Border Incident is a 1949 American film noir featuring Ricardo Montalbán , George Murphy , and Howard Da Silva . Directed by Anthony Mann , the MGM production was written by John C. Higgins from a story by John C. Higgins and George Zuckerman . The film was shot by cinematographer John Alton , who used shadows and lighting effects to involve an audience despite the fact that the film was shot on a low budget.
7-439: Two agents, one Mexican ( PJF ) and one American, are tasked to stop the smuggling of Mexican migrant workers across the border to California. The two agents go undercover, one as a poor migrant. The film was among a number of lower budgeted movies produced at MGM under the regime of Dore Schary . According to Mann, "Metro said: ‘Make whatever picture you want.' John [Alton] and I had thought of doing Border Incident , because
14-460: The US and Canada and $ 328,000 overseas resulting in a loss of $ 194,000. Roger Westcombe compared the film to classic Westerns : "Yet far from a typical Western's sense of freedom, Border Incident shares with [director Mann's previous film noir] T-Men that film's inky, submerged visual quality. These are 'wide' but not 'open' spaces, as Alton's beautifully registered grey-toned but grim visuals make
21-522: The distant horizons as closed as the American border. The constant presence of vulnerable, innocent peasants adds a piquancy to Border Incident , raising the stakes from the destiny of a mere two police agents to that of an entire underclass." Federal Judicial Police The Federal Judicial Police ( Spanish : Policía Judicial Federal , the PJF ) was the federal police force of Mexico until it
28-520: The guys there were also involved with the Federal agents and T Men . Through the research we had made with T Men we found the fantastic story of the Border Incident boys. We made it on location, but it was really not Metro’s cup of tea. When it came out, they were flabbergasted. It wasn’t anything they thought a motion picture should be!" According to MGM records the film earned $ 580,000 in
35-591: The outlying detachments. Individuals arrested by the Federal Judicial Police were placed at the disposition of the local federal prosecutor, who appointed subordinate attorneys to assess each case. One of the smaller law enforcement agencies in Mexico, the Federal Judicial Police tripled in size by increasing from 500 personnel in 1982, to over 1,500 in 1984. In 1988 an assistant attorney general's office for investigating and combating drug trafficking
42-535: Was formed with an additional 1,500 Federal Judicial Police agents. In 1990 the office was expanded and given interagency coordinating functions in the battle against narcotics . Beginning in 2002, the Federal Judicial Police was replaced by the Mexican Federal Investigative Agency due to corruption problems. Between December 1994 and August 1996, 1,250 members, or 22% of the force, were arrested for connections to drug cartels. During
49-414: Was shut down in 2002 due to its own rampant corruption and criminal activity. The jurisdiction of the Federal Judicial Police encompassed the entire nation and was divided into thirteen zones with fifty-two smaller detachment headquarters. Under the coordination of the local federal prosecutor, each zone was headed by a Second Commandant of the Federal Judicial Police, who in turn directs the group chiefs in
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