Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan) is an old-fashioned kind of gangster. If someone crosses you, settle it with a fist or a bullet. Tom McQuigg (Robert Mitchum) is an old-fashioned kind of cop. Grab the bad guy, not the bribe. But they're both living in a corrupt new world of smooth operators on both sides of the law, efficient green-eyeshade types who run a crime ring like a corporation. They won't mind if Scanlon and McQuigg square off... if they bring each other down.