Nice effects though.

hyped garbage

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

No actress played "Cheap Broad" better than Claire Trevor. She is the high point in this film. In this film she is a high class dame pretending to be a "cheap Broad", and she manages to do with with little to no help from the script. Fred MacMurray plays a character who is both a romantic lead, and an apparent bad guy. His character is radically different from the character he played on "my Three Sons".Raymond Burr plays a very convincing villain. His character is also very different from the character he played on "Perry Mason".The weak point in this film is "Mexico", or at least Hollywood's concept of Mexico in 1950. The location shots are actually filmed in the Greater Los Angeles area - in areas which look nothing at all like Baja California.This film also is very contrary in its portrayal of Latino characters - especially Latinas. Many of the characters are not people but rather cartoon-ish characters.

"Borderline" was a big disappointment, given the expectations I had from the MacMurray-Trevor star duo. They played their roles gamely in this awkwardly scripted, boringly directed melodrama (with light comedy overtones). If you forget about the tedious, poorly motivated plot line, there are a few enjoyably light and playful scenes between the two stars (both of whom look great, especially Trevor). They have good chemistry, and the inevitable romance that interferes with their respective drug enforcement chores (only because each believes the other is a criminal), works, despite the lazy script development. The romance works so well, in fact, that the plot demand that MacMurray turn Trevor in seems pretty unbelievable.On a minor level, "Borderline" is interesting for its mid-20th century Hollywood depiction of Mexico and Mexicans. Lots of stereotyping, primarily for questionable comic effect. I disagree with IMDb's characterization of speaking "Mexican" as a goof. It struck me as intentional. That's the way some people talked then (and the way some people still do).

This is a perfectly adequate movie with perfectly adequate performances and while there's nothing bad about this film, there certainly isn't anything that good that stands out either. This film sort of like a "Film Noir-LITE", in that it has some of the outward signs of a Noir film (such as gangsters, villains and violence) but is far from a good example of the genre (mediocre camera-work and rather listless dialog compared to "true" Noir). And, despite starring Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor, I really had to struggle to keep watching the film because nothing peaked my interest. Plus, even though the film co-starred Raymond Burr (one of the greatest Noir actors of all-time--especially in RAW DEAL), he wasn't given that much screen time (his removal from the plot was way too easy and anti-climactic) and his usual sadism was absent. In many ways, I consider this film to be like eating meatloaf--it's pretty ordinary, inoffensive and nothing to get excited over. Gimme a "steak" anytime over meatloaf!

Want to see Perry Mason playing a bad guy, and before he got fat? Want to see old cars? Humorous aside: some of the cars are 'new' (1949, 1950) for the movie, some of the cars are purposely 'old' (1930's and 40's, the Mexican sheriff drives a Model T truck) for the movie. Of course by today's standards, they're all OLD. Otherwise, there isn't much reason to watch this movie. (Wait, one scene, at the airport, you can see 'new' airplanes that are of course old now). Has one of the worst cabaret scenes imaginable. Claire (who has apparently bribed one of the chorus girls to take her place) tries to hook up with Raymond Burr, but he's not interested so she settles for one of his henchmen. Plot is pretty thin (and partially copied from It Happened one Night) and the scene near the end of "I'm a cop, you're under arrest...No, I'm a cop and YOU'RE under arrest...No, I'M a cop, wait, we're BOTH cops?" is entirely too long and drawn out.