Eli Wallach & Richard Jaeckel in Don Siegel's "The Lineup" (1958) - a Stirling Silliphant screenplay

An American tourist disembarking in San Francisco from a cruise ship returning from Hong Kong has his bag stolen by a porter, throwing the bag into a cab, and the driver takes off. A police officer fires his gun. The Cab Driver is hit, crashes and dies. A police investigation discloses that the cab driver is a heroin addict, and attention is drawn to an international heroin drug smuggling ring. Lt. Ben Guthrie (Warner Anderson) leads the police hunt. A psychopathic killer, Dancer (Eli Wallach), and his mentor, Julian (Robert Keith), are instructed by their contact, Staples (Robert Bailey), to collect incoming heroin from certain unsuspecting American tourists traveling from Asia, after they pass through customs undetected, who are unaware that contraband has been planted in their luggage, and then to deliver it to a drop point at Sutro's Museum. Along the way, Dancer kills the porter, a seaman demanding his share, and a suspicious Chinese servant, refusing to hand out a drug container. But when it turns out that two of the tourists, Dorothy Bradshaw (Mary LaRoche) and her young daughter, Cynthia "Cindy" Bradshaw (Cheryl Callaway), had unknowingly disposed of the heroin, Dancer and Julian's lives are in danger. They decide that Dancer will meet the head of the heroin ring, a person known only as "The Man" (Vaughn Taylor), and explain why the shipment is short. Dancer and Julian kidnap Dorothy and Cynthia and bring them to Sutro's so they can back up the story. When Dancer meets The Man in the museum, it turns out that the mastermind is disabled and wheelchair-bound. Dancer explains himself, and The Man has an unexpected reaction. He tells Dancer that "nobody ever sees me," and that because Dancer has seen him, he "is dead". The Man slaps Dancer across the face with the bag of heroin and Dancer, enraged, pushes The Man off a balcony, killing him. Meanwhile, the San Francisco police have spotted the getaway car with and the driver, Sandy McLain (Richard Jaeckel), Julian, and the kidnapped Dorothy and Cynthia. When Dancer exits Sutro's, a high speed car chase ensues. When the car becomes trapped at a barrier on the Embarcadero Freeway, Dancer first shoots his accomplice to death, holding the girl hostage, then tries to flee. He is shot by the police and falls down the bridge. A 1958 American Black & White film-noir crime drama film, directed by Don Siegel, produced by Jaime Del Valle, screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, cinematography by Hal Mohr, starring Eli Wallach, Robert Keith, Warner Anderson, Richard Jaeckel, Mary LaRoche, William Leslie, Emile Meyer, Robert Bailey, Raymond Bailey, Vaughn Taylor, Cheryl Callaway and Marshall Reed. Final screen appearance of Kay English. Raymond Bailey appears without the toupee he would wear as "Mr. Drysdale" in "The Beverly Hillbillies" (CBS-TV 1962-1971). Despite having top billing and being prominently featured as the star on all of the posters, Eli Wallach does not appear until 22 minutes in. This is a film noir version of the police procedural television series of the same title, originally created by Lawrence L. Klee, that ran on CBS radio from 1950 until 1953, and on CBS television from 1954 until 1960. In the film, Warner Anderson and Marshall Reed reprise their roles as Lieutenant Ben Guthrie and Inspector Fred Asher from the TV series. However, Tom Tully's character, Inspector Matt Grebb, is replaced by Inspector Al Quine, played by Emile Meyer. Tully, the series co-star, was not in the film. Anderson, the series star, was given co-star billing instead of star billing; star billing was given to Wallach, who played the movie's main villain. This features scenes shot on location in San Francisco in the area of The Embarcadero, the War Memorial Opera House, and the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Sutro Baths and Museum was a real San Francisco location until it burned down in 1966. Located on the cliffs of Lands End near the Golden Gate, the Sutro Baths were built in 1896 by Adolph G. Sutro, a wealthy entrepreneur and former San Francisco mayor. The old Steinhardt Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park was built in 1923. It was torn down in 2003 and replaced with a new, modern aquarium. The Seaman's Club, where one of the murders takes place, was actually the Embarcadero YMCA on Howard Street in San Francisco. The Sanders home is the Whittier Mansion, 2090 Jackson Street. The final shootout was filmed on the Embarcadero (I-480) Freeway, which was under construction in 1958. It was heavily damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and had to be torn down. Dancer, Julian, and Sandy drive Plymouth's top-of-the-line1957 Belvedere. The cab is a 1953 Plymouth. The detectives drive a 1957 Dodge. An exciting, slick and brutal crime drama by one of Hollywood's most accomplished craftsmen. Tightly scripted, excitingly staged, and brilliantly acted. Few films present as many views of the City By the Bay as this one. An unheralded, minor gem.