Former cop Vic Barron (Mark Sevens) comes to Alaska in search of mobster Tino Morelli (Douglas Kennedy), whom Barron feels is responsible for the death of his wife and child as well as his own facial disfigurement. Searching for the man and plotting his revenge, he encounters bar owner Peggy Harding (Martha Hyer) and old girlfriend, Lily (Joan Vohs). Barron is so understandably intent on getting even that he even contemplates harming Morelli's little girl, Marie (Cheryl Callaway). But before he can get to Morelli, he has to deal with a nasty blond hit man named Roxey (Skip Homeier). Homeier [Stark Fear], Hyer and Vohs [Lure of the Swamp] give the best performances in this; striving for a depiction of single-minded intensity, Stevens, who also directed, plays it all in one note. Mort Mills, the cop in Psycho, has a small role, as does Richard Deacon [The Birds] as a bartender.
Verdict: Acceptable if minor-league film noir. **1/2.
Martha Hyer? I will have to check it out. She was gorgeous, and not a bad actress. During my college years at Northwestern, my acting class was held in the black box eater there that is named for her. "Meet you over at Martha Hyer..." Actually, it was endowed by her husband, producer Hal Wallis, of course. but I like her in films like The Carpetbaggers.
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Hyer wasn't, say, a Hepburn, but she could give very effective performances in certain films, and as you say, she was very attractive and had a kind of sexy insolence about her in certain roles. I've always liked her.
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