Key Witness (1960 film)

Key Witness
Directed by	Phil Karlson
Produced by	Pandro S. Berman
Written by	Alfred Brenner Sidney Michaels
Based on	novel by Frank Kane
Starring	Jeffrey Hunter Patricia Crowley Dennis Hopper
Music by	Charles Wolcott
Edited by	Ferris Webster
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	1960
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$857,000
Box office	$810,000

Key Witness is a black and white 1960 crime film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Jeffrey Hunter, Pat Crowley and Dennis Hopper.

Fred Morrow, an average Los Angeles citizen, witnesses a gang murder when he stops in a cafe to use a telephone. Aware that he is the only witness against them, the gang members, led by young "Cowboy" Tomkins, seek out his identity and terrorize him and his family to keep him from testifying against them.

A police detective, Torno, fears he will lose his only witness, but Fred stands up to the gang, despite wife Ann's hysteria. Cowboy gives the Morrows until midnight to change their minds, he and gang members Ruby, Muggles and Apple throwing a rock through the family's window and slashing their car's tires.

Cowboy leads the cops on a car chase, but is caught. In court, though, Fred changes his testimony after learning Ann has been attacked by Ruby and their child held at gunpoint by Muggles. He later provokes Apple, who is black, into siding against Cowboy, who reveals his racist attitudes toward his accomplice. Torno takes the entire gang into custody, Apple agreeing to testify.

According to MGM records, the film earned $360,000 in the US and Canada and $450,000 in other countries, resulting in a loss of $496,000.

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