In very different ways , both Lawrence Tierney , the swaggering Brooklyn native who specialized in cold-hearted killers in films like Max Nosseck 's 1945 '' Dillinger '' and Robert Wise 's 1947 '' Born to Kill , '' and Robert Ryan , the trembling giant on the brink of violent self-destruction in Edward Dmytryk 's 1947 '' Crossfire '' and Fritz Lang 's 1952 '' Clash by Night , '' embodied the anxieties of a generation of men who had experienced hell at first hand but were now being asked to be compliant citizens .