On Dangerous Ground

On Dangerous Ground (1951)

  • 100% of critics liked it
    (12 reviews)

  • 77% of users liked it
    (1,050 ratings)

Robert Ryan plays Jim Wilson, a tough police detective embittered by years of dealing with low-life urban scum, in Nicholas Ray's moving film noir. After severely beating several suspects, Jim is assigned to a case far from the city to find the killer of a young girl. Joining the manhunt, in… More

R,
Directed By
,
Written By
A.I. Bezzerides, Nicholas Ray
Genres
Mystery & Suspense, Drama
In Theaters
Jan 1, 1952 Wide

Critic Reviews

  • Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

    One of the loveliest of Nick Ray's movies.

  • Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television

    Haunting mix of police story, romance and tale of regeneration.

  • Paul Brenner, Filmcritic.com

    What succeeds in On Dangerous Ground is the raw emotionalism that bleeds out from the screen, unmatched in any of Ray's other films.

  • Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

    Nicholas Ray's classic noir starring Ryan and Lupino.

  • , TV Guide's Movie Guide

    A realistic and often gripping crime yarn.

Read all 11 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • jay n


    Atmospheric noir mood piece with excellent work by greats Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino with an evocative score by Bernard Hermann, reportedly his favorite of all his work.

  • Ken S


    Really interesting Noir from Nicholas Ray. It's sort of the Dusk till Dawn of it's day. It's a picture of two distinct halves. The first a police film. The second a chase. It's easy to see why this film, with it's early use of hand held camera was an… More

  • Michael G


    A great psychological noir. Completely changes tone in the middle which almost makes watching this film like a double feature.

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