KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL (1952) (***1/2)

Phil Karlson made B-movies from the 1940s through the 1970s. He's probably best known for the Elvis Presley flick KID GALAHAD and 1973's original WALKING TALL. His 1955 THE PHENIX CITY STORY was like many moralizing message movies of the era, but distinguished itself with its unflinching realistic violence. KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL, a wronged man tale, is credited as inspiring RESERVOIR DOGS.

Joe Rolfe (John Payne, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET) was studying to be an engineer when a gambling debt got him a stint in the pen. Now he's driving a flower delivery truck to get his life on track. In a streak of bad luck, he gets set up as a patsy in a bank robbery. Without a job and 20 years hanging over his head, he sets out to locate the thieves and get his share anyway.

The robbery was set up by Tim Foster (Preston Foster, I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG) with an ingenious twist. He finds three desperate criminals and purposes a foolproof plan. They all wear masks around each other, so only the big guy knows everyone. This way it lessens the chances of any one person ratting out the others if they get caught. Pete Harris (Jack Elam, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST) is a twitchy fellow who's on the lam for murder. Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY) is a slick operator with a weak spot for the ladies. Boyd Kane (Neville Brand, STALAG 17) is the silent deadly type. The plan is to lay low until the heat is off and then meet up to cut the loot.

Joe gets one lead and follows it to Tijuana. He will have to face off with all four crooks that are not afraid to use violence to keep their share. But the cops are on their tail. And making matters worse, Joe falls for the persistent law student Helen (Coleen Gray, RED RIVER), who is also the daughter of a former police officer.

The crime thriller dialogue is straight out of a detective yarn. It has tones of film noir, but Joe's innocence and the ending don't hold to the conventions of that genre. Karlson, who reworked the script with star Payne, plots a tense twisting tale that provides nice revelations, which deepen the stakes, along the way.

Payne is a likable actor, who is good looking but not too good looking, which is perfect for crime tales. During his interrogation by the cops, he does an excellent job of capturing our sympathy, which is key to use staying behind him on his quest to get the rewards of a crime he wasn't involved with but might as well be as long everyone believes he's guilty anyway. Gray comes along about midway, but adds the right note. She's a do-gooder and Joe is her latest cause. He in turn doesn't want to get her wrapped up with the violent criminals. But she isn't deterred. Gotta love a gal like that.

Nice premise and nice performances make this crime tale stand out. With its witty dialogue, one can see why Quentin Tarantino took to it. It's sad how a 1950s B-movie like this one has such a crafty and tightly told script when nowadays many scripts for A-list blockbusters can't even be found under all the visual effects.