The read
Critics rate it 25 points higher than audiences do. Scores higher than 71% of the 110 1950s thriller movies in this catalog.
Synopsis
A medical examiner discovers that an innocent shooting victim in a robbery died of bubonic plague. With only 48 hours to find the killer, who is now a ticking time bomb threatening the entire city, a grisly manhunt through the seamy underworld of the New Orleans Waterfront is underway.
Ratings
IMDb7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes97%
Critics rate it 25 points higher than audiences do.
170 audience votes
Key crew
- Elia KazanDirector
- Richard MurphyScreenplay
- Alfred NewmanOriginal Music Composer
- John Lee MahinWriter
- Philip YordanWriter
Cast
- Richard WidmarkLt. Cmdr. Clinton 'Clint' Reed M.D.
- Paul DouglasCapt. Tom Warren
- Barbara Bel GeddesNancy Reed
- Jack PalanceBlackie
- Zero MostelRaymond Fitch
- Dan RissNeff - Newspaper Reporter
- Tommy CookVince Poldi - Younger Brother
- Wilson Bourg Jr.Charlie - Sailor (uncredited)
- Beverly C. BrownDr. Mackey - Board of Health (uncredited)
- Lewis CharlesKochak - Murder Victim (uncredited)
- Herman CottmanOfficer Scott - Police Lab (uncredited)
- John DavidFruit Salesman (uncredited)
Movies like Panic in the Streets
Themes
race against timenew orleans, louisianaoutbreakfilm noirblack and whitepublic healthplaguetense