Borderline (1950 film)
Borderline is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by William A. Seiter and starring Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor. It was filmed from late May to early July 1949 at Republic Studios.
Plot
Pete Ritchie runs a narcotics smuggling operation to the USA from Mexico, which the Los Angeles Police Department and the US federal government have unsuccessfully tried to stop. Because of Ritchie's careful operating procedures, US authorities haven't even been able to find out the identities of his sources or customers and are desperate for a breakthrough. As a last resort, Madeleine Haley, an LAPD officer and former OSS operative, is sent undercover to Mexico to charm her way into Ritchie's confidence.Once there, Haley manages to establish contact with Ritchie's gang, but is kidnapped by Johnny Macklin, a federal agent posing as a hoodlum working for a rival of Ritchie's and who also steals a load of Ritchie's narcotics. Haley plays along and joins Macklin on a smuggling trip for the stolen narcotics, with Ritchie in hot pursuit.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
| Fred MacMurray | Johnny McEvoy, posing as Johnny Macklin |
| Claire Trevor | Madeleine Haley, posing as Gladys LaRue |
| Raymond Burr | Pete Ritchie |
| Jose Torvay | Miguel |
| Morris Ankrum | Bill Whittaker |
| Roy Roberts | Harvey Gumbin |
| Don Diamond | Deusik |
| Nacho Galindo | Porfirio |
| Pepe Hern | Pablo |
| Grazia Narciso | Porfirio's Wife |
| Clifton Young | Suspect questioned by Whittaker |
| Charles Lane | Peterson, customs officer |
| Johnny Indrisano | Gumbin's henchman |
| Chrispin Martin | Pepi, hotel clerk |
, Nacho Galindo and Fred MacMurray
, Claire Trevor and Fred MacMurray in Borderline
Production
The film was based on a story by Norman Krasna. The budget was kept down by the key creatives deferring their play.Evaluation in film guides
Steven H. Scheuer's TV Movie Almanac & Ratings 1958 & 1959 gives Borderline a "Fair" rating of 2 stars, summarizing its plot as " policewoman is sent to get the goods on dope smugglers working from Los Angeles to Mexico" with the evaluation, "ncertain melodrama wavers between seriousness and farce, is successful at neither". 35 years later, in the 1993–1994 edition, the plot was revised to " policewoman goes undercover as a chorus girl to crack a ring of drug smugglers".Leonard Maltin's TV Movies & Video Guide slightly raises the rating to 2½ stars and concludes that "Trevor and MacMurray work well together as law enforcers each tracking down dope smugglers on Mexican border, neither knowing the other isn't a crook". By the time of the third edition of Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, the rating had been lowered to the Scheuer level of 2 and the write-up changed to "dd thriller-comedy in which L.A. cop Trevor attempts to gather evidence against wily drug smuggler Burr while mixing with tough guy MacMurray in Mexico. Starts out promisingly, but soon bogs down in silliness. Burr makes a vivid villain."