“Highway Dragnet” is a 1954 American film noir crime film directed by Nathan Juran, based on a story by U.S. Andersen and Roger Corman. The film stars Richard Conte, Joan Bennett, and Wanda Hendrix. It marks Roger Corman’s first feature film credit, and he also served as an associate producer.
Plot:
Former Korean War Marine sergeant Jim Henry (Richard Conte) visits his war buddy, Paul, in Las Vegas. During his stay, Jim gets involved in an altercation with ex-fashion model Terry Smith (Mary Beth Hughes) at a casino, and they spend the night together. The next morning, while hitchhiking, Jim is picked up by Las Vegas police and taken to an apartment where Lt. Joe White Eagle (Reed Hadley) shows him Terry’s strangled body.
Lt. White Eagle suspects Jim of the murder, but Jim insists that Paul can provide an alibi. However, Paul, a secret army agent, is unreachable. Panicking, Jim grabs an officer’s revolver, escapes in a patrol car, and evades police by abandoning the car and changing clothes. He then helps two women, magazine photographer Mrs. H.G. Cummings (Joan Bennett) and her model, Susan Willis (Wanda Hendrix), whose car has broken down. Grateful, they offer him a ride.
After arriving at the Apple Valley Inn for a photo assignment, Mrs. Cummings and Susan invite Jim to stay. When the abandoned patrol car is discovered, the police set up roadblocks. Susan wants to call the police upon recognizing Jim from a newspaper article about the murder, but Mrs. Cummings stops her. She reveals that Terry was the woman her husband had an affair with before committing suicide, fearing the police would suspect her of the murder.
Jim is later recognized and takes Mrs. Cummings and Susan hostage, escaping through a roadblock. As Lt. White Eagle and the police pursue them, Jim’s car gets stuck in the desert. Mrs. Cummings tries to shoot Jim, but Susan intervenes, believing in Jim’s innocence. At Jim’s flooded house by the Salton Sea, he discovers a note from Paul about another secret assignment.
Lt. White Eagle arrives and arrests Jim, ordering Susan to place Jim’s gun on the sink. Mrs. Cummings picks up the gun and shoots White Eagle but fails to kill him. She tries to shoot Jim and Susan, but the gun malfunctions. Jim chases Mrs. Cummings, who falls into quicksand-like water. She confesses to killing Terry, and the police overhear. Lt. White Eagle, only slightly wounded, prevents charges against Jim. Jim and Susan walk away together.
Production:
Roger Corman was inspired by a trip to the Salton Sea, where he saw abandoned, flooded houses. He sold his first story, “The House in the Sea,” to Allied Artists for $3,500, who then changed the title to “Highway Dragnet” to capitalize on the success of the television series “Dragnet.” Corman quit his job to join the production as an unpaid worker, earning credits as a screenwriter and associate producer. The film was shot in ten days in Coachella Valley, California.
Reception:
The New York Times called “Highway Dragnet” a “second-rate ‘whodunnit’.” Despite mixed reviews, the film’s success encouraged Corman to pursue a career in cinema, using the proceeds to finance his first movie as a producer, “Monster from the Ocean Floor.”
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