Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum both show up in Vera Cruz looking for the same man, a Jim Fiske (played by Patric Knowles). Greer, because they were engaged, she gave Fiske $2,000 and he bailed. Mitchum, because Fiske stole $300,000 from the Army that was under Mitchum's responsibility. Or so Mitchum claims, but he also keeps using different names - sometimes Blake, sometimes Halliday - and William Bendix is pursuing him as the true thief.
It's an extended chase scene, really. Mitchum and Greer chasing Knowles, Bendix chasing Mitchum. They speed up the film during some of the stunt driving sequences, but the cars still seem to be taking the hilly curves and swerving around various livestock at a good clip. The movie also has some fun with the various attempts by Mitchum and Greer to slow down Bendix, who is excellent at playing a loud, stupid American. The guy who thinks adding an "o" on the end of an English word makes it Spanish, especially if he repeats it at increasing volume.
The movie doesn't really play up the mystery of whether Mitchum is on the level. Not so much he's plays a decent chap; Mitchum is abrasive and condescending with Greer at first, though you could excuse it that he's on the run. It's more that Knowles ditches Greer as soon as possible after she shows up in his hotel room. There's nothing about his hurried, flimsy excuses to Greer, or the way he hurls a suitcase at some guys at a gas station, that screams, "I'm on the level!"
Mitchum and Greer have decent enough chemistry, especially as Mitchum slowly stops treating her like a burden he's saddled with. Greer gets most of the best lines, though, and takes advantage of the fact her character can speak Spanish, while Mitchum can speak, "Spanish." Meaning, he knows a couple of words, but that's about it.
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