In spite of Dixon's insisting that Scalise is the killer, Jiggs had been seen at Paine's apartment and is arrested. It is revealed that Morgan is Paine's estranged wife the night of the murder is the first time she has seen him in months. It is soon found and, moving to cover himself, Dixon suggests that Scalise murdered Paine as well as Morrison.Īs the case develops the detectives talk to Morgan and Jiggs Taylor. Dixon then takes the body and dumps it in the river. Back at Paine's apartment he is almost seen by Morgan's father, cab driver Jiggs Taylor, who arrives and (having found out that Paine had slapped his daughter) noisily threatens him from outside his door, then leaves when there is no answer. Borrowing Paine's coat and putting a bandage on his own face where Paine had one, he lays a false trail suggesting that Paine has left town.

When Paine falls, he hits his head and dies.Īfter his recent reprimand, Dixon does not dare report what has happened. Defending himself, Dixon does not know that a war injury has left Paine with a metal plate in his skull. Dixon goes to Paine's apartment and questions him, but Paine becomes angry and starts a fight. Scalise tells several lies about the crime, and implicates Paine. He interrogates Scalise, whom he arrested two years earlier for murder but who was acquitted. Dixon is one of the officers on the scene. Morrison is knocked out, but when the police arrive he has been stabbed to death. Paine slaps Morgan, whereupon Morrison starts a fistfight with Paine. She realizes he only brought her to the game so Morrison would follow, and is now determined to leave. Morrison says he is in town all week and 'you'll get it back another night,' but Paine tells Morgan she has to stay. This upsets Scalise, as Morrison is up $19,000 on his bank. Effusive Texas tycoon Morrison offers to escort her home. Because his own father was a criminal, he hates them even more than is acceptable to the force.Īt a floating crap game in New York City run by gangster Tommy Scalise, the beautiful Morgan Taylor decides to leave for the night, with or without the man, Ken Paine, who brought her there. Mark Dixon is a police detective who was just demoted over his too-frequent use of violence. Considered a classic of the genre, the film displays a brand of violence 'lurking below urban society' considered an important noir motif. The film stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney.Īndrews plays Mark Dixon, a ruthless and cynical metropolitan police detective who despises all criminals because his father was one. The screenplay and adaptations were based on the novel Night Cry by William L. The screenplay for the film was written by Ben Hecht, and adapted by Robert E. Where the Sidewalk Ends is a 1950 American film noir directed and produced by Otto Preminger.

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