Anyone who doesn't realize that Sam Fuller used The Count Of Monte Cristo as his inspiration for Underworld USA has not read too much classical literature. Or seen any of the film adaptations of same. Nevertheless the imprint of Alexander Dumas's classic French novel is unmistakable.

Young David Kent suffers the loss of his father who was beaten to death at the hands of four thugs. Later on he takes up a life of crime and goes to jail. By now he's an adult and played by Cliff Robertson. One of the four thugs who murdered dad is dying in the prison hospital and confesses and names to Robertson his accomplices.

After that Robertson works as methodically as Edmond Dantes now the Count Of Monte Cristo working his way into the confidences of the mob bosses who were back in the day the same thugs who killed his old man. He makes a lot of alliances of convenience, one being a hooker played by Dolores Dorn, another being a special federal prosecutor played by Larry Gates.

Robertson is fine as the old style kind of hoodlum that would have found a home in the Warner Brothers gangster flicks of the Thirties. However for my book Dolores Dorn got her career role in Underworld USA. She registers as both tough and fragile at the same time and she does bring out the humanity in Robertson.

As for how it ends, don't think of The Count Of Monte Crist, rather if you've seen the great James Cagney/Humphrey Bogart film The Roaring Twenties than you know how Underworld USA ends.

Sam Fuller did a great job with his cast and Underworld USA is a classic noir/gangster thriller not to be missed.

Tolly Devlin is a street kid rolling drunks for cash. He was born in prison with his mother dying there. He witnesses four thugs beating his father to death. He refuses to fink to the cops. As a young man (Cliff Robertson),he relentlessly and remorselessly takes his revenge.

I find the premise very intriguing although the execution could be more compelling. It's a smaller film. It would be more edgy for it to come in the fifties. The violence could be filmed with more impact. Nevertheless, there is a power to his quest for vengeance. As far as brutality, it doesn't get more brutal than running over a little girl although it'd be nice to film the action with more intensity.

Cliff Robertson plays Tolly Devlin, an embittered ex-convict who has spent a lifetime tracking down the men who murdered his father. Desirous of handling matters on his own, Devlin pretends to be loyal to both the Mob and the Government, playing one against the other in hopes of flushing out the killers. He learns that the three surviving assassins are employed by a supposedly charitable "cover" operation known as National Projects. To get what he wants, Devlin ingratiates himself with mob boss (and outwardly solid citizen) Conners (Robert Emhardt). What Robertson didn't count on was falling in love with "Cuddles" (Dolores Dorn),which leads to his own downfall - but not before justice is served. Producer/director/writer Fuller based "Underworld U.S.A." on a series of "exposé" articles in The Saturday Evening Post. A prime example of Fuller's tabloid sensibility, the film careens through its plot at a lightning pace showcasing his penchant for fevered, sensationalistic imagery and shocking violence. Though not as good as his earlier crime thriller "Pickup On South Street", or his later masterpieces "Shock Corridor" and "The Naked Kiss", this is prime Fuller for afficianados.