Raw Deal
Prisoner Joe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe), who has "taken the fall" for an unspecified crime, breaks out of jail with the help of his girl, Pat (Claire Trevor), who also serves as a first-person narrator in the story. Neither is aware that the escape has been facilitated by mobster Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr), a sadistic pyromaniac, who has arranged for Joe to be killed in order to avoid paying Joe his share of $50,000 for the crime. When the break-out succeeds, Rick decides that he must have Joe done in some other way.
Pat and Joe kidnap a social worker, Ann (Marsha Hunt), who has been visiting Joe in prison, trying to reform him. This begins a doomed film noir love triangle. A fight with a vicious thug (John Ireland) ends when Ann shoots Joe's attacker in the back. After acting in Joe's defense, Ann realizes she is in love with him. Relenting, he sets her free and prepares to flee the country with Pat. In their hotel room, Pat receives a phone call warning them that Rick has seized Ann and will harm her unless Joe and Pat come out of hiding. Pat lies to Joe that it was a call from the hotel desk clerk since she does not want him to go back to Ann.
After boarding a ship, Joe attempts to convince Pat that they can start a new life in South America together. A guilt-stricken Pat now confesses to Joe that Ann is in danger. Joe races to save Ann from her captor, Rick. Under the cover of a thick fog, Joe manages to get past Rick's thugs and sneaks into Rick's room. A gunfight erupts with Rick and Joe shooting each other and inadvertently starting a fire. Joe and Rick, both wounded, fight hand-to-hand with Joe finally pushing Rick through an upper story window to his death. Mortally wounded, lying in the street, Joe dies in Ann's arms as Pat, under arrest, looks on. Seeing the happiness in Joe's face, Pat comments in voice-over that "This is right for Joe. This is what he wanted."
violence, romantic