Shield for Murder (1954): Cast & Plot

Lieutenant Barney Nolan, Edmond O’Brien, a 16-year veteran of the police force, has had it with the world. He once prided himself on doing the right thing, but years on the force have corroded his conscience and sharpened his ruthlessness. In a secluded alley late at night, he fatally shoots a bookmaker in the back and steals his $25,000, then calmly claims he was forced to kill the man because he tried to escape custody. The accusation shatters the trust around him: while Sergeant Mark Brewster, John Agar, his longtime friend and protégé, and Captain Gunnarson, Emile Meyer, believe him, a sharp-eyed newspaper reporter, Cabot, Herbert Butterfield, suspects there is more to the story than a desperate moment of self-defense.