Tight, driven little piece of "film noir" with MacMurray as a good cop driven to distraction (and murder) by the ganster moll (Novak, in her film debut) he's been assigned to spy on. Malone fills in for a charming bit as the girl-next-door who MacMurray's sidekick falls for (she should have been allowed to steal the movie from the inadequate Novak, as well). Typically, a mistake is made by the criminals, and they WILL pay for it, but they're having fun along the way. <br /><br />Some confusion in the script seems to have resulted in Novak's character turning sympathetic (to the audience) towards the end, sounding a disingenuous note (this kind of thing always smacks of studio interference when it concerns a new "star"). Still, good solid bit of film.