Outside the Law

Jack Arnold directed this subpar Universal-International movie, a Ray Danton vehicle of one-dimensional characters and flat, boring story elements.

The culprit is screenwriter Danny Arnold (no relation). Right through to the corny, blah ending, his work is quite poor, hardly indicative of hi great success later in TV producing and creating hits "That Girl" and "Barney Miller".

Danton plays an ex-con and WW II vet chosen by his estranged father to become an undercover government agent to help break up an international counterfeiting ring. He glides effortlessly through the role, while Arnold's iconic hero (of "Incredible Shrinking Man") Grant Williams sleepwalks through a cast-against-type assignment as chief heavy. The uneasy re0lationship between Danton and his dad Onslow Stevens is central to the story but comes across as completely artificial. Leigh Snowden is the pretty but overly "nice" heroine, as Danny's script fails to give her character an edge or any possibility of being a femme fatale.

It adds up to being a forgettable, boring programmer.

The noirish theme of the returning G. I. is perpetuated in this film made as late as 1956, more than a decade after most had returned from the War. In this case, Ray Danton plays an Army Staff Sergeant who has been called back from Europe to help the U. S. Treasury crack a counterfeiting case which has been plaguing them for 15 years. Danton had been permitted to join the Army as a condition of his parole, having been imprisoned for a minor offence when younger. He has done well in the army, been promoted, won a medal, was wounded, the whole lot. He is now offered the chance to have his "slate wiped clean" for his earlier crime by cooperating in solving the case. The head of the enquiry team in Washington is his own father! They are severely estranged and tensions run high between them. The reason why Danton is considered important is that he knew a member of the counterfeiting gang who was recently murdered. He is asked to call on that man's widow (played by Leigh Snowden) and see if he can glean any information on the gang. It turns out that Snowden had only known her husband for three months before he left for Europe and is ignorant of his criminal activities. But she is jealously watched by another member of the gang. Things get violent very fast. Will our hero survive? Will he fall in love with the pretty widow? Can the villains be traced? And can the case be solved? The film is competently done and all is eventually revealed.

Shortly after the story begins, a soldier is shot and killed by his so-called 'friends'. Only moments before, he was talking with another soldier, Johnny Salvo (Ray Danton). Well, soon Johnny is offered a chance to work with government in order to try to not only solve the murder but stop a counterfeiting ring....the same 'friends' that killed the soldier. What incentive are they offering for Johnny's help? Well, he joined the army because he was offered a choice...the army or prison! Apparently, Johnny's an ex-con...and if he helps, he'll have his entire criminal record released. The case is complicated when Johnny falls in love with the widow...and you have no idea if she's part of this gang or not.

Ray Danton is hardly a household name today, but he was a good actor...and a very handsome one at that. This film shows that he COULD do a great job despite being a B or C-list actor...and he is very good here. The story also is interesting and kept my interest. Well worth seeing.

It's a very conventional thriller with a lot of technical intricacies about details in investigating counterfeit money, but there is a girl involved who is wholly agreeable, knowing nothing of the racket in which her husband was involved before getting murdered, while his colleague has some past sins to make up for, being on parole, and getting his chance when he is offered the possibility to make a clean slate of his records if he helps sorting out his colleague's being mixed up with advanced gangsters. It so happens that he is offered this opportunity by his father, who is a police, and the most interesting part of the film is their relationship. The father looks constantly worried and concerned about his son, who resents the whole business and wants to pull out because of some previous disagreement with his father, which we never learn anything about. He reminds very much of Dean Martin but without any humour, which this film is entirely without. It is interesting though, there is a grand finale with fisticuffs and shootouts, and Onslow Stevens as the father makes a great performance which couldn't be more convincing.

Army parolee Johnny Salvo (Ray Danton) is offered a chance to "wipe his slate clean" and regain his citizenship rights if he agrees to help the Secret Service investigate the suspicious death and activities of another Army parolee while in Berlin. It's a dicey situation because he'll be under the supervision of his own father, whom he deeply resents, and the investigation leads to an international counterfeiting ring who'll stop at nothing, including murder, to protect their operation. With his life in danger, Johnny falls for the attractive widow in the case who may or may not be part of the criminal gang. Charming but sinister gang boss (Grant Williams) is determined to get Johnny out of the picture. Suspenseful and absorbing drama as the complicated operation is gradually uncovered will keep viewers engaged.