Highway 301

1950
Approved
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Gaby André, Wally Cassell, and Steve Cochran in Highway 301 (1950)

Cop Drama Film Noir Heist Police Procedural Crime Drama

Led by a psychopathic killer, a vicious gang of armed robbers terrorizes Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, robbing banks and payrolls and murdering anyone who might identify them.Led by a psychopathic killer, a vicious gang of armed robbers terrorizes Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, robbing banks and payrolls and murdering anyone who might identify them.Led by a psychopathic killer, a vicious gang of armed robbers terrorizes Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, robbing banks and payrolls and murdering anyone who might identify them.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

1.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos12

+ 6

Top cast60

Edit

William P. Lane Jr.

Self - Maryland Governor
(as The Honorable William P. Lane Jr.)

John S. Battle

Self - Virginia Governor
(as The Honorable John S. Battle)

W. Kerr Scott

Self - North Carolina Governor
(as Governor W. Kerr Scott)

Steve Cochran

George Legenza

Virginia Grey

Mary Simms

Gaby André

Lee Fontaine
(as Gaby Andre)

Edmon Ryan

Detective Sergeant Truscott

Robert Webber

William B. Phillips

Wally Cassell

Robert Mays

Aline Towne

Madeline Welton

Richard Egan

Herbie Brooks

Edward Norris

Noyes Hinton

Fred Aldrich

Cop with Machine Gun
(uncredited)

John Alvin

Bank Teller
(uncredited)

Richard Bartell

News Clerk
(uncredited)

Chet Brandenburg

Bank Customer
(uncredited)

Bill Cartledge

Elevator Boy
(uncredited)

Dick Cherney

Police Officer
(uncredited)

Director
- Andrew L. Stone
Writer
- Andrew L. Stone
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

6.5

Hunt the Man Down

6.8

Dial 1119

6.8

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands

6.5

Lightning Strikes Twice

7.0

6.8

7.4

7.2

6.1

6.8

6.7

6.2

The Devil Makes Three

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
The film's title, "Highway 301" (which is never mentioned in the film) refers to a U.S. highway that connects Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, where the Tri-State Gang committed their crimes. According to TCM's Eddie Muller, the gang, led by Walter Legenza (played by Steve Cochran), embarked on their robbery and murder rampage "running roughshod through Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, though Pennsylvania is not mentioned in the movie.

Goofs
After the bank robbery, a police officer finds the getaway car and calls it in to his headquarters by radio, using the call sign "KMA 367". The robbery takes place in North Carolina, but the "KMA 367" call sign--assigned by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)--is for the Los Angeles (CA) Police Dept. Call signs beginning with "K" are issued to departments on the West Coast, not the East Coast; East Coast departments are issued call signs beginning with "W".

Quotes
Detective Sergeant Truscott: [voice over] This is Winston-Salem, North Carolina, drowsing in the mid-afternoon sun of early spring, not knowing it had been chosen as the scene for the next exploit of the arrogant mob we know as "The Tri-State Gang". These men operated openly, wearing no masks, boldly flaunting the law. To escape detection, they simply killed anyone who might possibly get in their way.

Crazy credits
The cast and credits are given at the end of the movie.

Connections
Featured in Macon County Movie Club: Noir Night (2021)

Soundtracks
You Go to My Head
Music by J. Fred Coots
Lyrics by HavenGillespie
Played early on in a bar scene

User reviews31

Review

Featured review

7/10

Gang-on-the-run movie packs a dirty wallop

The heart sinks when Highway 301 opens as the governors of three states bore us blind with pompous crime-does-not-pay speeches, one after the other. (It was 1950, and before we had a good time we had to be morally reassured.) Luckily, things pick up quickly in this modest but very well done look at life on the lam. A gang of bank-and-payroll robbers is terrorizing North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland; its leader (Steve Cochran) is especially vicious, and seems to take particular delight in bumping off women who cross him. One of them (Virginia Grey) gets bumped off much too early, as her sassy mouth is one of the best things in the movie. Another is the French-Canadian girlfriend (Gaby Andre) of another gangster, who only slowly comes to realize that she's fallen in with a den a theives ("duh?"). The tensest sequence in the movie occurs when Cochran is stalking her, by night, in the streets of Richmond, Virginia. The concluding scene, in a hospital, is almost as good. Again, by no means a vital installment in the noir canon, but quite professional and engaging.