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Border Incident main poster

Border Incident

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6.9/10 • 42

1949-10-281h 34m

CrimeDramaThriller

The Shame of Two Nations!

The story concerns two agents, one Mexican (PJF) and one American, who are tasked to stop the smuggling of Mexican migrant workers across the border to California. The two agents go undercover, one as a poor migrant.

Directors
Anthony Mann
Editors
Conrad A. Nervig

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Ricardo Montalban

    Ricardo Montalban

    Pablo Rodriguez

  2. George Murphy

    George Murphy

    Jack Bearnes

  3. Howard Da Silva

    Howard Da Silva

    Owen Parkson

  4. James Mitchell

    James Mitchell

    Juan Garcia

  5. Arnold Moss

    Arnold Moss

    Zopilote

  6. Alfonso Bedoya

    Alfonso Bedoya

    Cuchillo

  7. Teresa Celli

    Teresa Celli

    Maria

  8. Charles McGraw

    Charles McGraw

    Jeff Amboy

  9. José Torvay

    José Torvay

    Pocoloco

Reviews1

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John Chard Avatar

John Chard

May 3, 2015

8/10

The Police and Snakes Are First Cousins. Border Incident is directed by Anthony Mann and adapted to screenplay by John C. Higgins from the George Zuckerman story. It stars Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva, Charles McGraw, Arthur Hunnicutt and James Mitchell. Music is by Andre Previn and cinematography by John Alton. The great Anthony Mann creates what is the perfect crossover movie that blends film noir style with western shadings. Mann would next go on to make the well regarded psychological westerns with James Stewart, Border Incident is the tasty meat in his noir/western sandwich. In essence it's a remake of T-Men, only Mann and his team have shifted away from a hustle and bustle city setting to tell a story down on the sweaty American/Mexico border. We are probing into immigration issues, human smuggling and the abuse of such, Mann and his writers daring to portray the human suffering of farm workers from Mexico, lured in as slave labour, only to then be abused and used and much worse... Having the legendary Alton on photography duties aids the downbeat thematics considerably, whilst also deftly averting attention from what is a pretty bog standard script, the low budgets never a problem where Mann and Alton were concerned. In fact, in noirville they worked it to their advantage with some striking lighting techniques and camera movements. The pic is often vicious, sadistic even, landing violent scenes in the conscious that refuse to move until it's all over and the screen goes blank. Suspense is never far away in Border Incident, with a mostly on form cast (George Murphy is uneven as McGraw does nasty brilliantly) bringing the material to life as the dream team cloak it all in pictorial assertiveness. Not in the same league as Raw Deal, but highly recommended for reasons already stated. 8/10

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
californiasmuggling (contraband)illegal immigrationfilm noirundocumented immigrantquicksandfederal agent