Excellent but underrated film

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

'Highway Dragnet' is mediocre murder mystery where twist is uncovered before half the film is over. Rest of the movie we can enjoy by the numbers pursuit picked with cliché tension risers and occasional quirky characters for comic relief.Richard Conte stars as James Henry, a marine wrongfully accused for the murder of fashion model. He escapes from the police and while on the flee he helps out two women with car trouble - photographer Mrs. Cummings (probably Joan Bennet's worst performance of her career) and another fashion model Susan (Wanda Hendrix).It is really a second rate film-noir that some Roger Corman fans might look out for curiosity to see the film based on the screenplay that legendary 'King of the Bs' ever sold. He also served as associate producer just for an experience. There can be no better film school than is the experience working on a motion picture.

Highway Dragnet is directed by Nathan Juran and written by Herb Meadow, U.S.Anderson, Roger Corman and Jerome Odlum. It stars Richard Conte, Joan Bennett, Wanda Hendrix and Reed Hadley. Music is by Edward J. Kay and cinematography by John J. Martin.All I did was buy her a drink. One drink, and for 65 cents I bought a martini mixed with dynamite!Though indexed in some sources as film noir, this barely resonates as such. It is basically a man on the lam picture, where Conte is wrongly accused of murder and has to go on the run to escape police arrest. He hitches with two gals, who start to become wary of their newly acquired companion. So, we have cops trying to capture their target, with near misses and with Reed "The Voice" Hadley heading up the dragnet operation, whilst there's the mystery element of who is the killer hanging in the air. Cast are fine and the production is standard fare, the finale at least serves up an atmospheric locale, and there's some decent snatches of dialogue. But really it's average at best and not one to seek out as a matter of urgency. 5/10

Richard Conte is fresh out of the military and is in an old Las Vegas casino bar. He sits next to a lushed up floozy who used to be a hotsy totsy fashion model but now she's drunk and saggy. She insults him, he retorts and walks away, she follows him and they have an angry kiss amid the slots.Next day and now Conte is being arrested for killing the floozy. Of course he didn't. He escapes and gets a ride in the desert from Joan Bennett who is dressed as if she's going to a cocktail party and her assistant Wanda Hendrix. Drama ensues. Roadblocks they sneak by, some they avoid. A stopover at a motel, crashing thru a roadblock, lost in the desert, drama, revelations and finally Conte and Hendrix hook up at his submerged home in the Salton Sea (it's a long story). Then we discover Bennett killed the floozy; some old business with her and her dead husband. Oh, well. Alls well that ends well and all ends well. Soggy Salton Sea finish. Not bad at all. Surprisingly watchable.

This film is a real treat to watch due to the many absurdities that abound from scene to scene. After a shouting match in a barroom with a buxom over-the-hill blonde ex-model, Richard Conte, finds himself hitch- hiking to the Salton Sea where his house is rapidly disappearing from the rising shoreline! He's picked up by the police, who claim he murdered aforementioned blonde bombshell. Before you can blink an eye Conte's outta there and shooting holes in a classic Kaiser patrol car. He escapes in an old Nash which he abandons upon seeing Joan Bennett(wearing a dress made out of a parachute) and Wanda Hendrix trying to fix a broken-down sedan. He fixes things up while Joan's pooch becomes roadkill. Any 10 year-old has figured out the films outcome at this point. Conte becomes "Mr. Leash", the crazed killer, who gets a whole resort full of vacationers running for their lives. Conte, Joan and Wanda do everything but roast marshmellows over a desert campfire before Joan teaches them both how to do the "Twist" in an improbable puddle of quicksand near Conte's rapidly decaying, drowning dreamhome in the Salton Sea. This movie has a lot of unintentional laughs in it. A great bad movie.