The Sellout

Respected newspaperman Haven D. Allridge (Walter Pidgeon) goes after the vicious petty Napoleon who holds a small town in his corrupt grasp. In the midst of his campaign to expose the crook, Allridge suddenly skips town. Is he a sellout, or has his crusade led him into a sinister trap? This bare-knuckle crime drama features a superb in-the-know and in-the-noir cast that includes John Hodiak, Karl Malden, Cameron Mitchell, Everett Sloane, Thomas Gomez, and as a sloe-eyed chantootsie who ends up battered and behind bars, film noir icon Audrey Totter. Like the honest newshounds and lawmen who inhabit it, The Sellout doesn't miss a thing: the film ends with a nifty courtroom-thriller sequence.