The True Story of Lynn Stuart (1958)

Just what I expected

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

**SPOILERS** We get an opening speech in the film from non other then California's Attorney General and later Governor of the Golden Sate Edmund G. Brown. Brown explains to the audience about the evils of illegal drugs and how it's almost impossible to keep them out of the hands of those addicted to them. That's as long as their being smuggled into the state by big time drug kingpins who for the most part seem to be immune from the law.This is what lead civic minded Phyllis Carter, Betsy Palmer, to takes things into her own hands when her nephew Tommy Efron was killed in a police chase while he and his friend, who also died, were high on heroin. Demanding that the police do something to stem this drug epidemic sweeping the state Phyllis gets nowhere until one of the top undercover men of the Santa Anna police department Nat, Than Wyenn, as murdered in Tijuana by American drug kingpin Willie Down, Jack Lord.With Nat murdered Santa Anna police Let. Jim Hagan, Barry Atwater, has no choice but to accept Phyllis' offer to help and puts her undercover as the just released from prison, on a bank robbery conviction, gun moll Lynn Stuart. Working as a waitress at an outdoor hot dog and hamburger stand Phillis, as Lynn Stuart, gets to know Willie Down who's known to frequent the place. In no time at all Phyllis, in educating herself in the language of drug and gangster lingo, gets real friendly with Willie who later introduces her to his boss or Mr. Big himself in the California illegal drug trade Doc, John Anderson.As Phyllis started to get closer to what her boyfriend Willie Down was into her life, as well as those of her family members and friends, became endangered. That's In Willie and friends finding out who she is-A police undercover woman-and whacking her like they did to Nat. It's during an heroin drug hijacking of fellow drug smugglers that Willie knocked off three persons that Phyllis got seconds thoughts into what she was involved with. As well as what she was facing if Willie every discovered who she really was: Housewie Phyllis Carter ace police undercover woman!***SPOILERS*** With Phyllis losing her nerve in what a very dangerous situation that she's into the news over the radio, at Willie's hideout, that her son Jimmy, Louis Towers, is near death suffering from pneumonia almost has her blow her cover. It's then that Let. Hagan as well as almost the entire Santa Anna police department with agents of the FBI DEA and a unit of California National Guard thrown in comes to her rescue in just the nick of time.In the end Phyllis had to be put into the witness protection program together with her husband Ralph, Kim Spalding, and son, who had fully recovered from his pneumonia, Jimmie in order to keep members of Doc and Willie's, who were now put behind bars, gang getting their hands on them. It was a high price to pay but it did what Phyllis always wanted in putting away the likes of Willie Down as well as putting the fear of God in them in that there are people, like Phyllis Carter, in the country who are willing to risk their lives in doing so!

Columbia goes to a series of newspaper articles about the drug traffic in this story about upper middle class housewife Betsey Palmer volunteering to go undercover for the narcotics squad. The sincerity of the story telling and, indeed, Miss Palmer's acting, manage to overcome a few holes in logic, like her ability to impersonate an ex-con after studying a list of junkie slang.Basically the understated night-life photography of Burnett Guffey and a large cast of skilled if little-known screen actors of all ages -- including Snub Pollard and Eddie Le Veque as well as Jack Lord as the lead drug dealer -- manage to keep this interesting enough to overcome the problem. Plus Miss Palmer is gorgeous. It's a pity she didn't get a chance to be in more movies until a quarter century later, but she had plenty of work in TV.