The Las Vegas Story
features two of Hollywood's most impressive physiques. Victor Mature stars as Dave Andrews, a policeman, while Jane Russell plays Linda, the love of his life. Assuming that Andrews has forgotten her, Linda marries Lloyd Rollins (Vincent Price) on the rebound. All three main characters are reunited in Las Vegas, where they become enmeshed in a robbery scheme that results in murder. Clearly inspired by
Casablanca
, the film even includes a philosophical piano player, portrayed by Hoagy Carmichael who also wrote the film's incidental songs. Though
Las Vegas Story
was largely scripted by Paul Jarrico, producer Howard Hughes refused to give Jarrico screen credit because of the latter's alleged pro-communist sympathies. Jarrico promptly sued Hughes and RKO, sparking one of the more famous
cause celebres
of the Blacklist era. As it turned out, nobody came out ahead with
: the film posted a loss of $600,000.