Crime On a Budget

 

 (imdb)

THE WALKING TARGET-1960-Nick (Ron Foster; later in HOUSE OF THE DAMNED) gets out of jail after serving 5 years. The warden warns him he's a walking target because he knows where some hold up money is stashed. He meets girlfriend Suzy (Merry Anders; in THE HYPNOTIC EYE the same year) and friend Davy (Robert Christopher; in several Jerry Warren movies) but is still bitter over his jail time. A police Lt. (Harp McGuire) plans on arresting Nick when he goes for the loot.

 Of course, Suzy and Davy are lovers in cahoots to get all of the illicit dough. Meanwhile gangster businessman Arnie Huffman (familiar character actor Berry Kroeger) is also after the stolen loot. A flashback reveals how Nick convinced his honest hard working now dead friend Sammy (Norman Alden) to throw in with him despite the objections of his life Gail (Joan Evans; real life goddaughter of Joan Crawford). The swag is hidden in Gail's car and thanks to a homeless guy named Packy (William Fawcett) Nick learns Gail is in Arizona running a diner. After finding out about Davy & Suzy and upsetting Huffman's plan, Nick visits Gail. She is understandable angry at him even when he tells her she can have all the cash but she relents and lets him stay at her home. Later, he gets the money. Gail convinces him to give it back and go away with her. There's a shootout and couple of people are killed. 

Screenwriter Stephen Kandel later became a TV producer/writer on “Mannix” and “MacGyver” and a few others. Director Edward L. Cahn directed this low budget thriller a year after making his last horror movie THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE.

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