Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.
Edmond O'Brien
as Jim Reardon
Burt Lancaster
as 'Swede' Andersen
Ava Gardner
as Kitty Collins
Albert Dekker
as Big Jim Colfax
Sam Levene
as Lt. Sam Lubinsky
Vince Barnett
as Charleston
Virginia Christine
as Lilly Harmon Lubinsky
Jack Lambert
as 'Dum-Dum' Clarke
Charles D. Brown
as Packy Robinson - Ole's Manager
Donald MacBride
as R.S. Kenyon
Charles McGraw
as Al
William Conrad
as Max
