KANSAS CITY Confidential [Le 4e Homme] 1952

Kansas City Confidential is a 1952 film noir directed by Phil Karlson and starring John Payne. Karlson and Payne teamed up a year later for another dark black-and-white noir, 99 River Street and again in 1955, this time in color, for the noir Hell’s Island. Perennial movie bad guys Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand and Jack Elam play the film’s heavies. Although the title would suggest that the story takes place in Kansas City, most of the film takes place in Mexico. This was director Karlson’s second film noir. He also directed Scandal Sheet, a modest success, also released in 1952. The tag line for the film was, “Exploding like a gun in your face!”