Kansas City Confidential is a 1952 film noir crime film directed by Phil Karlson and starring John Payne. The film was marketed with the tagline "Exploding like a gun in your face!" and released in the United Kingdom as The Secret Four . Karlson and Payne teamed up a year later for 99 River Street, another noir, followed by a 1955 color film, Hell's Island. This film is now in the public domain. Four robbers hold up an armored truck, getting away with over a million dollars in cash. Joe Rolfe (John Payne), a down-on-his-luck flower delivery truck driver is accused of being involved and is roughly interrogated by local police. Released due to lack of evidence, Joe, following the clues to a Mexican resort, decides to look for the men who set him up both to clear his name and to exact revenge. What he doesn’t know is that the heist involves a retired policeman who is also intent on revenge. The plot was inspiration for Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Kansas City Confidential was the only film made by Edward Small's short-lived Associated Players and Producers studio. The story begins in Kansas City, but most of the film actually takes place at a fictitious fishing resort in Mexico.