Richard Egan Movies

A woman's desire to rise above her drab lower middle-class life take her down the road to destruction in this gripping crime melodrama. The story opens as she cowers insider her old home, fearing the inevitable arrival of the murderous gangsters pursuing her. Her tragic tale unfolds via flashback. It all began when she became frustrated by her humble life in a squalid factory town. She was married to a laborer and lived with her parents. Soon after her child accidentally dies, the distraught woman abandons her old life to take a job where she meets an exceptional, but dull as dishwater accountant. He is a bit spineless and so allows the woman to convince him to get involved with a powerful gangster. Though she had promised to marry the accountant, she reneges and becomes the illicit moll of the married gangster. Wanting her to be a bit more elegant so he can pass her off as a Texas heiress to his west-coast rival, the gangster hires an impoverished socialite to teach her social graces. Soon she appears as an elegant, cultured woman. Still, despite her sophisticated exterior, she is conniving and ruthless inside and tries to double-cross both her new lover and his rival. Eventually the two crime lords meet in a bloody confrontation that leaves one mobster dead. Her lover is about to shoot her but the accountant (who still loves her) intervenes and she escapes back to her home town. She waits there through the night and the next morning goes outside and finds her gangster lover waiting to get his revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A married team of diamond smugglers enter New York to fence their purloined gems unaware that the wife is carrying the highly contagious, deadly smallpox virus. The crooks ensconce themselves in a hotel without realizing that the wife's every move is being monitored by a Treasury agent. The husband directs her to stay put while he goes off on business. Actually he is going out to tryst with his conniving sister-in-law. Back in the room, the wife feels ill and so creeps out to see a doctor. The T-man loses her trail. The doctor doesn't recognize the dread disease until much later and so the woman is free to travel about leaving a trail of death behind her. Once again she is followed, but the agents have a hard time keeping up with her. Eventually she finds her husband and learns the truth. Not only has he been unfaithful, he and her sister are planning to abscond with the jewels. A struggle between man and wife ensues culminating in the husband's death. Afterward the woman goes to authorities and before succumbing to the disease, provides them with a badly needed list of those she contacted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Andrew Stone was always a staunch believer in realism at all costs. Thus it was that much of Highway 301 was lensed on a genuine (and very busy) interstate highway. Based on fact, the film recounts the bloody exploits of the notorious "Tri-State Gang," which preyed upon truck drivers. Gang leader George Legenza (Steve Cochran) will kill anyone who stands in his way--even his own henchmen. Before meeting his well-deserved demise, Legenza leads the authorities on a not-so-merry chase through Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland. A few welcome comic moments are provided by Virginia Grey, playing the soap-opera-fan wife of one of the gang members. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide