Contains Spoilers ***** 5 Steps to Danger opens with John (Sterling Hayden) being towed into a repair shop, where he meets Ann (Ruth Roman). They quickly decide to ride together to Santa Fe, but the trip gets more and more odd when they meet up with some of Ann's old friends along the along the way. After a few of these strange meetings, John realizes he's caught up in something bigger and more dangerous than he planned... Keep an eye out for Werner Klemperer -- here, he's Doctor Simmons, but we all know him from Hogans Heroes! The story moves along all right, lots of talking, and we're never really sure who is on the level and who is not. Hayden made tons of films in the 1950s, but this wasn't really one of the better ones. His acting was just fine, but the script is a little weak. Would two people who had just met about two days before get married, when one of them may or may not be in their right mind, caught up in some cold war, spy mystery, and on the run, not knowing where they are heading ?? I don't think so....(I know, it was part of their strategy to thwart her doctor.) Hayden has an interesting biography; acc to IMDb, he had been a spy himself, and actually had contact with communists in Yugoslavia, (which he admitted during the HUAC talks) so he himself had experience with the cold war. Some neat outdoor photography as they drive through the deserts and past the Joshua Trees and cactus. Screenplay, production, and direction by Henry Kesler, who had mostly done TV, and this is one of the few films he did. Original story written by Don Hamilton, who knew a thing or two about spies ... he had written the 26 Matt Helm novels, which were later made into TV movies and series. Hamilton even lived in Santa Fe for quite a while, which is where this film is set.