Rough, violent city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain who sends him upstate to a snowy mountain town to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.

Hard, withdrawn city cop Jim Wilson roughs up one too many suspects and is sent upstate to help investigate the murder of a young girl in the winter countryside. There he meets Mary Malden, whom he finds attractive and independent. However, Mary's brother is chief suspect in the killing. And Mary herself is blind.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Eleven years on the job as a NYPD police detective in dealing with criminals on a day in and day out basis has made Jim Wilson a cruel, bitter man, he using excessive force to beat out information from suspects. Warned time and time again that such actions actually hurt their cases in the long run despite Jim believing that he gets results, his superior, Captain Brawley, assigns him to a case in Westham, a remote community upstate, to allow him to "cool off" both figuratively and literally, the latter as it is the middle of winter. Jim, under the direction of Westham's Sheriff Carrey, is to join the posse pursuing a murderer, identity unknown, the victim schoolgirl Sally Brent. Upon his arrival in snowy Westham, Jim finds that Sally's grieving father, Walter Brent, has appointed himself the leader of the posse in wanting to exact vigilante justice, namely he wanting to be the one to pull the trigger to kill the murderer which suits Jim just fine as long as they catch the right man. Jim and Walter are able to track the supposed murderer to, but then lose him at a remote house owned by blind Mary Malden. Managing to have some time alone with Mary, Jim learns that Mary knows more about the murder and murderer than she would initially divulge. In making a human connection with Mary in their individual loneliness, Jim begins to get a different view of this case, one diverging from Walter's outward perspective, and perhaps his view both of his work and his life.—Huggo

On Dangerous Ground (1951) is a film noir directed by Nicholas Ray. The story follows Jim Wilson (played by Robert Ryan), a hardened, violent New York City police detective who becomes increasingly bitter and brutal in his approach to dealing with criminals. After an altercation where Jim's excessive force draws scrutiny, his superiors send him to a rural area to investigate a murder, hoping the change of scenery will calm his temperament. In the remote countryside, Jim teams up with a local man named Walter Brent (Ward Bond), whose young daughter was the murder victim. Together, they track down the suspect, but Jim's encounter with the suspect's blind sister, Mary Malden (Ida Lupino), alters his course. Mary's compassion and understanding gradually soften Jim's hardened exterior, and he begins to question his methods and moral choices. As he struggles between his duty and growing sympathy for Mary, Jim undergoes a transformation, culminating in a climactic confrontation that forces him to face his inner demons. The film blends elements of crime drama and psychological exploration, with stark contrasts between urban life and the quieter, reflective atmosphere of the countryside.

The lonely and tough Jim Wilson is an efficient detective that frequently uses excessive violence to resolve his cases and even his partners do not approve his behavior. While chasing two cop killers, he blows the bladder of another suspect during the interrogation to get the information to catch the assassins. He is warned by his chief Captain Brawley to cool off, and when he beats another suspect on the street, Brawley sends him "upstate to Siberia" in the cold Westham to calm down and help the locals in a murder case of a girl. When he arrives, he visits the family of the victim, whose father Walter Brent is decided to kill the murderer. They chase the man through the snow, and after a car accident, they reach the isolated house of Mary Malden, a blind woman that lives alone in the middle of nowhere with her brother Danny that has mental problem. Brent and Jim are lodged by Mary to spend the night, and Jim is affected by Mary in a process of humanization and redemption.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil