A down-on-his-luck Mitchum is bribed to go to Mexico where he meets an assortment of characters, including a menacing Raymond Burr.
According to TMC, studio honcho Howard Hughes was greatly impressed by Vincent Price and insisted that his part be expanded. It was, in spades, resulting unfortunately in two movies in one. The first half is pretty fair noir with the two icons Mitchum and Russell traipsing around a sound-stage Mexico.
The second half, however, is little short of a mess, due to Price who appears to have been ordered onto the wrong set with the wrong script. Somehow, Russell has dropped out of sight, and in her place we get a Shakespeare spouting slice of ham, Price, who I guess is supposed to be funny. The intercutting between Mitchum being tortured and Price doing slapstick is almost like sticking the Three Stooges into the middle of a Nazi interrogation. If this is supposed to be clever satire of movie heroics, as some apologists claim, then I wish I could stop cringing.
It might be interesting to know what the screenwriters originally had in mind (apparently, there were six of them, probably four doing re-writes to please kingpin Hughes). But the result is near incoherence and the waste of a noir icon and an Amazon princess. More damningly, it's the best argument I've seen in awhile for keeping the suits in their offices and as far from the set as possible.