Directed by Robert Siodmak. Written by Anthony Veiller, based on a story by Ernest Hemingway

Jim Reardon

• This isn't a two-for-a-nickel shooting. Two professional killers show up in a small town and put the blast on a filling station attendant. A nobody. There was no attempted robbery. They were out for only one thing. To kill him. Why?

• [to Dum Dum] You don't know what the Swede did with the money or you wouldn't be here tearing his room to pieces. But maybe you do know things that put together with the things I know will tell me where the money is.

• [to Dum Dum, about Kitty] I think she knows where the money is...The Swede and some girl checked into an Atlantic City hotel the night of the holdup. Two days later, the girl took a powder. I've got an idea the dough went with her.

• It was Kitty Collins and not the Swede that reaped the golden harvest...When the gang met to divvy up after the robbery, the Swede pulled a fast one and walked off with the whole take...That same night, he and Kitty were together in Atlantic City. She walked out on him a couple of days later. The money disappeared when she did.

• [to Kitty] As soon as you could break away, you left him flat. I'd like to have known the old Kitty Collins. You were in the clear because no one knew you'd been with the Swede. You had nothing to fear from anyone. Too bad it had to catch up with you now.

• [to Colfax] He (Dum Dum) said Kitty brought him word at midnight about the changed meeting place. The half-way house didn't burn down 'till nearly three in the morning. That meant Kitty had a partner. And who could it be but you.

Sam Lubinsky

• You're through...That hand will never be good again - not for fighting...It's a lucky thing. You aren't punchy yet. Now suppose it was your brains were scrambled instead of your hand.

• She was always in love with him...and I was always in love with her. It worked out fine for me, anyway.

Charleston

• For nearly two years, we weren't never more than eight and a half feet apart. That's how big the cell was.

• You see that bright star in the center...brightest star in all the heavens. Only it's so far away, it don't seem like it.

• A girl don't write. That don't mean she's sick like you might think. Not necessarily.

• If it's as big as you claim, it's not gonna be any easy pickings. Nothin' that big ever is.

• Stop listening to those golden harps, Swede. They can land you into a lot of trouble.

'Blinky' Franklin

• If that guy don't call by 10:30, we better get started anyway. Yeah, each one steal his own heap [car]...I never was in a hat factory before... Gimme two cards. I'll take three. If this rain keeps us, they'll be mud up to the axles on them hick roads. How many miles of dirt road is it to the half-way house? I don't like anything about capers in the rain. Rain always gives me the creeps. I hate rain.

• Step on it, can't you get any more out of it than this? Looks like a good clean getaway. That's too bad you had to shoot that guy at the gate...Did it look like 200 G's to you? Most money I ever saw at once. Wonder if the others are plannin' the same luck we are. They should be - they got away before we did. I guess the Swede made it all right. I seen him running for his heap and nobody was between him and it. Sure, he got away. Keep your eyes peeled for Polk Road. It's a left turn there, yeah. A left on Polk Road. We oughta be there in another five minutes. Hello, farmer.

Big Jim Colfax

• The job comes first. But afterwards, we'll have business together.

• If there's one thing I hate, it's a double-crossing dame...the Swede never had a chance, did he? Any one of the gang that ran onto him would have been sure to knock him off. You might say Kitty Collins signed his death warrant.

• If you do run onto her, let me know, will ya? After you're through with her, I'd like to have a word or two with Kitty myself. We got some unfinished business.

Kitty Collins

• I hadn't seen him for a long time, but the minute I laid eyes on him, I knew. He was always looking at me. And it doesn't sound like very much, but he always carried a handkerchief I'd given him...I hated my life, only I wasn't strong enough to get away from it. All I could do was dream of some big payoff that would let me quit the whole racket. The Swede was my chance to make my dream come true. If I could only be alone with him for a few hours. But Colfax was always there. I thought it was hopeless. Then suddenly, my chance came.

• Colfax sent me to tell the others what had happened and that they would meet at the farmer's instead. I went to Blinky Franklin first, and then to Dum Dum. I saved the Swede 'till last. It was nearly two in the morning when I got there.

Others

• Swede Andersen: Nobody can cheat me and get away with it.

• Nick Adams: He wasn't a bad sort of fella...easy enough to get along with.

• Lilly: Right then, I knew the boat had sailed and poor Ole had fallen in love with dynamite.

Dialogue

Al: [after learning that the dinner menu is unavailable until 6] Everything we want's on the dinner. That the way you work it, huh? What do you do here nights?

Max: They eat the dinner. They all come here and eat the big dinner.

Manager: That's right.

Al: You're a pretty bright boy, aren't ya??

Manager: Sure.

Max: I'll tell ya what's gonna happen. We're gonna kill the Swede. You know big Swede that works over at that filling station?

Manager: You mean Pete Lunn?

Max: If that's what he calls himself. Comes in every night at six o'clock, don't he?

Manager: Yes, if he comes.

Al: We know all about that.

Manager: What are ya gonna kill him for? What did Pete Lunn ever do to you?

Max: He never had a chance to do anything to us. He never even seen us.

Al: He's only gonna see us once.

Manager: What are ya gonna kill him for?

Max: We're killin' him for a friend.

Swede: There's nothin' I can do about it.

Nick: I could tell you what they look like.

Swede: I don't want to know what they're like. Thanks for comin'.

Nick: Don't you want me to go and see the police?

Swede: No. That wouldn't do any good.

Nick: Isn't there something I could do?

Swede: There ain't anything to do.

Nick: Couldn't you get out of town?

Swede: No. I'm through with all that runnin' around.

Nick: Why do they wanna kill ya?

Swede: I did something wrong - once. Thanks for comin'.

Reardon: Good morning, Stella.

Stella: Good morning, dream boy.

Swede: Do you like the fights?

Kitty: I'm afraid I've never seen one.

Swede: No kiddin'.

Kitty: I hate brutality, Mr. Andersen. The idea of two men beating each other to a pulp makes me ill.

Lilly: I saw all Swede's fights.

Kitty: How wonderful of you! I could never bear to see a man I really cared for being hurt. [Kitty is called away, and slinks off]

Swede: She's beautiful.

Swede: You know what harps mean?

Charleston: Angels play 'em.

Swede: They mean Ireland. That's why they call them Mick's harps. Kitty's Irish. She give me this.

Kitty: [To Big Jim] What'sa matter with you?...You're nervous. You're all in a sweat.

Colfax: You keep your mouth shut if you don't want it slapped shut. You've been askin' for it lately.

Swede: Hey!

Colfax: Any objections?

Swede: Yeah.

Dum Dum: Keep out of this, Swede. She's his girl.

Kitty: Mind your own business, Swede. I can take care of myself. [To Big Jim] You touch me and you won't live 'till morning.

Blinky: He shouldn't have hit you...

Doctor: Beats me. I don't know what keeps him going.

Reardon: Will he be able to talk anymore?

Doctor: He's dead now, except he's breathing.

Swede: Swell idea you guys had. Leave me holdin' the bag at the half-way house while you split up the dough, huh?...

Colfax: The half-way house burnt down last night. That's why we came here.

Swede: Somebody ought to have let me know.

Colfax: You were told, you're here.

Swede: Next time, play it straight.

Kitty: I thought you didn't like the Green Cat.

Reardon: Only when I'm not expected.

Kitty: Can you put me away, Mr. Reardon?

Reardon: Blinky Franklin made a deathbed statement under oath. There's no stronger testimony. And there's a chambermaid in an Atlantic City hotel that has a memory for faces. Well?

Kitty: Oh, there's no use kidding myself. I'd do anything you wanted. Give you every penny I could lay my hands on.

Reardon: How many pennies is that?

Kitty: Well, I might be able to raise $65, $70 thousand at the most.

Reardon: Not enough.

Kitty: That's all I could possibly get together. I'm not stalling, Mr. Reardon, not now. I know when I'm beaten. I'm fighting for my life, not Kitty Collins' life, but mine. I have a home now and a husband. I've got a life worth fighting for, and there's nothing in this world I wouldn't do to keep it just the way it is.

Reardon: Well, we might still be able to do business if you put a prize in with the CrackerJack.

Kitty: What do you mean?

Reardon: I wanna fall guy when it's over.

Kitty: Who would that be?

Reardon: Colfax.

Kitty: Even the old Kitty Collins never sang, Mr. Reardon.

Kitty: I'm taking my life in my hands coming to you like this, but I just couldn't stand by, not after what you did for me that time in Philly.

Swede: Forget that. Why are you here now?

Kitty: Colfax thinks I'm on my way to New York. He's meeting me there tomorrow. But I just had to come to you, Swede, and tell you.

Swede: Tell me what?

Kitty: They're planning to double-cross you.

Swede: Who is?

Kitty: Colfax and the others. They don't intend for you ever to get a smell of the money from tomorrow's job.

Swede: How do you know that?

Kitty: Colfax sprung it tonight on Dum Dum and Blinky right after you left. First, he called you names and said dirty things about you. And then he sprung it. What if they were not to go to the half-way house after the robbery? You'd go there, but they'd be someplace else, and so would the money.

Swede: What did Blinky and Dum Dum say?

Kitty: They fell right in with the idea.

Swede: Where are they gonna meet?

Kitty: The farmhouse north of town on Polk Road, eleven miles out on the turnpike. Colfax hates you, Swede, so much so that Blinky and Dum Dum have caught it from him and they hate you too.

Swede: Thanks for putting me wise, Kitty.

Kitty: What are you gonna do? Swede - what are you gonna do?

Swede: I'm gonna do them like they mean to do me.

Kitty: Promise me one thing. You won't give me away. If Colfax ever found out what I did...

Swede: Don't you worry.

Kitty: You know why Colfax hates you? Because of me. He's no fool. He sees what's happened.

Swede: Why did you ever go back to him, Kitty?

Kitty: Maybe because I hate him. I'm poison, Swede, to myself and everybody around me. I'd be afraid to go with anyone I love for the harm I'd do them. I don't care harming him.

Swede: [He pulls Kitty into his arms] You're not meetin' him tomorrow.

Kitty: All right, Swede. [They embrace and kiss passionately]

Colfax: I guess our luck's run out, Kitty. [To Reardon] You didn't have anything on her before now, did ya?

Reardon: No, but I had to make you think so. And I was sure you'd try to knock me off before I could find out Kitty was your wife.

Colfax: You knew that too, huh?

Reardon: Married people can't testify against each other. Otherwise, I would have tried playing you off one against each other, instead of making myself a target for those gunmen of yours...

Lubinsky: What I don't get is, why you sent those two killers to blast the Swede? He wasn't doing ya any harm there in Brentwood. Why didn't ya let well enough alone?

Colfax: I couldn't. Suppose one of the gang ran into him, same as I did. They were after the money, if he had a chance to tell his story, and that would've been the end of it. They knew Kitty and I were married and they've seen through the frame-up. Anyhow, if I hadn't had him knocked off, he would've wondered why, and begun thinking.

Kitty: Jim! Jim!! Tell 'em I didn't know anything. Jim, listen to me. You can save me. Jim, do ya hear me? Tell them I didn't know those gunmen were coming. Say, 'Kitty is innocent. I swear, Kitty is innocent.' Say it, Jim, say it! It'll save me if you do.

Lubinsky: Don't ask a dyin' man to lie his soul into hell.

Kitty: 'Kitty is innocent. I swear, Kitty is innocent.'

Reardon: It's no use, Kitty. Your would-be fall guy is dead.

Kitty: Come back, Jim, tell them. Come back! SAVE ME! Jim! 'Kitty is innocent! I swear! Kitty is innocent! Kitty is innocent! I swear, Kitty is innocent! Kitty is innocent!'

Kenyon: And the Swede never knew his girl had gone straight back to Colfax with all the money. As for the others, they had no idea she'd ever been away from Colfax...And Colfax framed the whole thing, just so he wouldn't have to split the take.

Reardon: The double-cross to end all double-crosses!

Taglines

• Every kiss carved his name on another bullet.

• TENSE! TAUT! TERRFIFIC! told the untamed Hemingway way!

Cast

• Burt Lancaster - 'Swede' Andersen
• Ava Gardner - Kitty Collins
• Edmond O'Brien - Jim Reardon
• Albert Dekker - Big Jim Colfax
• Sam Levene - Lt. Sam Lubinsky
• Vince Barnett - Charleston
• Virginia Christine - Lilly Harmon Lubinsky
• Jack Lambert - 'Dum Dum' Clarke
• Donald MacBride - R.S. Kenyon
• Charles McGraw - Al
• William Conrad - Max
• Phil Brown - Nick Adams
• Jeff Corey - 'Blinky' Franklin