Directed by Phil Karlson | 99 mins | 1952
One of Tarantino’s primary sources of inspiration for "Reservoir Dogs" (1998), this no-nonsense 1952 noir—less brooding and more brutal than those of the ’40s—skillfully flips the heist movie on its head. Heading up the film’s memorably rough-hewn rogue’s gallery (which includes a young Lee Van Cleef) is John Payne as Joe Rolfe, the unsuspecting fall guy in a bank robbery. On release from prison, Joe pursues the crooks who framed him down to Mexico.