Flicks - Border Incident

In the 1950's and 60's director Anthony Mann made some very good movies, including a series of tough-as-nails westerns with James Stewart ("The Naked Spur," The "Far Country.")
In 1949, Mann directed a picture that has been largely forgotten, which is a shame because it is a crackerjack film.
"Border Incident" could be of special interest here as it's central story involves the illegal smuggling of braceros (Mexican agriculture workers) into the United States.
Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy play immigration agents for Mexico and the United States, working together to break up a murderous ring of human smugglers. First the bad guys, Mexican and American, bring the field workers into the country illegally and later they prey on them when they try to return to Mexico with the money they've saved.
The story is very sympathetic to the workers -- which will drive the anti-illegal extremists to distraction -- but it's also very realistic in several areas.
The villains come from both sides of the border. Some businesses willfully and with full knowledge employ the illegal workers, while at the same time taking advantage of their illegal status to rip them off. The field workers knowingly break the law.
As usual in movies of this this era, the governments of Mexico and the U.S. are shown cooperating fully and to great effect. Ha!
Still, it's a powerful story told in stylish manner. Call it border noir. Though much of the story is set outdoors, the film is bathed in darkness and shadow in the classic film noir manner. The cast is also very good, with some top character actors -- Arthur Hunnicutt, Howard da Silva and Charles McGraw -- delivering crackling performances under Mann's skilled guidance.
And for the era, it's a very brutal movie. The threat of violence looms over almost every scene and when things turn nasty, they turn very nasty. The demise of one of the movie's major characters is shocking in its intensity.
Hollywood cranks out a lot of crummy remakes of movies that weren't that good to begin with, but "Border Incident" is a story that if updated properly and not infested with political correctness would make a terrific redo.
On Espy's 1-10 scale, this one gets a 9.