Kansas City Confidential

A bitter ex-cop who has been forced into an early retirement with a paltry pension devises an ingenious plan to set up a trio of sweaty losers and one patsy flower truck driver in a bank robbery, and then turn them in for the reward money and the hero status of *catching* them. Kansas City Confidential is a pretty clever little heist/noir flick (many elements of the script became standard movie fare) with plenty of double and triple crosses, but the film’s hard edge is marred by a wimpy ending.

The trio of sweaty losers provide most of the flick's energy and are played by three young actors, now long-dead, who would become veteran Hollywood heavies: Jack Elam (so young he was still skinny, looking like a 1950s Steve Buscemi), Lee Van Cleef (so young he still had the tip of his right middle finger) and Neville Brand (who has the movie’s best line: when confronted with his cop killing past, he monotones without the slightest trace of regret I don’t like heroes). The rest of the cast, including the male and female leads, are only mediocre, excepting Dona Drake’s cock-teasing Mexican hotel waitress. Decent entertainment if you can get past the 1950s cheap-looking sets and pretend gun violence (nary a bullet hole is visible in any of the sweaty loser’s corpses) and the half-a-sissy ending. [Free with minimal ads on bargain bin streamer Tubi]