Plunder Road, and Mark Steven's underrated Timetable. Some might consider this a noir film since Payne is trapped by unseen forces through no fault of his own. Nonetheless, other traditional noir elements are noticeably absent, such as the angular shadows of expressionist lighting and the lack of a customary spider woman. But it doesn't really matter how the movie's categorized because it remains something of a sleeper with a number of genuine surprises.

A neat B noir

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 13 August 2007]

John Payne stars in "Kansas City Confidential," a 1952 noir also starring Preston Foster, Colleen Gray, Jack Elam, Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef. Payne is Joe Rolfe, a WW II vet who delivers flowers for a living. He finds himself accused of a spectacular robbery of $1.2 million because the thieves used a truck like his as their escape vehicle. With the help of a buddy, he finds out that a criminal has split town suddenly for Mexico, and he goes there to locate the man and hopefully clear his own name. What he doesn't realize is that there were four thieves, and all of them wore masks to shield their identities from one another. When the man he's tracking is killed, Joe assumes his identity and goes to the place where the other thieves are supposed to await further instructions from their boss.

Phil Karlson directed this good noir, which has an excellent cast that includes a favorite actress of mine, the lovely Coleen Gray as an ex-cop's daughter. She shows up at the locale to surprise her dad (Preston Foster), who is actually the mastermind of the heist.

Like any actor who worked for 20th Century Fox, John Payne had to be versatile, and he was. Here he plays a rough-around-the-edges war hero who has to survive among thieves by being tougher than they are. The the man known as "The Singing Tyrone Power" at Fox pulls it off. A handsome leading man, here Payne steps into John Garfield territory with ease. Elam, van Cleef and Brand are as mean and low-down as you can get, and the film gets quite violent at times.

The print I saw was very grainy; this wasn't a studio B movie but one made on the cheap, though the film was distributed by UA. However, it stands up very well next to other noirs of that era.

Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave....

[theowinthrop · 9/10 · 13 October 2005]

If you examine any major film or novel or play defects pop up. If the work is worth watching or reading you won't mind them - and if you are considering directing or producing a version of the written work you will find a way to overcome the defect. Most film noir plots do have defects in them. Given how he has romanced his late partner's wife, and how he knows that some of the police (like Barton MacLaine) would like to ruin him, in real life Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade would fully cooperate with the San Francisco police regarding Jerome Cowan's murder in THE MALTESE FALCON. Given the homicidal nature of Lawrence Tierney in BORN TO KILL, Walter Slezak would probably not try to blackmail him and Claire Trevor. In fact, he might find an excuse to drop Esther Howard as a client.

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL is a taught and exciting film noir at the tail end of the period when such films were being made. Preston Foster is the former head of detectives for the Kansas City Police, who was forced to leave his post because of a change in city political structures that he did not prepare for. He is bitter about this forced retirement, and so he creates a scheme to commit a major armed robbery of a bank, using three low-lifes (Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, and Nevil Brand) as his bandits. But he arranges for them to wear masks when they all meet (he is wearing one too) so that none of them know each other or him. They are given half a playing card as a key of mutual recognition when they are to reunite for the splitting of the money (some six months after the robbery, in a resort in Mexico).

Now, in real life the three convicts would (of course) be dying to know who their partners and boss were. I can't believe they would not make some effort to find out (compare this to Humphrey Bogart's clever way of tracing down Edward G. Robinson's phone number in THE AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE, to see what is more likely to occur). But as this film is going in a different direction, I am willing to suspend my disbelief and just accept that Elam, Van Cleef, and Brand - despite all being thoroughly dangerous and nasty customers - are willing to go along with this witless demand by Foster.

There have been comments made here (understandably) that Foster's attitude to John Payne, accidentally framed by the scheme as being the thief, are not consistent. Actually they are. Foster never intended for the three goons he used to split the money and get away with their shares. He was planning to spring a trap on them - as though he had solved the robbery himself - and so reclaim his job with the Kansas City police. Precisely how he would do this we never learn (presumably he would have somehow killed them before they could identify him by his voice). But his plot miscarries when he gets involved with Payne, seeking to clear himself. Suddenly, watching Payne's involvement (and realizing that Payne has been romancing his daughter (Colleen Gray) he is conscience-stricken. You see, framing Payne was never part of the scheme.

The scenes with Payne are among the best acting that performer ever made. John Payne, in the 1930s and 1940s, was mostly in comedies or in supporting parts, and in many musicals for 20th Century Fox. It was only in the aftermath of his best recalled role (the attorney for Edmund Gwenn in MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET) that he began appearing in off-beat noir regular films or noir westerns. It turned out he was a fully capable performer in negative (or quasi-negative) roles. Here he has the misfortune to be fingered by his ex-convict past, and his chance appearance as the driver of a similar florist van to the one used in the robbery. He gets the third degree from the police, before they find out his alibi is checking out. But the newspapers have plastered his face and history all over the place, so he loses his job and can't get another. He is only able to hang on and locate his first clue with an assist from an old friend who understands what he is going through.

The performance of Foster is good given the odd situation he faces of having set up a scheme to go from a to b to c to d, and finding it is thrown off kilter by something he never intended. I like the performances of Jack Elam, who has a serious drug problem (in the days that drug addiction was rarely discussed in movies - but notice how many "cigarettes" he's smoking, and how he is shaking), and of Lee Van Cleef, as a totally amoral criminal. Elam's death scene (he is unarmed, but by force of habit lunges for a gun that Payne has on his own person, and is shot by the police) is surprisingly sympathetic as he is crying and laughing as he dies. Van Cleef, smart enough to figure out that Payne is not who says he is, is as ready to kill Payne as he might be ready to kill his temporary ally Nevil Brand. Actually, Brand's performance (compared to the others) is not developed. Maybe part was cut. Colleen Gray is wonderfully controlled and sexy as Foster's daughter and Payne's love interest.

For a "B" feature, it gets remarkable strength - comparable to the original THE NARROW MARGIN. I give it a "9" out of a possible "10".

First 30 minutes unbelievably good

[filmalamosa · 7/10 · 25 October 2012]

An ex police chief organizes a bank robbery with 3 ex cons. John Payne is implicated by circumstance roughly treated by the police and released. He seeks revenge and tracks down one of the robbers in Mexico.

The first 30 minutes of this movie are fantastic and I believed I had stumbled on something unbelievably good but once the action moves to Mexico it begins to lull more and more--with just enough twists to keep your interest. The denouement is an anticlimax of sorts.

I agree with another reviewer...the robbers do nothing to conceal their identity in Mexico wearing flashy suits. In fact the whole Mexican hotel scene including the addition of the daughter is somewhat squirrelly. There seems to be an endless supply of small hand guns and fatal situations are defused in unbelievable ways.

I don't really care for John Payne, he looks too respectable and middle class for these roles--he looks like the president of the local Rotary Club--plus he is a slightly wooden actor.

RECOMMEND

"All right, so I'm flying blind, but I've got you as a bird dog."

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 30 September 2005]

Kansas City Confidential is one of my favorite noir films and films of John Payne. It's one you can watch over and over again and still be entertained.

John Payne is a ex-con who drives a florist truck and one of his usual stops is a delivery next door to a bank. Three masked robbers use the same kind of truck to pull off an armored car heist and Payne is suspected of complicity. It don't help he's an ex-con.

This robbery has been organized a fourth man and the beauty of his scheme is that the robbers all wear masks with him and with each other so that no one can rat anyone out. They're supposed to meet in a small Mexican fishing village for the split.

Payne is freed, but the Kansas City cops are still suspicious. He gets a lead on a possible participant and tracks him down to Mexico. And that's where the fun really starts.

The suspense in Kansas City Confidential is not about who did it. The three robbers are Neville Brand, Jack Elam, and Lee Van Cleef, three of the nastiest dudes in film history. The suspense lies whether Payne can put it all together. As he says to one of them, he's flying blind in this one. After all the men don't even know each other or Mr. Big. The viewer knows all, but I won't say more.

John Payne gives a riveting performance of a desperate man and one you don't leave holding the bag without consequences. This is one of the best noir films ever done, not to be missed.

Another good Payne/Karlson film

[frankfob · 6/10 · 10 March 2002]

Director Phil Karlson had an affinity for lean, tight, tough little crime thrillers ("99 River Street," "The Phenix City Story,") and he did several excellent ones with John Payne, this being one of their better collaborations. Payne is an ex-con trying to go straight who gets framed for committing a bank robbery, and by the time the cops (who come across in this picture as brutal, corrupt and somewhat stupid) find out he didn't do it, he's lost his job, he's broke and everything he's worked for since he got out of prison is ruined. Determined to find the men who did the robbery and framed him for it, he picks up their trail and follows them to Mexico. One of Karlson's strengths, apart from his hard-as-nails directing style, was in the way he cast his films, and here he has three of the nastiest bad guys who ever came down the pike: Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand and Jack Elam. A romantic subplot doesn't really work (they seldom do in Karlson's pictures) and tends to slow things down, but apart from that, this is a crackerjack thriller with a terrific performance from Payne, a solid one from Preston Foster and the usual fine villainy from Van Cleef, Brand and Elam. Check this one out.

A terrific vintage film noir

[jesse.cohen · 9/10 · 30 May 2000]

This is a suspenseful, atmospheric film noir that is well worth checking out. I'd only seen Payne in musicals, but here he has a real understated intensity as a World War II vet out to clear his name. (In looks and affect he bears a resemblance to Kevin Spacey.) Preston Foster and a young Lee Van Cleef fill out the nest-of-vipers cast nicely. The wordless opening sequence is especially well done.

John Payne in one of his grittier roles..;

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 28 September 2008]

JOHN PAYNE, like Dick Powell, began the earlier part of his career as the romantic leading man for Betty Grable, Alice Faye and June Haver in Fox backstage musicals--and like Powell, when he left his singing roles in that genre he branched out into tough guy crime films or westerns when he entered the free-lancing phase of his career.

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL is evidence that he succeeded in making that choice. It's a gritty crime film about a bank heist, an innocent victim (Payne), the mastermind behind the heist (PRESTON FOSTER), and the three hoods played by the ultimate screen villains LEE VAN CLEEF, JACK ELAM and NEVILLE BRAND.

The opening scenes are guaranteed to hook you into the story, as the three hoods are trapped by a clever masked man into doing his dirty work. Once Payne has been hauled in by the police for some tough questioning, the story keeps getting more involved and more ambiguous as it suggests that Payne may want a share of the money because of all the injustices forced upon him by the police.

COLEEN GRAY hasn't got much of a role but it's Payne's film all the way and he gets excellent support from everyone else. JACK ELAM takes quite a bit of physical punishment in some graphic displays of temper from Foster and Payne.

Tight, suspenseful and well worth viewing, it's my kind of film noir.

Exceptional Noir--a must-see for fans of the genre

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 7 February 2007]

This is an exceptional Film Noir movie that almost merits a score of 9--it's THAT good. Like good Noir, it features some of the ugliest and scariest actors and I applaud the producers for finding such a motley group! Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef and Neville Brand are definitely the ugliest and toughest looking heavies of the age and here they all work together on a heist. The movie also stars John Payne and Preston Foster. While these two guys weren't as hideous as the other three, they were both well past their handsome prime--hence they were great Noir characters! In addition, the film is bloody and violent--definite pluses for Noir. While this may sound like Noir films are super-violent, they were compared to the average picture of the day but pale in comparison to more recent films. I like them because they are so gritty and realistic in their blunt portrayal of crime. In this case, watching John Payne slap the snot out of Van Cleef is an amazing scene. As for the plot, it's amazingly complex and interesting. So good, in fact, that I don't want to talk about the heist--lest if ruin the suspense. Suffice to say, it's well worth seeing with great writing, acting and all the elements you are looking for in Noir. A must-see for lovers of the genre.

Crime drama being perfectly narrated and stunningly performed , concerning a sophisticated armored car heist

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 31 August 2020]

Classic , tough noir cinema with a terrific performance by a magnificent plethora of main and supporting actors .This vintage noir film results to be a tense , intriguing study of a robbery , it contains suspense , action , sharp-edged thrilling scenes , excellent interpretation and being slickly narrated in original way . A major heist goes off as planned , ¨Mister Big¨ launches a complex hold-up , gathering a gang (Lee Van Cleef , Neville Brand , Jack Elam) to pull it off and as a dis-gruntled ex-convict (John Payne) gets arrested for the crime on circumstancial evidence and subsequently framed . As the unfortunate , innocent ex-con attempting to go straight is accused for a million dollar armored car robbery . When he's ultimatelly released for lack of evidence, after having been worked-over by the police , he sets out to investigate who set him up , and the reason for it . He must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits . At the end bad luck and double crosses cause everything to unravel . The picture that hits with Bullet Force and Black Jack fury! .The true solution to his shocking crime still hasn't been entered on police records !! Exploding! Like a gun in your face! Every city wears a mask! This is the picture that goes behind that mask to bare the bullet-scarred face of a brutal underworld!....

This is a nail-biting study of a heist in which a distressed ex-convict is accused and when released he scours the underworld for the actual thieves ; dealing with the plotting and the gathering of a misfit band that sours , building hard-hitting action , suspense , intrigue , emotion in Crescendo for any unexpected surprises that might pop up . Plenty of excellent characterization with a motley group of roles , such as a web of hired thugs and a corrupt cop on the wrong side of the law and being tautly made , resulting one of the greatest crime movies of the Fifties . The picture is well paced with an electric current that never let up . John Payne gives a nice acting as a down-on-his-luck ex-G.I. finds himself framed for an armored car robbery . The movie has a perfect thematic unity in similar style other classic movies as ¨The killing¨ by Stanley Kubrick and ¨Jungle of asphalt¨by John Huston . This thrilling story is stunningly scripted in a splendid screenplay from George Bruce and Harry Essex , based on a story Harold R. Greene ; letting the audience in early on what the outcome will be and increasing in power as they scheme the path closer to their destination . A very realistic plot with ordinary people planning a suspenseful heist . The picture displays usual elements noir cinema like the fatalism and tragic fate ; loser characters , a magnificent black and white cinematography in lights and shades , among others . The main credit for this masterpiece must be shared among John Payne as as an ex-con and the extremely gorgeous Coleen Gray as his sweetheart . Furthermore , top-notch support cast , the cluster of magnificent players is formed by an awesome bunch of Hollywood's best secondary stars : Preston Foster as a mean ex-cop and especially the baddies , Jack Elam , Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef . And adding other adequate secondaries as Dona Drake , Mario Siletti, Howard Negley , and Carleton Young . The musical scoring by Paul Sawtell is atmospheric enough , being perfectly attuned . As well as brilliant black and white cinematography by George Diskant.

The motion picture was competently directed by Phil Karlson , here he realized a riveting piece of film-making , being frequentely imitated and remade no less than three times in different styles . Phil broke a new ground with this landmark movie , providing classic scenes and unforgettable dialogs .Karlson was just hitting his stride at about this time , into a ten-year period in which he made a series of movies that are still deemed his best work . He could make adventure movies or violent and noir films . As he directed Westerns as ¨Gunman's walk¨ , ¨They rode west¨, ¨Texas rangers¨, ¨Iroquois trail¨ and Gansters genre or Noir films as ¨Phoenix city story¨,¨Scarface mob¨ and ¨Kansas City Confidential¨ . These films sometimes exposing criminal activities and actual scandals , as they remain a slice of American cinema to be remembered . Failure alternated with hits through his career , though Karlson's direction was more than successful in ¨Walking tall¨ with invaluable help of Joe Don Baker . Rating : 7.5/10 .Above average , this is one of Phil Karlson 's best films , a model of his kind , definitely a must see if you are aficionado to Noir Film . A superb cast , relentless intrigue and fascinating thriller make this one of the best crime movies ever made . Rating : Above average and highly acclaimed film .

Would you buy a used car from these men?

[rmax304823 · 4/10 · 22 June 2006]

Preston Foster as the cop who wants his reputation and his job back is human enough, but as for the rest -- what a line-up of heavies. Neville Brand going chubby and coarse. Jack Elam of the chameleon eyes. And Lee Van Cleef, New Jersey's contribution to heavydom, along with Bruno Richard Hauptmann. And there's not an ounce of ambiguity or humanity among them. They're pure e-vil.

The film itself, while in no way evil, is unfortunately not so hot. Phil Karlson has left some unexpected gems among the dross -- "Phoenix City Story," "Walking Tall." But this isn't one of the gems. Aside from the limitations imposed on it by a small budget, this B movie lacks finesse. Every other shot is a gigantic looming closeup of somebody's sweaty, greedy face. It's pretty violent for a 1952 film though. During one of the many scuffles it appears that two of the guys get punched in the jewels.

John Payne isn't bad. He's just unremarkable, along the lines of, say, MacDonald Carey. You can't object to him because there's nothing really there to object to.

Colleen Gray has sparkling eyes and tiny red lips that can suddenly explode into a dazzling smile. Her chirpy voice moves in leaps and bounds. Often, when she says "going to" and "you", they come out as "gonna" and "ya". She's utterly charming. I don't care if she IS a lawyer, she's still winning.

The story is complicated, improbable, and full of holes. The script is no help whatever. A robbery takes place and Payne, who knows nothing about it, is interrogated by the police. They beat hell out of him for two days. Then, finding out that he was set up for a frame, they tell him they know he's innocent and let him go. Nevertheless, he's fired from his job. The first thing he does is run to an old buddy asking for help because "I've got to clear myself." Clear himself of what? He can't have much money because his job was driving a flower delivery truck, yet he spends a good deal of money tracking down the robbers, following them to a raffish Mexican town.

The transfer to the DVD I saw was lousy and maybe this has influenced my judgment of the film itself. It looked like it was a kine scope copy, filmed directly from a TV show. Someone else might like it more than I did. I didn't find it hateful, though, just unengaging.

Absorbing & Well-Crafted Crime Drama

[Snow Leopard · 12 October 2005]

This absorbing crime drama is also one of the most well-crafted movies of its genre. It tells its story with few frills, but with plenty of interesting details and a well-timed pace. John Payne gets one of his best roles, with a very good supporting cast. A strong sense of danger and uncertainty is built up early, and is effectively carried through the whole movie, right up to the end.

Payne is well-cast as an ex-convict who gets framed by a very clever criminal mastermind, and who then determines to seek out the truth. In itself, the setup is a familiar one, but "Kansas City Confidential" gets quite a lot out of it, and it is hardly predictable. The story moves from one hazardous situation to the next, with very little pause for relief, maintaining the tension constantly. Preston Foster is also very well-suited for his role as the ex-police captain, and the roles of the three lowlifes are well-acted by Neville Brand and young-looking Lee Van Cleef and Jack Elam.

The atmosphere and characters both work particularly well. The story has perhaps a couple of implausible turns, but in itself it is so carefully constructed that this really doesn't matter. Director Phil Karlson certainly deserves praise for putting things together so well. Very few B-movies are this well-conceived, and as a result it still holds up very well.

The almost perfect crime

[jcholguin · 7/10 · 3 August 2001]

Timothy Foster, forced into retirement as a cop. But the years of experience of catching criminals that made mistakes which lead to their being caught has given Foster a perfect plan for an "1,200,000" heist. His crew always wears masks so no one "except for Foster" knows the identity of anyone. Go to different parts of the world and no one spending the "hot" money until each of the four members divide the money are planned by Foster. Find a "patsy" Joe Rolfe played by John Payne, an ex-con that drives a flower truck, but have a duplicate flower truck for the real heist and let the police follow and arrest Rolfe thereby allowing the criminals time to leave the city. All time schedules timed to the minute of the armored car. Everything works to perfection but one thing that Foster did not figure on, Rolfe setting out to track down the real criminals and clear himself. This leads to Mexico. Another thing Foster cannot predict is the his own daughter falling in love with Rolfe. Is this enough to ruin the perfect plan? Watch and find out and you will be surprised by the ending.

A film noir with an unusual premise

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 19 June 2023]

An anonymous masked "Mr. Big" summons three crooks, separately, to a hotel room. He asks each of them if they would like one-fourth of a 1.2 million dollar bank robbery haul. They answer in the affirmative. He gives them each a mask to use during the robbery. He will be the only one who knows the identity of everybody, that way nobody has a chance to backstab any of the others. They pull off the heist, in part, by using a truck that says "Western Florist" right after an actual "Western Florist" truck has pulled up in front of the bank and made a delivery at a flower shop next to the bank. This was by design by Mr. Big who had been casing the bank and knew that the Western Florist truck stopped there every day at the same time.

The gang's decoy/frame up works, and the police nab florist truck driver Joe Rolfe and discover he's an ex con. He's been going straight and trying to keep his head down, but now the cops think he did the robbery and they rough him up numerous times trying to get him to confess. Then they find the actual truck used in the robbery and the cop who has been roughing Joe up seems really disappointed that he can't beat him up some more and use the excuse that is in service of the law. Joe is free, but he has lost his job because of the bad publicity, and would be radioactive to any employer because of the headlines screaming that he was the robber. He finds out who one of the robbers probably was through connections that he has, and sets out on a path of revenge on the guys who ruined his life, although exactly what his revenge will be is unclear.

This is a great film noir with lots of complications and plot twists. The still enforced production code would require that the guilty be punished, but how exactly, given the set of weird circumstances that I shall not reveal? This is part of the suspense. The casting was excellent with granite faced Preston Foster as Mr. Big and Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef, and Neville Brand as his accomplices looking like they were formed in the womb just to play villains in a noir. I'd highly recommend this one.

Excellent tough low budget heist flick.

[secretrivals · 7/10 · 26 February 2005]

While I can see why some people might not like this movie (low production values) I found myself very impressed. Right off the bat you know this is a no nonsense crime film. The heist in the picture is well plotted and believable. It's got more in common with ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW than it does GRAND SLAM.

What I liked about the story was that the person set up to be victimized is not just some ordinary guy but an almost equally hard nosed crook. Of course the robbers are unaware of this when they set up their master plan and it proves to be a major thorn in their side.

Also, I found the dialog (especially in the beginning) to be very high tension and raw. I've read comments it was cheesy but c'mon! The film was made in 1952...and is consistent with other films of the genre made in the same period, except here it much more violent and heavy.

And last, a great cast of actors makes the film even better. These guys talk tough and back it up. There's a great scene where one of the crooks gets slapped around similar to Cobby in ASPHALT JUNGLE, except this one looked like it hurt.

If you're like me and you like to watch movies about bankrobberies and heists you'd better check this one out.

"Oh I found that people rarely look like what they are."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 13 May 2012]

Virtually every review I've read here uses the term 'noir' to describe this film, but I don't think it makes that cut. The picture's not bleak enough, and most of the story takes place in Mexico, so the ambiance is more on hot and sweaty instead of your usual dark and foggy atmospherics. Certainly Coleen Gray is no femme fatale here, that role might better have gone to Dona Drake if she wasn't so busy selling eleven dollar baubles to bedazzled vacationers.

That's not to say it doesn't hold one's interest as a pretty gripping crime and caper film. The plot twist derives from the disgruntled ex-police chief Foster (Preston Foster) who masterminds a bank heist in order to redeem himself and potentially get his old job back. The business with the masks seemed a clever idea, but for me the whole scheme fell apart in Borados. Think about it - with a pre-arranged destination for the criminals and virtually no one else around at the hotel, how would the bad guys NOT be able to figure out who each other was? So I had to let that slide in order for the rest of the picture to work for me.

Now if I had to go out and cast the three best mugs for a TV or movie Western back in the Fifties, there's no doubt I'd call on Jack Elam, Lee Van Van Cleef and Neville Brand. That's why it was so darned entertaining to see them all here in a non-Western venue engaged in their typical nastiness. It's too bad Elam's character didn't make it to Borados though, but then John Payne wouldn't have had the ruse he needed to proceed on his own personal undercover assignment. Speaking of which, for a floral company delivery driver who just got canned, how did he manage the resources to travel to and stay in a Mexican hotel? Just wondering.

Anyway, when the dust finally settles, Foster/Foster manages to redeem himself without being fingered for his role in the armored truck heist, and Joe Rolfe (Payne) winds up with the ex-chief's daughter, having almost blown it earlier with that restless gun of his. My best takeaway from the film however is a line the real Pete Harris had down in Tijuana to Joe outside the gambling house - "You been givin' me the fish eye all night." Can you imagine that coming from Jack Elam?

Exploding! ~ Like A Gun In Your Face!

[strong-122-478885 · 7/10 · 16 August 2014]

Favorite Movie Quote: "Hey, Tony - I know a sure-fire cure for a bloody nose - An ice-cold knife, right in the back!"

Brutal. Hard-edged. Unflinching.

1952's Kansas City Confidential (KCC, for short) is Film Noir at its absolute best. Like a keg of TNT going off, KCC's story features plenty of bare-knuckle violence that's sure to please any fan of the genre.

In this super-tough Action/Drama, actor John Payne is perfectly cast as ex-con, Joe Rolf.

Trying to go straight, Rolf soon finds himself set up as a patsy after an armoured car robbery of 1.2 million dollars takes place in broad daylight by 4 masked thugs who make their get-away, quick and clean.

Picked up on suspicion by Kansas City police, Rolf is grilled mercilessly for a confession and even beaten till he can hardly stand on his own two feet. But Rolf is too tough to crack, especially since he had no part in the crime.

Released from jail and soon on the lam, Rolf, taking on the identity of a dead hood named Pete Harris, heads down to Mexico on a lead, in hopes of tracking down the true villains who set him up and, thus, prove his own innocence.

KCC is great entertainment. This is the very film that inspired director Quentin Tarantino for his picture Reservoir Dogs.

Even though Roger Moore is credited as being part of KCC's cast, I can't recall seeing him in the film. And I've watched this movie, now, 4 times.

Misfortunes, Bitterness & Revenge

[seymourblack-1 · 8/10 · 20 August 2011]

"Kansas City Confidential" is a superior crime drama with a good story, interesting characters and plenty of action. It features a considerable amount of bitterness, violence and deep rooted cynicism and is presented in a style which is well paced and realistic. Its atmosphere is predictably grim, tense and threatening and almost everyone involved in the story is either completely evil or at best, morally compromised.

At the centre of the story are two men who have suffered harsh treatment which has created in them an incredible amount of bitterness and a powerful need for revenge. Ironically they are brought into conflict with each other when one responds to his predicament by attempting to carry out the perfect crime and in so doing sets the other up as the fall guy.

Ex-police captain Tim Foster (Preston Foster) plans an armoured car robbery and recruits three criminals to assist in carrying out the heist. The robbery is to take place in front of the Southwest Bank in Kansas City and during the meticulous planning process, Foster had observed that the bank's armoured vehicle and the neighbouring florist's delivery truck always leave the area at precisely the same time everyday. Using a truck which is identical to the florist's, the gang carry out the robbery and after leaving the scene, drive their vehicle into a trailer and successfully make their escape.

Prior to the robbery, Foster had recruited each of his accomplices separately and on each occasion had worn a mask. During the robbery, each man had also worn a mask and kept it on all the time that they were in contact with each other. This ensured that none of the criminals could subsequently identify anyone else in the gang including Foster. The proceeds of the crime were in excess of $1,000,000 and after each man had taken a small amount of money, it was agreed that they would meet up after the dust had settled to split up the rest of the loot.

Very soon after the robbery, the driver of the florist's truck, Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is arrested by the police who interrogate him and beat him up repeatedly before releasing him when the phony florist's truck is finally discovered. Rolfe reacts to his experience by tracking down the gang as they gather in a Mexican resort to share out their money.

After taking on the identity of one of the gang members who'd been killed by the police, a number of complications then develop which make Rolfe's pursuit of a share of the stolen money much more difficult than he's originally anticipated. Helen (Coleen Gray), the attractive young lawyer that he'd met at the resort turns out to be the daughter of the gang's "Mr Big" who it becomes clear is actually planning to betray his fellow gang members so that he can pocket the reward money that's being offered for the recovery of the stolen cash.

Considering the age of this movie, it's surprising just how much brutality it contains and also how it portrays the actions of the police. The cops who interrogate Rolfe are depicted as a bunch of sadists who have no interest in justice or fairness and are only concerned with extracting a confession from their suspect in any way that they can. Rolfe suffers a number of savage beatings at their hands and then later goes on to beat up two of the gang members at different times before getting beaten up again by the third criminal.

Joe Rolfe was a highly decorated war veteran who found that a purple heart had no value in civilian life and who'd also served a short prison sentence after having had some trouble with a gambling debt. The resentment he felt about these experiences then became even deeper after he found that he'd been framed for a crime that he didn't commit, unjustly beaten up by the police and then unfairly fired from his job at the florist's. Similarly, Tim Foster had also become embittered as a result of having been unjustly forced to retire from his job as a police captain.

The strong performances provided by John Payne and Preston Foster provide an important contribution to the success of this movie and the supporting cast (especially Boyd Kane, Lee Van Cleef and Jack Elam) are also terrific in their roles.

South of the border showdown.

[st-shot · 7/10 · 26 December 2020]

Bitter ex-cop Tim Foster (Preston Foster) wants to get even and what's coming to him devises a plan to rob a bank with a violent crew recruited under duress to pull it off. Using a flower delivery man Joe Rolfe (John Payne) as a fall guy he heads for south of the border to meet up with his gang for the split. Accused, abused and released by the cops, ex GI, ex con Rolfe makes some contacts to seek out his tormentor. He is soon off to Tijuana to make contact with the band of thugs and the mastermind who remains a mystery to all concerned.

KC Confidential's rogue list (Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand, Jack Elam) is top tier with Foster's Foster a stern, avuncular but disguised gang leader bringing cohesion to the group of ferals with blackmail. Protagonist Payne displays the proper amount of righteous indignation along the way but believability surrounding the masquerade begins to stretch as Rolfe closes in. It is redeemed however in the closing moments with Rolfe's "beau geste" regarding Foster. With its two cynically seasoned leads and triad of sadistic stoics, Confidential offers up some solid pulp.

Unlucky Joe And The Torn In Half Kings.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 11 August 2011]

Kansas City Confidential (AKA: The Secret Four) is directed by Phil Karlson and written by George Bruce and Harry Essex. It stars John Payne, Preston Foster, Coleen Gray, Neville Brand, Jack Elam and Lee Van Cleef. Music is by Paul Sawtell and cinematography by George E. Diskant. Plot sees four robbers hold up an armoured truck and get away with over a million dollars. Sadly for everyday and ordinary Joe Rolfe (Payne), he's set up and accused of being involved in the robbery. But he wont go down without a fight, and promptly calls upon his dark half to seek out the actual culprits himself.

"In the police annals of Kansas City are written lurid chapters concerning the exploits of criminals apprehended and brought to punishment. But it is the purpose of this picture to expose the amazing operations of a man who conceived and executed a "perfect" crime, the true solution of which is "not" entered in "any" case history, and could well be entitled "Kansas City Confidential".

Produced by Edward Small, Kansas City Confidential is believed to be the only film released out of Small's own Associated Players and Producers studio. Still, if you are going to only have one film on your studio résumé, you have to be thankful that it's a little cracker. More "B" movie grit than film noir flecked nastiness, Karlson's movie is lean, mean and structured with knowing skill by the director. From the tremendous tension fuelled opening of the heist planning and execution, through to the deadly payoff at the finale, film is awash with knuckle slappings, shifting identities and the turning of the protagonist's psychological make up. Were it not for one of "those" endings, and the telegraphing of optimism slightly shunting the pessimistic atmosphere out of the headlights, this would undoubtedly be far more revered and better known in film noir/crime movie circles.

First thing to note of worth is the cast assembled for the picture. Payne was already leaving behind his formative acting years in family fare like Miracle On 34th Street and Footlight Serenade, reinventing himself as a dramatic actor in films such as The Crooked Way. He's a perfect fit for Joe Rolfe, an ex-con war veteran down on his luck, he has his every man qualities pummelled out of him by the police, so much so he has to turn bad to prove that he's good. The change is believable in Payne's hands, his face that of normality in the beginning, but latterly icy cold and untrustworthy. A trio of "B" movie stalwarts make up the thugs gallery, Jack Elam is sweaty and worm like, Lee Van Cleef is snake faced and pulsing bad attitude, while Neville Brand exudes borderline psychotic menace. Unfortunately Preston Foster as the "boss" man is not altogether convincing, but in a film where characters are not always what they seem, this doesn't hurt the film.

Coleen Gray shows a nice pair of legs for the boys, but with Karlson not bothered about fleshing out the romantic and flirting aspects of her relationship with Payne, she exists only as a secondary cog between Payne and Foster's characters. This is no femme fatale character, sadly, no sir. Music is standard fare and Diskant's photography only fleetingly shows some noir flourishes. However, with two fists full of grit from which to punch, and some boldness in the narrative involving police brutality, Kansas City Confidential comes out as one of the better "B" ranked crime movies of the 50's. 8/10

Kansas City Confidently

[daniewhite-1 · 7/10 · 16 April 2020]

The first half of 'Kansas City Confidential' is amongst the best of the noir cycle with style and verve and intelligent writing but the second half becomes less convincing and less compelling until dissipating into a necessary "happy ending".

The lead, played by John Payne is usually convincing as an ordinary Joe, who has however been round the block and been to war indeed, but has however, been thrown into the deep end as an inadvertant patsy for a criminal plot and a suspect for the brutal police and press. Physically he knows how to handle a roughing up and he's almost as good at giving it as he is at taking it. However, for me, the performance is limited in more emotive and tense scenes and particularly in an utterly unconvincing romantic plot.

Here also the main female character is oddly unrealistic and determined to function as a plot conceit for both Payne's character story and the criminal gang leader which is asking a lot of a thinly characterised part: Lawyer and willful pretty much sums her character up in its entirety.

The direction maintains a great first 40 minutes and throughout 'Confidential' physical violence is well staged and shot, in an unusually uncomfortable way for a 50's film. This is especially true of police brutality scenes early in the picture.

Scenes are well composed with close up shots of characters and props adding style to narrative.

It's interesting to see a film lead by an average Joe who has been the incidental fall guy of a criminal plot and the desperation of his state is well put across: he's broke, jobless and with a bad reputation, none of which are necessarily his fault but that's the play he's been dealt.

It's also interesting to see such a lowly assessment of the police and police officers as we follow the tale from the beginning with the crooks then via Payne's characters experience and finally the showdown with the crime boss.

I wish that the latter parts of 'Confidential' were as vital and forceful as the earlier scenes and less contrived, and dramatically constrained by convention, as they build to a pretty predictable and relatively straightforward climax.

The first half I rate a genuine 9/10 but the second half just a normal 6/10; overall my rating is a strong 7/10 and a personal recommendation to all Noir fans to find the best copy available and watch 'Confidential'!

Van Cleef and Elam the Watchables Here

[verbusen · 5/10 · 14 November 2005]

This movie garners really high votes from Noir lovers but I find it a mediocre segment. The summary provided by jcholguin is dead on as to what happens, so I wont rehash the premise. I found the film good till about the middle (actually before the half way point), than it gets really tiresome fast. The "caper is about 10% at most of the film so for me that was a bummer and thats why so many memorable noir films, the ones we all remember, use the "caper" throughout the film so we can see if it gets pulled off. Here the main point is the lead clearing his already crappy name, big deal. If he was a real bad character maybe thats entertaining but he isn't, he's a nice guy with a bad past. The movie really goes downhill as the only colorful character is exited from the film, that being Elam's character. His lazy eye just fits so well with a guy you don't want to cross because you know he could do anything, but sadly he disappear's about half way through. Van Cleef is another guy who I have interest in watching and in this one he is about as mousy as you can get, he is of no threat like he was in the spaghetti westerns later on, so another major disappointment. The babe is hot but not hot enough to elevate this past mediocre status and the ending is a really "tie up all nicely in that pretty paper" type that will have you yearning to re-watch something like The Killing or The Red Circle. 5 of 10 for Elam and Van Cleef sightings and cause it's noir so it's better than other stuff to watch.