PUSHOVER

PLOT SUMMARY

Detective Paul Sheridan is a long-time and well-respected member of the police department. When Harry Wheeler pulls a bank heist with a partner, he kills a policeman and makes off with $210,000. The two crooks get away clean, but there is one lead. Lt. Carl Eckstrom assigns Sheridan to the team doing round-the-clock surveillance on Lona Lane, a known associate of Wheeler's.

Lona Lane is a knockout, and Sheridan falls for her. He concocts a scheme that he thinks will get him the dame and the dough.

But things begin to go wrong for him. The other members of the surveillance team, no dummies, get a hunch that something doesn't add up — though they don't suspect Sheridan. Then Sheridan finds that Paddy Dolan, a beat cop, has fallen off the wagon. Sheridan knows, through Lona, that Wheeler is on the way to meet her. He and Dolan wait outside the apartment building. They pick up Wheeler and take him to his car, where the sack of money lies in the trunk. As Dolan opens the trunk, Sheridan plugs Wheeler in the back and kills him. He claims Wheeler jumped him.

Sheridan again assures the dubious Dolan he'll keep the liquor lapse a secret, and sends him back to staking out the apartment. Sheridan moves the car to an out-of-the-way location, figuring to come back for the money. Later, after using Lona to draw his partner away from the room where they watch Lona's apartment, he leaves himself. Moving the car again, he drops Wheeler's body where it will be found and returns the car to its hiding place. Wheeler's body is found the next day and Lt. Eckstrom figures his partner offed him to get the money. Eckstrom steps up surveillance, which is a problem for Sheridan.

Another problem soon arises when Sheridan rejoins Dolan in his squad car. Dolan has figured out that Sheridan plans to grab the dough from the bank. Ever the honest cop, he confronts Sheridan and says he will blow the whistle. Dolan draws his gun, they struggle, and Dolan takes a bullet in the gut. He too is dead, and another puzzle for Lt. Eckstrom.

Still another problem is that Ann Stewart, the nurse in the apartment next to Lona's, spots him leaving Lona's apartment. She doesn't recognize him, but tells his partner McAllister, whom she's just met. Later, She meets Sheridan again in the hallway and startles. Sheridan, quickly returning to his post, watches her call the department. He collects her and Lona and marches them down the stairs at gunpoint, in a final bid for the loot. Can he duck the massive police presence?

Capsule review: This is a solid though not exceptional crime film from the black-and-white era. Well-plotted and well-acted, it is very much worth watching.