Kansas City Confidential

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Kansas City Confidential

1952

1h 38m

Crime

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

79%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

A mysterious fellow (Preston Foster) contacts a trio of criminals (Jack Elam, Neville Brand, Lee Van Cleef) to help with a bank heist. The four wear masks and remain strangers to each other, planning to reunite in Mexico to divvy up the loot. Joe Rolfe (John Payne), the man they framed to take the heat, gets his charges dropped, and the police offer him a reward if he can help recover the cash. He agrees, and when one of the thieves meets his end, Rolfe assumes his identity to catch the crooks.

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Sean Howe

Slant Magazine

Jul 23, 2007

3.5/4

Falls into that rarefied early-'50s cycle of noir, which benefited from B directors who had learned how to quickly dispense with the genre conventions and deliver brutal action and lurid innuendos.

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

May 1, 2006

Phil Karlson's rote heist-revenge flick aims to be stone cold, but can't seem to get any frost to grow around its warm, mushy heart.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Jan 11, 2026

3.5/4

A down and dirty film noir with all the requisite blood, sweat, and double-crosses.

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Francois Truffaut

Cahiers du Cinéma

Apr 4, 2022

In this film, cinema is unimportant. Everything happens to the right, the left, or below the screen, and always out of our line of vision.

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Manny Farber

The Nation

Nov 25, 2020

It tells a story without gimmicks or short cuts, and all the people involved -- director Karleson, actors Elam, Van Cleef, Brand -- were not only concerned with the best way to express the material on hand but obviously enjoying themselves.

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Oct 13, 2020

3/5

While George Bruce and Harry Essex's screenplay busts into a rushed showdown followed by a pat resolution, this cascade of meaty characters waiting for a reckoning on Mexican resort plays like the sober version of John Huston's Key Largo.

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marvin n

@RT49746518 Dec 15, 2025

BIG PROBLEM, the ex-cop planned the robbery making him as guilty as the ones who committed it! Poor Lee van Cleef can't hold onto his gun

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Russ G

@RT78760655 Oct 12, 2025

I've become a fan of noir's in my old age as they're usually fairly entertaining diversions, but I was not impressed by this one.

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tucker s

@tucker83014 Sep 1, 2025

This is a really great film. The acting is a bit campy, as was the case in many mid-century B movie productions, but the writing is fantastic. The plot provides many potential game theory outcomes; it deserves a place in the classic Noir Hall of Fame.

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Steven M

@RT67981172 Jul 2, 2025

Lots of crime noir fun, and the cast…sharp!

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 Jun 30, 2025

A crime noir with a fast pace and plenty of twists. For a B film it’s impressively acted and a fun watch. Watched it on Amazon Prime.

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Tom M

@RT77934561 Jun 1, 2025

Not quite noir. Not quite the bank heist film I had been expecting. Ugly villains being ugly to each other. No one seems that bothered when someone gets shot by the police in an airport lounge. Lots of slapping, people are slapped all over the place. Money! It's always all about money...

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Phil Karlson

Director

John Payne

Joe Rolfe

Coleen Gray

Helen Foster

Preston Foster

Tim Foster

Neville Brand

Boyd Kane

Lee Van Cleef

Tony Romano

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Synopsis

A mysterious fellow (Preston Foster) contacts a trio of criminals (Jack Elam, Neville Brand, Lee Van Cleef) to help with a bank heist. The four wear masks and remain strangers to each other, planning to reunite in Mexico to divvy up the loot. Joe Rolfe (John Payne), the man they framed to take the heat, gets his charges dropped, and the police offer him a reward if he can help recover the cash. He agrees, and when one of the thieves meets his end, Rolfe assumes his identity to catch the crooks.

Director: Phil Karlson
Producer: Edward Small
Screenwriter: Rowland Brown, George Bruce, Harry Essex, Harold Greene
Distributor: Reel Media International [us], United Artists, Republic Pictures
Production Co: Associated Players & Producers
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 28, 1952, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2016
Runtime: 1h 38m
Sound Mix: Mono

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