[5] Father Charles Dismas Clark, a Jesuit priest in St. Louis, dedicates his life to the rehabilitation of delinquents and ex-convicts.

He is primarily concerned with a young thief, Billy Lee Jackson, recently released from the Missouri State Penitentiary.

Meanwhile, aided by Louis Rosen, a successful criminal lawyer, Father Clark raises enough funds to open Halfway House, a shelter for ex-convicts readjusting to civilian life.

[6] A.H. Weiler of The New York Times wrote: "An unrelievedly grim, serious and action-filled case against an uncompromising attitude toward former convicts and capital punishment, it evolves, through an unpretentious, documentary treatment, as tough and persuasive, if disquieting, drama...There is no doubt, however, as to the film's sharp, authentic pictorial look, since it was photographed largely in St. Louis, whose lower depths rise strikingly before an audience.

Its cheap saloons, alleys and slums, photographed in newsreel detail by Haskell Wexler, lend polish and support to the fast pace maintained by the director, Irvin Kershner, whose experience stems largely from television.