On Dangerous Ground starts off with a very rough and tumble look at a sharp but very tough police detective on the force named Jim Wilson. He been suspended a few times for being too rough with the captives and his captain is about to kick him off the force when a case comes up that will get Wilson out of the city for a few days on a errant case involving a murder suspect. Robert Ryan plays Wilson, a man who's not afraid to get into it with the bad guys, comes off as a bad guy himself, even to his partners.
Mostly known for his directing of Rebel Without a cause, Nicolas Ray had made over three decades of movies with a darker, underbelly of life, approach. This movie takes our hero from his place of business in the city to the mountainous country of Colorado to find a killer on the lose. When he gets there, Wilson is teamed up with the local father of the deceased to find his daughter's killer. This brings him to the cabin in the snowy mountains of Mary, who's own brother is the prime suspect in the case. It's Mary's strong will and determination that convinces Wilson to hear out Mary's plea to capture her brother, rather than killing him on the spot. Never once did her disability come into the thought of Wilson when it came time to tell Mr. Brent to back off.
The major contrast of the city from the mountains played a part in softening the hardened police detective. He was genuinely concerned for Mary's safety once he learned that she was blind, despite her reassurance that she would be fine. She even went to search for her brother once she realized he was their suspect.
In all of this week’s movies, the bad guys were nicely captured and the story wraps up neat at the end of each movie. It wasn't until later on when crooks would be able to get away and that would be how the movie would end. Justice was served in this case, as in the rest of the weeks movies. Even in the Big Heat where the crime spread into the police force, the straight cop finds a way to figure out just who to trust in the department and smoked out the crooked cops all the way to the top.
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