Johnny Stool Pigeon

Treasury agent George Morton (Howard Duff) convinces a prisoner he knew as a kid (Dan Duryea) to help him go undercover in "Johnny Stool Pigeon" from 1949.

Along the way, they meet Shelley Winters, who works in a mob club, and she becomes involved in their scheme. The three of them wind up at a Tucson dude ranch run by John McIntire as they attempt to uncover a heroin smuggling operation going through Nogales.

Duryea and Duff share a mutual dislike. The question is, will Duryea reveal to the mobsters that Duff is a cop? Meanwhile, a mute mob associate (Tony Curtis) recognizes Duff from somewhere, but he doesn't seem to be able to put it together.

Pretty routine story with good acting, directed by William Castle, told in the sem-documentary style that was popular for movies involving the government in the '40s.

The striking thing about this film to me was how incredibly young these actors were! Shelley Winters was slender and pretty, Duff was trim and handsome, and Curtis was positively adorable. This was his third film; he came to the attention of audiences when he danced with Yvonne DeCarlo in Criss Cross. Easy to see why. I'm prejudiced. I used to work for him.