Herman Tibbetts (Paul Guilfoyle) is just getting out of prison after five years for a bank robbery in which the money was never recovered. The Hawk, the gang leader, got away with that money and let Herman take the rap. He's met by his wife, Goldie (Lee Patrick). While the two are getting tickets for a train they hear a fellow (Lee Tracy as Michael Winslow) at the next window say he wants to insure the contents of his bag for fifty thousand dollars, but the train won't insure something that valuable. This gets our (ex? ) crooks minds turning, and they make sure they are on the same train he is on. Then in the dining car a clipping falls out of Mike's coat pocket. It is a news item about 50 thousand dollars in stolen bonds. So Goldie and Herman decide to take the stolen bonds from Mike and turn it in for the reward, which could likely be 5000 dollars.
They corner Mike in his compartment, but it turns out his briefcase is full of scripts, not bonds. The clipping was just one of many he keeps on him in hopes of getting ideas for further scripts. However, Mike's crime yarns have lots of holes in them. Herman, claiming to be a criminologist, says he can help with needed authenticity in Mike's scripts, and the two become collaborators. It turns out to be a very profitable partnership too as the B crime series they come up with about the exploits of an arch criminal named "The Hawk" is wildly popular.
Unfortunately the real Hawk, the lead gangster in Herman's old gang, wants to know who is telling all of his secrets and making him look like a jerk in the movies. At the same time, Texas law enforcement and the president of the bank the Hawk's gang robbed notice that nobody could know about all of the details of the hold up except the robbers who did the heist. All of these puzzled parties converge on the site of the shooting of the latest Hawk crime film, with the idea of maybe doing some shooting of their own. Further complicating factor - The guy playing the Hawk is a dead ringer for the real Hawk. Complications ensue.
This was a fast-paced little B. It has no time for character development but there is no time for boredom either as the players jump from dilemma to dilemma, with an extremely likeable cast. It's ironic that Lee Tracy is starring as the writer of the kinds of B films that he starred in after he got booted from MGM because of the unfortunate incident in Mexico while making "Viva Villa". Look for a very young Jack Carson as a sardonic director dressed like he can't decide if he's a blue collar worker or on safari. I also think I caught a glimpse of George Reeves of later Superman fame in an uncredited role as an annoyed patron in a movie theater.