Split Second

Love this early “Nuke “ movie. Suspense was great!

I saw this film before, but I could not remember the title. Plenty of action.

A very intense early movie about criminals holding civilian hostages in a deserted town that will be used in an atomic bomb test in Nevada the next moring. The criminals believe that the police won't search,the town before the test time which will be at 6:00 a.m. There is tremenmdous drama between the crimminals inside a room in the town as a cat an mouse develops between the criminals and the hostages. As fate would have it, the atomic test is moved up to 5.00 a.m. wothout everyone knowing it, and there is ony 15 minutes till it happens. The movie climaxes as the criminals race to get out of the test town and the hoistages need to find refuge somwhere before the explosion. I leave the ending to the viewers so as not to spoil the climax..

I highly recomend this movie to anyone who likes real suspense. Good action, plot development and wonderful direction by Dick Powell. This movie is proof positive that you don't need constant action to maintain tension, an unforgivable deadline with an atomic bomb is a great substitute.

Somewhere, in the recesses of my mind, I had a vague memory of a scene from an old black-and-white movie in which Alexis Smith and a carload of hoodlums hightailed it through the desert fleeing the impending detonation of an atomic bomb. I must have watched this on the late, late show at some point during my childhood but that particular scene stayed with me even though nothing else did. Many years later, in an online movie discussion group, I brought up the scene and one of the members suggested that it might be a somewhat neglected film from the fifties called "Split Second". Without further adieu, I located the DVD on amazon and promptly ordered it. Sure enough, this release from the Warner Brothers film archive is the film I'd been racking my brain over for several decades. Happily, it didn't disappoint. The story of a trio of escaped killers who hole up in a desert ghost town with a handful of hostages while the clock ticks down on a nearby A-Bomb test, "Split Second" is a tense, sturdy little thriller that doesn't get bogged down in too much exposition. Stephen McNally is terrific and menacing as the chief bad guy, a violent, horny and unblinking sociopath who reminds me a little of Bogart in his bad-guy roles, and is every bit as believable. Paul Kelly and Frank de Cova convincingly play his partner's-in-crime, while Keith Andes makes a determined foe in the role of a reporter who doesn't flinch from the trio's threats and intimidation. In an early role, the lovely Jan Sterling plays a dancer Andes picks up along the way, and Arthur Hunnicut is slyly amusing as a local desert-rat. And then there's Alexis Smith as the philandering wife on the run with her latest lover (a full-of-baloney Robert Paige). Smith, at her glamorously slutty best playing this almost-femme-fatale, manages to remain self-centered and cunning to the very end. Filmed in 1953, "Split Second" was former song-and-dance man Dick Powell's directorial debut, and the movie demonstrates an assurance honed by several decades in Hollywood. There have, apparently, been some points of contention, one of which involves the screenplay turning McNally's character into too much of a philosopher (and thus slowing things down). Personally, I don't find this to be an issue at all. There have always been philosophic villains in movies, and here, I just thinks it adds another layer of interest to this character without much affecting the pacing. Reminiscent of movies from "The Petrified Forest" to "Let The Corpses Tan", "Split Second" is a worthy, professionally crafted mid-level thriller that is entertaining without being too taxing.

A classic. Good quality dvd.

Seen this movie on Turner Classic but I only got to see the middle of it have been waiting for TCM to run it but they did so I decided to buy the movie love it

When convicts Stephen McNally and Paul Kelly break out of prison and make a run for it, they pick up several hostages along the way including Jan Sterling and Alexis Smith plus a few others. Eventually, they take refuge in an abandoned desert mining town. Just one big problem...this town is only a few miles from an atomic test site and the bomb is scheduled to go off next morning. This film is fairly fast moving with not a lot of long dialogue passages. In many ways, it resembles "Key Largo" where Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are held hostage by gangster Edward G. Robinson. Considering that it was probably filmed on a low budget, this one keeps up the suspense until the very end. Stephen McNally, Jan Sterling, Richard Egan and Alexis Smith all turn in good performances. This film is not well known and probably did not do well at the box office; however, the tension builds nicely as we near zero hour. If you've never seen it, you have missed a good little thriller and you won't guess the ending.

Ce premier film de Dick Powell, acteur passé à la réalisation dans les années 50, est peut-être son meilleur. Il s'agit d'un polar dont la plus grande partie se passe en huis-clos sur fond d'explosion nucléaire. Le film parvient à développer à développer avec une certaine profondeur les personnages et à leur donner du poids.La photo est due à Nicholas Musuraca, grand spécialiste du film noir. Uniquement en vost.

A dark tale of torture, fear and death. I saw this on tv in the late 60s, and it terrified me. Maybe this was too strong for a 11 year old to watch. But is was a film that stayed with me. The mystery of the box, the duplicity and evil of the baddies and the final scene where the sound of the evil in the box scared the wits out of me !

I have the French release (in English obviously) of this early 50s classic, worth buying for its title alone, 'Meme Les Assassins Tremblent.' The film starts with a prison breakout by vicious and notorious cold blooded killer, Stephen McNally (brilliant in this) and his only prison friend Paul Kelly. Kelly's character is badly wounded in the breakout and this gradually becomes key to the plot. The escapees meet up with mute fellow con 'Dummy' on the outside and whilst en route to a ghost town hideout pick up various hostages, including Jan Sterling and Alexis Smith. Well known actor Dick Powell (Murder, My Sweet) directs and skilfully ratchets up the tension, the impending nearby Atom Bomb test certainly helps in this. Unexpected plot twists and the growing frictions and changing allegiances amongst the trapped, increasingly desperate group of goodies, baddies (Alexis Smith is yellow to the core) and 'inbetweenies', plus the skilled ensemble cast keep things on the boil throughout. Also starring Richard Egan and Arthur Hunnicutt it's a top notch thriller.

Brilliant! Dick Powell does a fantastic job as director and the starry cast respond with very convincing performances. We were really impressed with this film and can highly recommend it.

Obscur réalisateur (auteur notamment d’une biographie de Gengis Khan avec John Wayne !) qui n’a que cinq longs-métrages au compteur et qui fut d’abord acteur, Dick Powell nous livre un film noir classique mais agrémenté de la paranoïa typique des années 50 aux Etats-Unis (effet nucléaire). Même les assassins tremblent prend essentiellement la forme d’un huis-clos, mais pêche par le jeu des acteurs. C’est loin d’être le meilleur film auquel le directeur de la photographie Nicholas Musuraca ait participé. Peut-être le savoir-faire d'un Richard Fleischer ou d'un Robert Wise aurait changé la donne. Dommage.