The Walking Target
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Edward L. Cahn
Joan Evans
Ronald Foster
Merry Anders
Harp Mcguire
Robert Christopher
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After serving his five-year sentence for robbery, Nick Harbin is released but watched carefully by police detective Max Brodney, who believes Nick will lead him to the robbery's unrecovered $260,000. Also waiting outside the jail are Al Kramer, a journalist hoping for a scoop, and Susan Mallory, Nick's former girl friend. Although Nick is dismissive of Susie, who never visited him in jail, he soon accepts her excuses and drives with her to the country house he bought for her years earlier. There, their old friend Dave Prince is waiting, and urges Nick to plan another theft. Dave and Susie are unsympathetic to Nick's desire for relaxation and peace, but when he explodes in his trademark anger, Dave agrees to leave. In actuality, Dave and Susie are lovers plotting to manipulate Nick into revealing the location of the money so they can sell the information to corrupt businessman Arnie Hoffman. To this end, Susie attempts to seduce Nick, but he is distracted by memories of the people whose lives were destroyed by the robbery, including his dead best friend, Sammy Russo, and Sammy's wife Gail. Nick tells Susie, to her horror, that he plans to give Sammy's share of the money to Gail. Just then, Max knocks on the door to let Nick know that he has trailed them and is watching everything they do. After he leaves, Susie presses Nick to send her to retrieve the money, but he asks her to leave, and when they open the door, Al's photographer snaps a picture for the newspaper. The next morning, Dave discovers that Nick has left town and, furious, slaps Susie. Max has followed Nick's car but Nick evades him in the town stockyards and heads to Sammy's old garage. There, a vagrant named Packy informs Nick that Gail has moved back to her hometown, and hands Nick a photograph of Sammy. Gazing at the picture, Nick recalls the days leading up to the robbery: Nick convinces a nervous, reluctant Sammy, who needs enough money to buy his own garage and support Gail, to join him in the bank robbery. Nick secretly loves Gail and is hurt by her distrust of him, but thinks nothing of using her car as the getaway vehicle. With another man, Jerry, the two friends carry out Nick's plan, but when Jerry is shot by a guard, Nick and Sammy must flee the police. Back at the garage, they hide the cash in a hollow compartment underneath the car, welding it in securely. Back in the present, Nick returns to the country house, where he catches Dave and Susie in an embrace. When Nick restrains himself from beating Dave, Dave pulls a gun and forces him to Hoffman's house. Just as they are about to leave, however, Max knocks on the door. After they sneak out the back, Max breaks in and, finding them gone, begins a pursuit. At Hoffman's, the businessman offers Nick a deal, cutting out Dave, and although Nick appears to agree, he soon attacks Dave and Hoffman's henchman, grabs the gun and flees. He drives off in Dave's car, barely eluding Max. The police continue to track Nick, but he switches the car's license plate to dodge their tail and heads to Gold City, Arizona, Gail's hometown. Gail, who runs her father's diner, wants only to be able to live down her connection to the infamous robbery. When Nick arrives and, hoping to make amends, reveals that the money is hidden in her car, she assumes he wants only the cash and reminds him of how Sammy died: Wracked with guilt over the robbery and Jerry's death, Sammy goes for a walk, and upon being stopped by a police car, is shot while running away. Nick explains that in jail he spent five years dreaming of her and trying to better himself, and when he offers her all of the money, she realizes he is sincere. Meanwhile, Dave bullies Susie into recalling the name of Gail's hometown, and when she does, he sets off to Arizona with Hoffman and his henchman. Nick and Gail retrieve the money, and although he covets it briefly, her disgust convinces him to turn it in to the police. Thrilled, Gail kisses Nick and agrees to try to start over with him. They return to the diner to discover Dave and Hoffman have tied up the handyman, Lank. As Hoffman threatens to mutilate Gail unless Nick gives them the money, Lank struggles out of his binds and shouts. The henchman shoots Lank and punches Nick, but just then, Max and his deputy appear. In the ensuing shootout, the henchman and the deputy are killed and Max is wounded, and when Dave turns to kill Max, Nick jumps Dave. Hoffman grabs the henchman's gun but Max holds him at gunpoint. Nick breaks a bottle and is about to attack Hoffman, but at he urging of Gail and Max, controls his murderous impulse. Nick then informs the weakened Max of the money's location, and with Max to vouch for him, can now begin his new life with Gail.
Director
Edward L. Cahn
Cast
Joan Evans
Ronald Foster
Merry Anders
Harp Mcguire
Robert Christopher
Berry Kroeger
Bill Couch
Norm Alden
James Callahan
George Sawaya
William Fawcett
Charles Seel
Robert Brubaker
J. Edward Mckinley
Barbara Mansell
Burt Wenland
Jack Kenney
Harvey Parry
James Parnell
Guy Wilkerson
Madge Cleveland
Ralph Barnard
Crew
Al Bird
James Blakeley
Einar Bourman
Robert Carlisle
Max Frankel
Samuel C. Freedle
Maury Gertsman
Buzz Gibson
Herbert S. Greene
Morris Hoffman
Stephen Kandel
Robert E. Kent
Serge Krizman
Madison Lacy
Fred Lau
Sabine Manella
Jack Murton
Paul Sawtell
Leonard J. Shapiro
Burt Shefter
Joseph Small
Frances Sperry
Harlowe Stengle
Harry Thomas
Joe Vallone
Grant Whytock
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's working title was No Place to Run. Although the onscreen credits include a 1960 copyright statement for Zenith Pictures, Inc., the film was not registered for copyright. The Walking Target marked the last feature film appearance of actress Joan Evans.
