The Trap (1959)

An attorney (Richard Widmark) for the mob returns to the small desert town of his birth to ask a favor of his estranged father (Carl Benton Reid), the local sheriff. A mobster (Lee J. Cobb) wanted by the FBI is arriving and wants to use the town's airstrip to take a plane out of the country. The father reluctantly agrees but his other son (Earl Holliman) wants the $15,000 reward instead. What follows, to put it mildly, is a disaster of epic proportions. It's always a treat to discover some unsung piece of film and this taut tightly put together thriller exceeded my expectations. Well, actually I didn't have any expectations but I just wasn't expecting anything this good. I don't want to oversing its praises. It's not an undiscovered gem, just a good solid piece of movie making. The director Norman Panama is normally associated with Danny Kaye comedies (though he did the underrated ABOVE AND BEYOND) but he really keeps the wheels turning here, leaving very little flab. With Tina Louise as Holliman's unsatisfied wife and Lorne Greene.