Whoa - Richard Conte plays a REAL louse with no redeeming qualities whatsoever in "Under the Gun" from 1951, also starring Audrey Totter and featuring John McIntire, Sam Jaffe, and Shepperd Strudwick.
Conte plays mobster Bert Galvin, who, while in Miami, hears the lovely Ruth Williams sing. He wants her to sing in one of his clubs in New York. At first she refuses but finally relents.
One night, they are eating dinner, and a man enters the kitchen through the back door. Galvin is warned - this man is obviously an enemy. When the man walks out, Galvin shoots him, while Ruth watches in horror. Galvin goes to prison and his attorney (Strudwick) puts the screws to Ruth to lie and say it was self defense.
However, once on the witness stand, Ruth doesn't lie. Galvin is then sent to a prison farm. He soon learns that each work team has a custodian with a gun. If the custodian kills someone trying to escape, he gets a pardon. We see Galvin's game plan immediately.
Since the current custodian is giving him such a hard time, Galvin feeds a story about hidden money to a prisoner. When he takes off, he's shot, and the custodian gets a pardon. Galvin volunteers to be the next custodian. Now for that pardon. He has some unfinished business with a singer.
Conte is great as a ruthless, amoral man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Sam Jaffe is wonderful as a fellow prisoner, Samuel Gower, who is full of plans for when he gets out. John McIntire plays the sherriff, who knows what trouble Galvin is.
Very absorbing, and you just can't believe what a rat Conte plays.
