Kansas City Confidential (1952)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Phil Karlson

Writers:

Rowland Brown (story)
George Bruce (writer)

Release Date:

28 November 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Tagline:

Exploding! Like a gun in your face!

Plot:

An ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits.

Plot Keywords:

Armored Car | Florist | Heist | Armored Car Robbery | Crooked Cop

Cast

John Payne	...	Joe Rolfe / Peter Harris
Coleen Gray	...	Helen Foster / Punkin
Preston Foster	...	Tim Foster
Neville Brand	...	Boyd Kane
Lee Van Cleef	...	Tony Romano
Jack Elam	...	Peter Harris / Johnson
Dona Drake	...	Teresa
Mario Siletti	...	Tomaso
Howard Negley	...	Scott Andrews
Carleton Young	...	Asst. Dist. Atty. Martin
Don Orlando	...	Diaz (Tijuana cabbie)
Ted Ryan	...	Morelli

Also Known As:

The Secret Four (UK)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Finland:(Banned) (1953) | Finland:K-16 (cut: 1955) | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating: 2008) | Sweden:15

Company:

Associated Players & Producers

Trivia:

Veteran actor Preston Foster plays a character whose last name is also Foster.

Quotes:

Tim Foster: What's everybody so gloomy about?
Tomaso: The weather, Senor, she's so uncertain!
Tim Foster: Up in the States they're having blizzards!
Tomaso: Ah, if something like that would only happen here, but nothing but sunshine and people catching fish. If just once a fish would catch a man!
Tim Foster: That's possible, Tomaso. It all depends on the bait.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "M*A*S*H: The Gun (#4.13)" (1975)

The almost perfect crime

Timothy Foster, forced into retirement as a cop. But the years of experience of catching criminals that made mistakes which lead to their being caught has given Foster a perfect plan for an "1,200,000" heist. His crew always wears masks so no one "except for Foster" knows the identity of anyone. Go to different parts of the world and no one spending the "hot" money until each of the four members divide the money are planned by Foster. Find a "patsy" Joe Rolfe played by John Payne, an ex-con that drives a flower truck, but have a duplicate flower truck for the real heist and let the police follow and arrest Rolfe thereby allowing the criminals time to leave the city. All time schedules timed to the minute of the armored car. Everything works to perfection but one thing that Foster did not figure on, Rolfe setting out to track down the real criminals and clear himself. This leads to Mexico. Another thing Foster cannot predict is the his own daughter falling in love with Rolfe. Is this enough to ruin the perfect plan? Watch and find out and you will be surprised by the ending.