murder him. McClure is dependent upon a hearing aid. Fante and Mingo dismantle it and machine gun McClure in pantomime silence, unable to hear his pleas for mercy. At police headquarters, Brown shows up with a writ of habeas corpus, effectively preventing Alicia testifying against her husband. Brown also takes a big stash of "money" to Fante and Mingo while they are hiding out from the police, but the box turns out to contain a bomb that apparently kills both of them. Brown shoots Diamond's partner, Sam, and kidnaps Susan, planning to fly away to safety. However, Mingo survived the assassination attempt by Brown, and he confesses to Diamond that Brown was behind all the murders while sobbing over the body of his cohort. Alicia is able to help Diamond figure out that Brown took Susan to a private airport where he intends to board his getaway plane. However, Brown's plane does not show up and the film climaxes in a foggy hangar shootout. Susan shines the fog lamp from Brown's car in his eyes, effectively blinding him, allowing Diamond to arrest him. The last scene shows the silhouetted figures of Diamond and Susan in the fog, considered to be one of the iconic images of film noir. Cast Cornel Wilde as Police Lt. Leonard Diamond Richard Conte as Mr. Brown Brian Donlevy as Joe McClure Jean Wallace as Susan Lowell Robert Middleton as Police Capt. Peterson Lee Van Cleef as Fante Earl Holliman as Mingo Helen Walker as Alicia Brown Jay Adler as Sam Hill John Hoyt as Nils Dreyer Ted de Corsia as Ralph Bettini Helene Stanton as Rita Roy Gordon as Audubon Whit Bissell as Doctor (scenes deleted) (as Whit Bissel) Steve Michaell as Bennie Smith – Boxer Baynes Barron as Young Detective James McCallion as Frank – Technician Tony Michaels as Photo Technician Brian O'Hara as Attorney Malloy Bruce Sharpe Detective Michael Mark as Fred – Hotel Clerk Philip Van Zandt as Mr. Jones (scenes deleted) Donna Drew as Miss Hartleby Production The film was initially called The Hoodlum based on a story by Philip Yordan. It was originally going to be directed by Hugo Fregonese for producer Milton Sperling. Sperling tried to cast Spencer Tracy for the lead. The script was reportedly in great demand with Yordan apparently turning down offers of $75,000. Eventually the film was a co production between Theodora, the production company