Before Tom Clancy made the name Jack Ryan synonymous with Cold War heroics, Ryan O'Neal broke into the movies by portraying a decidedly different Jack Ryan in this lurid drama. O'Neal's Ryan is picking cucumbers when he picks a fight with a Mexican immigrant coworker (Victor Paul). The brutal beating sends Ryan to look for work elsewhere and he lands in roadside motel. Trouble continues to follow the ex-con as both a secretary with a seedy reckless streak (Leigh Taylor-Young) and a troubled, sexy transient (Lee Grant) make plays for the handsome young Ryan.



Based on the novel by Elmore Leonard.