A drifter riding the rails gets mistaken for the new sheriff of a small town. He takes the police job and is immediately pressured to crack down on local organized crime.
Director: Harold Daniels.
Stars: Gerald Mohr, Liz Renay, Robert Clarke, Stephanie Farnay, Harry Lautner, Ed Erwin, Lew Markman, Ray Dearholt, Kenne Duncan, Tony Redman, Frank Bellew, William Purdy, Bob Wallace, Bob Lilly Jr., Dorothy Hardcastle.
Another gem I was looking for, thanks a lot.
Good story despite the far-fetched premise. Lead actor Gerald Mohr looks and acts like Bogart which works well for this low budget noir. Good jazzy score by Darrell Calker. Voluptuous Liz Renay plays the love interest. Her acting, along with most of the supporting cast, is rather stiff. A mini bio from IMDb: “Liz Renay’s extraordinary life could almost be a movie script. Raised by fanatically religious parents, she ran away from home to win a Marilyn Monroe lookalike contest, and become a showgirl during World War II. She eventually became a “moll” to Los Angeles gangster Mickey Cohen, and when he was arrested she refused to co-operate with the authorities and was sentenced to three years in Terminal Island prison, where she wrote her autobiography. On release she became a stripper and self-publicist, performing the first mother-and-daughter strip and the first grandmother to streak down Hollywood Boulevard.”
As an edit to my review after reading up on Liz Renay. Wikipedia doesn’t mention her running away from home or becoming a showgirl during WWII or winning a Marilyn Monroe lookalike contest (Monroe’s first film appearance was in 1948). She was, however, named Miss Stardust of Arizona in 1949 and won $500 cash, a trip to New York, and a modeling contract.