Soon after L.A. police detective Mike Carter is bounced from the force, the officer who fired him is found dead. Suspect #1: Mike Carter. While the police dragnet draws tighter, Carter scrambles to clear his name, connecting the dots involving Pasadena bluebloods, the meat-packing industry and cop corruption. As Carter, noir icon Lawrence Tierney (Dillinger, Reservoir Dogs) brings grim toughness to this atmospheric whodunit that marks the genre debut of another film noir notable, director Richard O. Fleischer (Armored Car Robbery, The Narrow Margin). A filmmaking legend of even greater renown was in the wings. Robert Altman of M*A*S*H, Nashville and Gosford Park receives his first credit (as story co-writer Robert B. Altman).

Granite-jawed Lawrence Tierney is the BODYGUARD in this second-echelon noir thriller. Invited to resign from the LA police, short-tempered Mike Carter (Tierney) hires on to protect wealthy dowager Eugenia Dyson (Elizabeth Risdon). Before the film has reached its halfway point, Carter has been accused of murder, and is being hunted down by his former fellow officers. Only his file-clerk fiancee Doris Brewster (Priscilla Lane) believes in Carter's innocence, and it is she who is instrumental in cornering the actual killer. After a few more films like BODYGUARD and THE NARROW MARGIN, it was obvious that director Richard O. Fleischer had outgrown B pictures and was ready for more prestigious assignments.