Liked it, but...

Like a lot of noir movies of that era, things just happened because the script called for it, so they threw it in without trying for plausibility.

There was Jeff tracking down Kathy in Mexico, for instance. He figures she went there, because he learned that she needed an immunization shot, and Mexico was the logical choice for that. Still, Mexico is a big country, but he knows enough within seconds of being there to go right to the hotel in Mexico City where she stayed, but she had moved on. Then he somehow knows what bus she took to the next town, and he goes there and happens upon her walking into a bar. When he walks up to her, it's like they already know each other. And they start their romance with no preamble. Because the script says so.

Then Witt and his henchman just show up out of the blue at Jeff's hotel. Why, and how did they even know where he was? It seemed like a setup, just so they could almost see Kathy walking into the hotel out of their sight and find out Jeff and Kathy's plot to get away without Witt knowing. But they don't see her. Whew, that was a close one. Then Witt just goes back home.

Then there's that ridiculous scene at the river, where Whit's henchman is about to shoot Jeff, but he's on a twenty foot cliff over the river, and the mute kid spots him, cast his fishing line up and catches the guy's coat with the hook, pulling him off balance enough that the guy falls onto the rocks of the river, killing him.

Then there's the scene toward the end, where they're driving up to a roadblock, and Kathy shoots Jeff, who is driving (how did that make sense?), and the guy (sheriff) at the roadblock mows her down with a machine gun while she's still in the car. I suppose the director had to wrap the whole thing up, and this was the easiest way to do it. It didn't have to be plausible, because, this is a noir movie, and noir movies don't always have to make sense.

I did like it on some level, though I thought the script of the remake, "Against All Odds," at least had plausibility built into it. And the romance between Bridges and Rachel Ward at least had chemistry and made more sense. It was not a better movie than "Out of the Past," but at least the writing was better.