| Director | Charles Frank, Jean Image, Robert Siodmak |
|---|---|
| Box office | $2.5 million |
In 1946, professional hitmen Al and Max arrive in Brentwood, New Jersey, to kill Pete Lund, a gas pump attendant known as "The Swede". After being confronted by the pair in a diner, Lund's coworker, Nick Adams, warns him. A despondent Lund makes no attempt to flee and is shot dead in his room.
Jim Riordan, a life insurance investigator, is assigned to find and pay the beneficiary of the Swede's $2,500 policy. Tracking down and interviewing the dead man's friends and associates, Riordan doggedly pieces together his story, working closely with Philadelphia police Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky, a friend of the Swede's since childhood.
In flashback, the Swede is revealed to be a former boxer and hoodlum named Ole Anderson. After a career-ending hand injury, he rejects Lubinsky's suggestion to join the police force and becomes involved with crime boss "Big Jim" Colfax. He falls for the glamorous Kitty Collins, dropping his plain and loyal girlfriend Lilly Harmon. When Lubinsky, now married to Lilly, catches Kitty wearing stolen jewelry, the Swede confesses to the crime, slugs him, and flees, leading to three years in prison.
After completing his sentence, the Swede, "Dum-Dum" Clarke, and "Blinky" Franklin are recruited for a payroll robbery in Hackensack, New Jersey by Colfax, whose relationship with Kitty creates tensions between him and the Swede. The robbery nets the gang $254,912. When their safe house burns down, everyone but the Swede is notified of a new rendezvous. Kitty tells the Swede that the gang plans to double-cross him, inciting him to take all of the money at gunpoint and run. Kitty meets with him later in Atlantic City, then disappears with the haul herself, leaving the Swede heartbroken.
In the present, Riordan stakes out the Swede's old room in Brentwood. Dum-Dum sneaks in in search of the loot and Riordan confronts him, but he flees before he can be arrested. Riordan subsequently learns that the safe house fire occurred hours after it was alleged to have, and finally begins to solve the puzzle.
Riordan visits Colfax, now a successful building contractor in Pittsburgh, but Colfax claims no knowledge of Kitty's whereabouts. A short time later, Kitty sets up a meeting with Riordan at a nightclub. She claims she convinced the Swede to hold up his double-crossers to get the money to rescue her from Colfax. She admits having swiped it and run in Atlantic City and, believing that Riordan has enough evidence against her, agrees to offer Colfax as a fall guy. She later excuses herself and slips out of the bathroom window, while Al and Max arrive at the nightclub to kill Riordan. Anticipating such a confrontation, Riordan and Lubinsky manage to slay the pair.
Riordan and Lubinsky pick up a police escort and head to Colfax's mansion. They arrive to find Dum-Dum and Colfax mortally wounding each other in a shootout. Colfax admits that he had the Swede killed because the Swedeor the other gang members, should they run into the Swede like he didmight eventually realize that he and Kitty, now a married couple, had planned the robbery with the intent to double-cross everyone. A desperate Kitty begs Colfax to exonerate her in a deathbed confession, but he is too far gone.