Phil Regal (Anthony Quinn), a tough racketeer, pulls strings to get his pregnant unmarried sister Rosalie's punk boyfriend, Nicky, out of a death penalty sentence for killing Barricks, so that they can get married. Later, after Rosalie loses the baby and Phil learns that Nicky is cheating on her, the gangster arranges for Nicky to be framed for a murder. Nicky threatens to expose how Phil got Nicky out of the first murder rap. Nicky is executed for the murder. Phil dies while trying to escape the police.
When the film was released, The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, panned the film, writing, "The whole spectacle is dismal and uninspiring. The only cheerful thing that occurs is that the sister and wife, played by Anne Bancroft, falls in love with and marries a newspaper man."[2] The Buffalo Evening News praised Quinn, Bancroft, and Granger for their acting, but was critical overall: "If there were not a ribbon of ludicrousness running through its violence and brutality-laden scenes, one could call it vicious."[3]TV Guide rated it 3/5 stars and called it a "solid, fast-paced crime tale".[4]
Farley Granger wrote in his autobiography that he thought the movie was "preachy, trite, and pedestrian," although he welcomed the opportunity to work with Anthony Quinn and Anne Bancroft.[5]
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