Império do Terror

Director Richard Fleischer was responsible for two of the best of the low-budget '50s cops-n-robbers flicks, both notable for starring Charles McGraw, one of the great movie bad guys, as a tough detective. One, "The Narrow Margin," is quite well known; this is the other one, and while not as well known, it certainly should be. The story is about a vicious gang of robbers, headed by a murderous psychopath (William Talman, who seemed to have a corner on that market in the '50s), pulls off an armored car robbery that goes awry. Detective McGraw is out to track down the gang. The film is a textbook example of the best of the B movie--swiftly paced, tightly edited, with a good story and a cast of veteran character actors that work together like a well-oiled machine. Some clever plot twists and startling (for the time) violence make this one a keeper. Very highly recommended.