T-Men was something of a practice run for Mann’s Border Incident, another socially conscious film noir. Made inexpensively for MGM—a studio whose low-budget pictures looked more expensive than many an A picture made elsewhere—Border Incident is nearly a Southwestern remake of the urban T-Men, as both films follow a pair of undercover government agents who infiltrate a crooked operation. The fresh (and timely) subject matter of Border Incident—abuses at the U.S./Mexican border involving migrant workers—replaces T-Men’s more routine doings. Border Incident has greater humanity and singular flavor, and it keeps its self-congratulatory government-agency uplift to a minimum. Typically, its weakest scenes are those in which the Feds self-consciously assure viewers that the evil depicted is rare, and that there’s nothing to fear with men such as these on the job. Mann’s talents for suspense, brutal action, and the dramatically integrated use of rugged locations—elements that would find their fullest expression when he turned to westerns—are all on view here.

excerpted from John DiLeo’s
Screen Savers: 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery
© 2008 Hansen Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.