- Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death is an enjoyable noir perhaps most notable for introducing Richard Widmark to the film world in a spectacularly memorable and violent fashion. When his character, Tommy Udo, pushes a woman in a wheelchair down a flight of stairs, it's a despicable act that ranks up there with James Cagney making grapefruit juice on Mae Clarke's face or Lee Marvin throwing scalding coffee on Gloria Grahame. Add in Widmark's trademark sneer and affected giggle, and you have a "big man" who tends to steal every scene he appears in.
- The film surrounding Widmark is more of a mixed bag, although it gradually gains enough momentum to be interesting. While Victor Mature is well-cast as Nick Bianco, a reluctant and repentant crook whom the D.A. (Brian Donlevy) wants to convert into a stoolpigeon, his character leaves something to be desired. It's tough to root for a guy who alternates between prattling on about "the kids" and making time with the babysitter (Coleen Gray) despite his wife's recent suicide. Maybe real people behave that way, but supposedly sympathetic movie characters usually don't. At any rate, his inevitable confrontation with the amusingly swaggering Udo and Kiss of Death's notable use of location filming make the whole experience more enjoyable than perhaps it could or should have been.
- Karl Malden also co-stars as a police chief, naturally.
