The Big Steal is a 1949 American black-and-white film noir reteaming Out of the Past stars Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer.

Halliday and Graham ultimately track Fiske to a safehouse in the desert, where a fence, Seton (John Qualen), offers him $150,000 in untraceable bills in exchange for the payroll.

Revealing just how ruthless he is, he then calmly explains to the others that his cover story will be that his late ex-partner, “apparently still at large”, will take the blame for the missing payroll.

Graham then creates a distraction for Halliday to jump Blake, whom he bests in a bruising fistfight, while she accidentally wounds Seaton during a successful struggle over his gun.

Robert Mitchum's arrest for possession of marijuana on September 1, 1948, and his subsequent conviction and incarceration, had a large impact on the production of The Big Steal.

RKO head Howard Hughes saw Mitchum's notoriety surrounding the arrest (the actor already seen as a 'bad boy' in Hollywood) as a positive that would boost attention for a rather low-rent - but hopefully profitable - production.

Hughes had been keeping Greer, a former girlfriend, from appearing in any RKO films in an attempt to ruin her career, but finally conceded when no other actress would take the part.

Region 2 DVD from 2008 (in a box set with 8 other film noir thrillers) is a colourised version, produced by Turner Entertainment, copyrighted 1991.