Kansas City Confidential (1952)
Kansas City Confidential is a 1952 American film noir and crime film directed by Phil Karlson starring John Payne and Coleen Gray. The film was released in the United Kingdom as The Secret Four. Karlson and Payne teamed a year later for 99 River Street, another film noir, followed by Hell’s Island, a film noir in color.
Director – Phil Karlson
Writers – George Bruce (screenplay), Harry Essex (screenplay), Harold Greene (story)
Cast –
John Payne as Joe Rolfe
Coleen Gray as Helen Foster
Preston Foster as Tim Foster
Neville Brand as Boyd Kane
Lee Van Cleef as Tony Romano
Jack Elam as Pete Harris
Dona Drake as Teresa
Mario Siletti as Tomaso
Howard Negley as Andrews
Carleton Young as Martin
Don Orlando as Diaz
Ted Ryan as Morelli
Watch “Kansas City Confidential” (1952)
Plot
The ruthless Mr. Big is timing the arrival of an armored car picking up money from a bank and a flower delivery truck. He plans to rob the armored car with three men: Peter Harris (a gambler wanted for murder); Boyd Kane (a cop killer); and Tony Romano (a womanizing get-away driver). When interviewing them, he wears a mask so they cannot identify him. They were selected because each has a reason for fleeing the US.
The plan includes using a duplicate flower delivery truck. The robbery and pursuit go as planned, with each crook wearing a mask so none can identify each other. The gang arrives in the look-alike floral truck as Rolfe, unaware, drives away. The gang subdues the armored car guards, grabs the money and flees. Mr. Big gives each gang member a torn King playing card. He tells them to hang on to the cards and that, in case something goes wrong and Mr. Big cannot make it, the cards will serve to identify them to whoever he sends. The other members await the payment in Mexico.
The police arrest Rolfe and try to beat a confession out of him while he maintains his innocence. He gets released when his alibi checks out and the real robbery vehicle is found. Rolfe loses his job and decides to find the criminals and clear his name. He finds out Harris fled the city. Correctly believing he must be one of the robbers, Rolfe pursues him to Tijuana.
Rolfe finds and beats Harris into revealing the gang’s meeting place. At the airport the police recognize Harris and kill him. Rolfe realizes he can impersonate Harris. In Harris’s luggage, he finds the mask and torn playing card.
In Borados, Rolfe meets Kane and Romano. Unknown to Rolfe, Mr. Big is there, too. He is Tim Foster, a one-time high-ranking Kansas City police officer who was forced to retire when his name was linked to a scandal. His conversation with the insurance investigator of the Kansas City robbery, Scott, who Foster had summoned to Barados, reveals his plan: Foster never intended for the three goons to split the money and get away. He will spring a trap on them, pretend he solved the robbery, get the 25% reward for having done so, and possibly reclaim his job with the Kansas City police.
Foster’s plan is thrown off when his daughter Helen, a law student, arrives. She tells her father she spoke to Kansas City’s mayor, who agreed to look into the scandal that cost him his job. Foster tells Helen he doesn’t want to return. She tells him she met Rolfe and likes him. That night Rolfe uses a game of poker as a pretext to show the gang members the torn card. Kane and Romano react, but Foster does not. He knows Rolfe is not Harris. Soon after, Rolfe catches Romano searching his room and beats him. Romano submits and they agree to cooperate until the money is split. Returning to his room the next day, Rolfe is beaten by Romano and Kane, who have teamed up. Kane knows Rolfe is an impostor because he was in prison with Harris. Helen knocks on the door and some quick thinking by Rolfe compels Romano and Kane to leave them alone.
Foster, as Mr. Big, writes individual notes to Rolfe, Kane, and Romano to meet him on his boat. Before it can happen, Kane and Romano try to ambush Rolfe, who gets the drop on them. He admits he is Rolfe, not Harris, and tells them he insists on getting Harris’s share.
Kane and Romano waylay Rolfe and discover he’s going to the boat. All three are driven there by Foster, pretending to be going out fishing. They still do not know he is Mr. Big. On board, Rolfe escapes and comes across the money that Foster had made easy to spot. Romano, gun in hand, confronts him. To buy time, Rolfe shows him the money. Romano, planning to keep it all, kills Kane. Foster arrives on the scene, but says too much. Rolfe deduces he is Mr. Big and says so out loud. In the gun battle that follows, Foster kills Romano, but not before Romano fatally shoots him. As Foster is dying he tells Rolfe his one wish is that Helen doesn’t find out his duplicity. With his dying breath, he tells the insurance investigator that Rolfe was his source and deserves the $300,000 reward for having helped recover the stolen money from the robbery.