Kansas City Confidential

Kansas City Confidential is a 1952 American film noir crime film directed by Phil Karlson and starring John Payne and Coleen Gray. It was released in the United Kingdom as The Secret Four. It was the only production by Associated Players and Producers, an independent company formed by Edward Small, Sol Lesser, and Sam Briskin.

The plot follows an embittered, forced-into-retirement police captain, Tim Foster (Preston Foster), who masterminds a meticulously planned armored car robbery in Kansas City, Missouri. To ensure his anonymity, he recruits three hardened criminals (Neville Brand as Boyd Kane, Jack Elam as Pete Harris, and Lee Van Cleef as Tony Romano) and forces them to wear masks so they cannot identify him or each other. The scheme frames an innocent delivery driver and World War II veteran, Joe Rolfe (Payne), who is subsequently brutalized by the police. After being released for lack of evidence, Rolfe vengefully tracks the conspirators to a fishing resort in Borados, Mexico, where he assumes a false identity to infiltrate the gang and clear his name.

Contemporary reviews are mixed, including The New York Times criticizing its violence and "illogical" screenplay. Kansas City Confidential has since gained a reputation as a gritty, influential classic of the noir genre. It is noted for its visceral, "bare-knuckle" style of violence and for featuring early, menacing performances by Elam and Van Cleef. The film's central premise of masked criminals who do not know each other's identities was a primary inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's 1992 debut, Reservoir Dogs.

The film entered the public domain in the United States after its copyright was not renewed in 1980, leading to a long history of low-quality home video releases and being restored for high-definition formats in the 21st century.