ROADBLOCK is a film noir B-movie that borrows a lot of the plotting and situations from the likes of genre classics such as DOUBLE INDEMNITY. The story involves a crooked insurance investigator who finds himself falling in love with a classic femme fatale. She's not interested in him, so he turns to robbery in order to facilitate her advances, but of course it all ends in tears. Doesn't it always?
ROADBLOCK is a workable B-movie but it's fair to say that the storyline is overly familiar and the execution is hardly the stuff of greatness. Charles McGraw is a dependable leading man type figure, but he carries little of the conviction or charisma of the likes of Robert Mitchum or Robert Ryan. Joan Dixon is better as the alluring love interest, but her character is rather sharply drawn and I can't help but feel more melodrama could have been made of the premise. As it stands, it's only at the high-speed climax where things start to get interesting.
ROADBLOCK is a workable B-movie but it's fair to say that the storyline is overly familiar and the execution is hardly the stuff of greatness. Charles McGraw is a dependable leading man type figure, but he carries little of the conviction or charisma of the likes of Robert Mitchum or Robert Ryan. Joan Dixon is better as the alluring love interest, but her character is rather sharply drawn and I can't help but feel more melodrama could have been made of the premise. As it stands, it's only at the high-speed climax where things start to get interesting.