Border IncidentA Treasure Trove of Film Noir Exteriors
The film Border Incident was made in 1949, and it's amazing how it's just as timely today, sixty years later. Mexicans are still crossing the U.S. border illegally, human smugglers are still exploiting them and, both U.S. and Mexican border patrol still work together to fight the problem.Just a few months ago in the news there was a story about a truckload of smuggled illegal aliens from Mexico who suffocated in the hot truck when the driver refused to let them out, even to pee. And here's a recent article from the L.A. Times on
human trafficking from Mexico...
Anthony Mann (later known for westerns) directs the film with John Alton as Director of Photography. The film noir atmosphere and look is not easy to achieve outside the studio or urban settings, but it is done masterfully here. The glorious black and white photography is full of stark contrasts and deep shadows, emphasizing the dark underworld and dangerous uncertainty of the experience of illegally entering the country at the hands of unethical criminals who potentially pose an even bigger threat than being caught by the authorities. Owen Parkson is chilling as the head of this particular smuggling ring. He gets them fake work permits, then ships them off to other parts of the country to get jobs. George Murphy is the U.S. immigration agent who works with Ricardo Montalban's character to break it up by In one of the most psychologically gruesome scenes in film noir, Murphy is murdered by mutilation when Charles McGraw, Parkson's henchman, drives a tractor over him. The camera goes from the excruciatingly slow moving tractor, to Murphy writhing in silent terror as it approaches, to Montalban's mortified face, helplessly watching from a distance. The Southern Californian rural landscape has rarely appeared so noirish and oppressive.  Custom Search Back to the Film Noir Classic Movie Reviews page
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, Ricardo Montalban plays a Mexican border patrol officer going undercover to bust the human smuggling ring. He befriends one of the young men desperate to earn money in America to send home to his family.