User reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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, 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.

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.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

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.

A mystery man stakes out the delivery schedule at a Kansas City bank. He recruits Pete Harris (Jack Elam), lady's man Boyd Kane (Neville Brand) and cop killer Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef). He makes everyone wear a mask and keep their identities a secret. The four masked men rob an armored truck of $1.2 million and frame flower delivery truck driver Joe Rolfe (John Payne) by using a replica of his truck. The mystery man sends the other three to other countries to wait for the final payout. Flower truck driver Joe is quickly arrested and his past hounds him during the police interrogation. He gets fired from his job. After he is finally released, he tracks down Pete Harris to find the rest and exact revenge.

It's a hard-boiled crime drama. There are a couple of questionable turns. I'm willing to buy that the three robbers would wait for their money especially since the guy is pointing a gun at them. I'm less willing to buy that the mastermind would ever fulfill his obligations especially since none of the other three men can identify him. The plot is a bit too convenient and it has a few holes in its logic. It does have some nice noir style. It's got good violence and abrupt brutality.

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

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.