At a Miami nightclub, gangster Bert Galvin offers to take singer Ruth Williams under his wing and to New York, helping her career.

There, prisoners are all literally "under the gun" of a ruthless trustee, Nugent, who is a convict like themselves but carries a rifle.

Bert intends to escape, but fellow inmate Sam Gower befriends him and explains that a trustee is promised an immediate pardon if he should kill any prisoner who tries to flee.

Film critic Bosley Crowther had morality problems with the script, writing, "We might also note that the acting of Richard Conte in the principal role and of Sam Jaffe, Royal Dano, Richard Taber and John McIntire is good.

But we can't for the life of us figure any reason for such an aimless tale, except to indulge in bleak sadism.

"[2] Time Out magazine liked the acting in the film, "No forgotten masterpiece, but a neat little crime thriller, ingeniously plotted by George Zuckerman ... Worth watching for the admirable Conte, the Florida locations, and fitful direction by Tetzlaff, a fine cameraman (My Man Godfrey, Notorious) who never quite hit his director's stride again after the excellent The Window in 1949.