seymourblack-1 "Split Second" is a punchy, powerful and hardboiled hostage drama that belies its B-movie status by being well-directed, well-written and perfectly paced. The constant danger that the hostages are in contributes to the threatening atmosphere of the piece and it becomes even more tense as the deadline for the detonation of an atomic bomb approaches. Nicholas Musuraca's exceptional black and white photography is very effective and the whole drama comes to a really shocking and spectacular climax.Newspaperman Larry Fleming (Keith Andes) is at an Army camp in the Nevada desert preparing to report on an atomic bomb test when he's suddenly reassigned to another story. Two guards had been killed when a couple of convicts, Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally) and Bart Moore (Paul Kelly) had broken out of Carson City prison. On his journey to Carson City, Larry stops at a diner where he meets blonde nightclub singer Dottie Vale (Jan Sterling) who's on her way to Reno. He agrees to give her a lift and shortly after beginning their journey, the couple are waved down by Sam Hurley who holds them at gunpoint and demands that he and the people with him be taken to the desert ghost town called "Lost Hope City" where he plans to hide out for a short period before going on to meet another gang member and share out $500,000 in stolen cash.Before he'd confronted Larry, Sam and seriously-injured Bart had met up with fellow gang-member Dummy (Frank de Kova) and after killing the proprietor of a filling station, hijacked the car in which doctor's wife Kay Garven (Alexis Smith) and her boyfriend Arthur Ashton (Robert Paige) were travelling. Their journey, however, had come to an unexpected end when they ran out of gas. When the group arrive at their destination, the hostages are confined to one of the buildings to await the arrival of Dr Neal Garven (Richard Egan) who Larry had earlier phoned to come and attend to Bart.The ghost town is located close to the nuclear test area and the group are aware that the bomb is due to be detonated at 6.00am on the following day. A talkative local prospector called Asa Tremaine (Arthur Hunnicutt) arrives unexpectedly and is also held hostage by Sam and Dummy. Sam then kills one of his captives before the arrival of Dr Garven who, after operating on Bart, says that it won't be safe to move him for at least another day. The tension builds as it's discovered that the fuel tank in Larry's car is leaking and the sound of a siren warns that the time for the bomb to be exploded has been brought forward by an hour.Stephen McNally is convincingly dominant as decorated war veteran Sam whose attitude to killing was, no doubt, influenced by his wartime experiences and the other members of the cast also do well with Alexis Smith and Jan Sterling providing the best performances. Alexis Smith, as the unfaithful wife of Dr Garven exemplifies most strongly, the overriding air of desperation that prevails amongst the entire group during the tense hostage situation. She's sophisticated and snooty and regards Dottie as her inferior. This is remarkable as Kay has no integrity or decency and will do absolutely anything to save her own skin (including giving herself to the killer who's holding her captive). Dottie, on the other hand, shows considerably more character when she's propositioned by Sam. Richard Egan, as the doctor, is quietly courageous as he puts himself in great danger to help a patient and to try to save Kay's life, even though he doesn't want her back.

mrb1980 Most movies about villains holding hostages are like "Dial 1119", in which the police surround the subject building and try to negotiate with the kidnappers. Here, there are no police officers even close to the hostage scene--but everybody's in the blast zone of a planned nuclear test! Ultra-bad guy and prison escapee Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally, who played about the best bad guy in movie history), his accomplice Bart Moore (Paul Kelly) and mute henchman Dummy (Frank DeKova) kidnap several innocent people and hole up in a desert ghost town. Moore is wounded, so physician Neal Garven (Richard Egan) is summoned to tend to Bart. Grizzled prospector Asa Tremaine (Arthur Hunnicutt--who else?) blunders into the situation. All are held hostage while Garven operates on Moore...all the time, everyone knows that a nuclear test is scheduled in just a few short hours.Dummy is overcome and beaten up, just as Hurley, Kelly, and their moll take off in a car, trying to outrun the blast. Well, they don't make it...and end up satisfyingly incinerated by the blast. Tremaine leads the former hostages to an abandoned mine, where the group rides out the bomb detonation.I've always liked any movie that stars Richard Egan (although he plays a supporting character here), and Arthur Hunnicutt is worth the price of admission in his signature role as an old miner. Look fast for Nelson Leigh as a scientist in a control room. Dick Powell directs with a sure hand in his directing debut, and confines most of the story to one claustrophobic room in the abandoned town. Catch this film if you get a chance--the plot is familiar, but the cast and story twist concerning the nuclear test makes it all worthwhile.

Roger Burke As the credits rolled across the opening scene, I lost interest in the words as I tried to figure out what I was looking at: a high angle shot of a shimmering expanse that looked like slick, crazy paving, and with muted, keyed lighting spilling down the screen centre, almost like a searchlight. I blinked more than once, trying to focus properly, and then saw the two, long, moving shadows that eventually resolved to the silhouettes of two men running towards me, on what now showed itself to be the cracked and parched desert earth. As they disappeared off camera, I knew those men were running for their lives...From that superb opener, the rest of this story unfolds with relentless fury as the two – escapees from a penitentiary – join a third, with an escape car, and set off to retrieve a cache of cash from a secret location. The convicts are Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally, in one his best roles), Bart Moore (Paul Kelly) with a bullet in his stomach, acquired in the break-out, and Dummy (Frank De Kova) who only says what he wants with a gun.The three stop for gas where Hurley quickly displays his psychopathology when he casually kills the attendant who resists; Hurley's action is almost like swatting a fly. They wait then for their next victim – because the cops are looking for three escaped cons, and they want to cover their tracks.A large limo pulls in for gas, and the cons force their way into the car where Kay Garven (Alexis Smith) and Arthur Ashton (Robert Paige) are in the throes of a love affair that, from the intro between the two a few scenes earlier, appears to be going sour. So, the whole party continues under Hurley's surly orders and direction. That is, until they run out of gas – something Kay forgot to tell Hurley, much to his displeasure. So, they sit at the road side, and wait for another useful victim...And that soon arrives in the form of Larry Fleming (Keith Andes), a well known news reporter and Dottie Vale (Jan Sterling), an attractive blonde down on her luck and just hitching a ride with Larry. So, when they stop to help Kay who was acting as bait, Hurley once again steps in to step on Larry's plans this time. Good job Larry had a much bigger car – a station wagon that can accommodate all seven of them.Hurley then tells Larry to drive to a ghost town in the desert where he will link up with another con with another vehicle, due late that night. But first, he has to get Bart fixed up, get that bullet out with the help of Dr Garven (Richard Egan), Kay's estranged husband. Hurley calls the doctor on a phone and tells him he'll kill Kay if he fails to come and fix Bart...The last piece of the setup falls into place when Larry tells Hurley that the ghost town is only a mile from ground zero: a nuclear test is due for detonation at 6 the next morning. Hurley doesn't care: he's got plenty of time, he thinks. Unknown to all of them, however, that time is changed to 5 a.m. to take advantage of the good weather.With that all in place, the action is then contained on a single stage for the next hour, as the clock ticks down to zero hour and as Hurley waits to get Bart fixed. Later, old Asa Tremaine (Arthur Hunnicutt) turns up to provide pivotal support for the other hostages, and almost steals the show, for my money.Director Powell – one of my favorite film-noir actors – does an excellent job as a first-timer behind the camera: well done interlaced editing as the separate stories are shown and eventually come together at the ghost town; appropriate black and white photography; and a well constructed claustrophobic mise-en-scene in the ramshackle bar in the ghost town – reminiscent of that rundown hotel in Key Largo (1948) as the hurricane approaches. Add to that the standard footage showing the preparations to detonate an atom bomb, and the viewer is set for a taut nail-biter.McNally surpasses all in this film and delivers some of the best lines, along with Jan Sterling. Paul Kelly is very effective as Hurley's older friend – but one who begins to question Hurley's judgment. And Frank De Kova is chillingly dangerous, at all times. Alexis Smith is the quintessential, low-life femme fatale, who makes the fatal error of hitching a ride with Hurley. Keith Andes is credible but somewhat wooden, to be kind, but does show the spunk of heroes when danger beckons. Arthur Hunnicutt is, as usual, the consummate old-timer of the desert – and has the means to save the hostages from nuclear annihilation. Lucky for them.There're a number of themes, of course: greed, loyalty, and courage being the obvious ones. It's the interaction between Hurley and Bart Moore, however, that's fascinating: Hurley, a psychologically damaged WW2 veteran who can't stop killing but who recognizes something he needs in Bart's presence, almost like a brother. Or, was it just the money? It's a B movie, for sure, but it's one of the best I've seen. Recommended for all film noir fans.

kidboots Dick Powell's directorial debut is a tense little thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally) is a prison escapee, who, along with a couple of his mates (including Paul Kelly as a wounded prisoner) manage to capture a few people and hold them hostage in an abandoned ghost town. Unfortunately the ghost town has been targeted as a nuclear testing site with an explosion due for 6 Am the following morning.Alexis Smith (she kept getting better with each movie) plays Kay Garven who is on her way to Reno with boyfriend in tow (Robert Paige from Deanna Durbin's film "Can't Help Singing"). She is going to divorce her husband (Richard Egan). They are accosted at a service station by McNally and his gang and are forced to drive to the ghost town. Unfortunately they run out of petrol. As Smith says "Did you think I was stopping at the gas station to buy perfume. I had been planning to buy petrol!!!".So they are forced to way-lay another car. Larry Fleming (Keith Andes) is a reporter going to Canon City to cover the prison breakout and Dotti (Jan Sterling) was stranded at the petrol station and was offered a lift.When they arrive at the ghost town the film turns into a tense psychological thriller as people's true characters are revealed. Alexis Smith is great as Kay Garven a completely self centred woman who will stop at nothing to save herself.Stephen McNally did play good guys but he was at his best playing pretty despicable characters ie., "Johnny Belinda". Jan Sterling plays Dotti, the obligatory tough girl with a heart of gold.They know that the explosion is due for 6 AM the following morning ...what they don't know is that it has been put forward an hour.Richard Egan plays Dr. Neal Garven, who makes a trip by plane and car to save the wounded escapee's life. That part is completely unbelievable - how would he have found his way out to that ghost town at 2 in the morning and how would he have got through the barricades??? The ending is exciting and laughable at the same time - completely in keeping with the times when nuclear fallout was not considered life threatening.