Directed with laudable economy by Stuart Heisler from a crisp screenplay by Jonathan Latimer, the movie centers on two good friends the crooked political kingmaker Paul Madvig (a slick but sympathetic Brian Donlevy) and his steady right-hand man, Ed Beaumont (the blond and angular Ladd) who grow apart over the former's infatuation with the spirited Janet Henry (the sultry Lake) and his impulsive support for her reformer-candidate father.