Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The picture should have had the title of Danger Ahead.It's basically the story of truckers trying to get dangerous chemical moved to the new location.In the midst of all this, one of our truckers, who is substituting for his alcoholic brother, breaks out singing Rolling Along With A Breeze. That song was appropriate for the 1954 film "The Long Long Trailer with Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz and Marjorie Main. It was ridiculous here to say the least.The film tries to reveal the personal lives of the truckers on this mission. It could have been certainly more exciting given the nature of the topic. Instead, we get explosions, death on the road, and a lot of broken bones.

This little B-movie may be a long way from its classic French predecessor The Wages of Fear (1953), but it still manages a few shudders. Six guys drive tanker trucks down a winding mountain road, with a load of rocket fuel. One false move and they're less than toast. Of course, there're the inevitable hazards-- a runaway bus, sloppy brakes, and who forgot to tighten the fuel valve, plus, a wild- driving kid (Garrison). Good thing Brian Keith's in charge. He's perfect for the blue-collar role, though poor Zimbalist Jr. looks a little lost, even as a professor doing double duty as a driver. Notice how they work the good-looking girls into a macho story-line. The movie knows its drive-in audience will get tired of the ugly guys. Also, the canny producers went out and got one of Hollywood's best actresses, Ann Doran, for the heavy-duty role of the Sarge's wife. And, if memory serves, the Kennedy Meadows road northwest of Lone Pine was used for the mountain hair-raiser scenes.Unfortunately, this is the type of solid little B-movie that would soon drive off into the sunset.

The Violent Road casts Brian Keith taking on a really hazardous trip, transporting three components of rocket fuel, any one of them could reek havoc of some kind if it is jarred. Making it worse Keith has to travel over an abandoned road with little traffic that is rocky. It's like traveling with nitroglycerin with triple the risk.The place storing the stuff has to move because a military rocket experiment went horribly wrong and crashed into the town causing death and destruction. Keith also has to pick five other men willing to make the risk. One is picked for him, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. who is a scientist and knows how to handle the fuel.The other four are Sean Garrison, Perry Lopez, Arthur Batanides and Dick Foran. Foran's portrayal is a poignant one. A former Marine who was mandatory retired he can't get used to it. He just drinks all day and bores the young Marines at the bar that Keith finds him. Foran's scenes with wife Ann Doran are truly touching.The Violent Road is a nice no frills B picture from Warner Brothers, the kind that used to fill the second bill on a program. Now that stuff would be found on television and shortly Keith and Zimbalist would be seen there often.

While I can't say I prefer this film to either Wages of Fear or Sorcerer, I agree that it is pretty enjoyable. Some of the wisecracks and banter are pure 1950's hard-boiled pulp, and Brian Keith has never been better as a certain type of swaggering man's man particular to that Era."Walker would shrink his own mother's head for a dollar.""I'm not allergic to a buck, either." "You pull a stunt like that again I'll rub yer head in the sand til its hamburger!" While all of this is certainly amusing in a time capsule kind of way, the film itself plays like the storyboards to a much more tension-filled film. Compared to the trials and tribulations undergone by the doomed men in both Wages of Fear and Sorcerer, the journey in Violent Road is rather muted. But still, an enjoyable way to spend an hour and twenty eight minutes.