Going way back to the days of my youth a 'benny' was short for benzedrine, one of those amphetamine laced pills you needed to keep awake. Kids took them to cram for finals and they were real popular with truck drivers making those long hauls in those big rigs. They can be mighty addictive.

In Death In Small Doses Peter Graves plays a narcotics cop who's given an assignment by his superior Robert Shayne to find out who's selling and distributing these pills which are causing the deaths of so many drivers.

This is a nicely done B noir film from Allied Artists and Graves gets some good support from two females in the cast with substantial roles. Mala Powers plays the landlady who has a boardinghouse catering to truckers where Graves stays and Merry Anders plays a hashhouse waitress.

Best support of all comes from Chuck Connors who plays an amphetamine addicted driver and he plays it broadly and to the max. He's also real terrifying when he freaks out.

Some good work was done by all the cast members in Death In Small Doses.

A federal agent, Tom Kaylor (Peter Graves) is posing as a long-haul truck driver because of the damage being done by truck drivers using amphetamines in order to work their exhausting hours. The only really obvious lead is a trucker named 'Mink' (Chuck Connors),a guy who very obviously uses pills because he's perennially giddy and the acting is WAY over the top! But Mink won't talk and so Tom needs to keep his eyes open and be very, very careful because whoever is supplying the junk is more than willing to kill to keep this secret...and they soon end up beating Tom's co-driver to death because he asked too many questions!

While occasionally the film is obvious and anything but subtle, it is entertaining and does provide a public service. I just wish they'd made Mink semi-realistic and explained that most Amphetamine users do NOT have hallucinations or end up in the Psyc Ward! It's not nearly as silly as films like "Reefer Madness" but if should have been a tad less goofy. It's really a shame, as the topic is an important one AND most of the movie was very good. Still, overall it is never dull and certainly is entertaining!!

DEATH IN SMALL DOSES is an American B-movie crime thriller set in the world of truckers and trucking. It's nowhere near as good as that British classic HELL DRIVERS, but the plot is unusual enough to keep you watching and it could be a lot worse. Future MISSION IMPOSSIBLE star Peter Graves is tasked with investigating the prevalence of illegal amphetamines which truck drivers have been taking to keep them awake during long drives. Unfortunately the side effects include hallucinations and death, so Graves must find the supply chain and nip it in the bud before anybody else dies.

What follows is your usual second-tier story with a little mystery, a little suspense, and a handful of action scenes. Graves is a perfectly likable hero but the real scene-stealer here is Chuck Connors as a beatnik-inspired loudmouth who lights up the screen whenever he appears. Mala Powers is particularly stunning as the love interest of the piece, and the stunt scenes, while hampered by the low budget, keep the production moving along nicely. The twist ending is a strong way to end the film too.