Generally, the episodes to 'Four Star Playhouse' are amazingly good...some of the best programs of the 1950s. "The Hard Way", however, is not among the better ones. I'm not saying it's bad....but it just didn't impress me like most of the others.
The story was written by Blake Edward, who was a very prolific writer for television before he became a famous director. He wrote a lot of brilliant things....and maybe since this is one of his earlier efforts, he was still learning the ropes. I will say that soon after this, he was writing some brilliant scripts...including the amazing teleplay and film "Days of Wine and Roses".
Dick Powell plays Willie Dante, a guy he played in quite a few other installments of the show. Dante owns an illegal gambling hall and has a series of adventures. In this one, his gambling establishment is in trouble. First, Vic (Jack Elam) has some amazing luck and nearly cleans out the place. Second, when Vic is paid off someone slips him counterfeit money....and Vic is NOT a nice guy and might just take it out on Dante. But Dante is able to EASILY convince him that they both were screwed by a third party and they both go looking for that person.
The problems with the script are that Vic is supposed to be a very nasty gangster character....yet when he's robbed, he seems amazingly calm and reasonable. In addition, finding the real money turns out to be amazingly easy! I think had this been longer (like a movie), all this could have been worked out better. Crammed into a half hour time slot, it just seems rather weak...despite some good acting.