Plot
A trade union lawyer named Walter Deaney (John Saxon) kills a burglar in his house. Only an unorthodox plain-clothes detective named Mitchell (Joe Don Baker) believes that Deaney is guilty of something more than self-defense, but Chief Albert Pallin (Robert Phillips) tells him that Deaney is wanted for "every federal law violation in the book" and is therefore "FBI property."
To keep Mitchell away from Deaney, the Chief orders him to stake out the home of James Arthur Cummings (Martin Balsam), a wealthy man with ties to the mob whose "big scene" is the import and export of stolen merchandise. Mitchell initially is unconcerned with Cummings and focuses primarily on Deaney. But he gets drawn in after Cummings discovers that Salvatore Mistretta (Morgan Paull), cousin of his mafioso benefactor Tony Gallano (Harold J. Stone), is bringing in a shipment of stolen heroin from Mexico without Cummings' consent.
After unsuccessfully trying to buy Mitchell off with an offer of an illicit real estate deal and a prostitute named Greta (Linda Evans), Deaney decides to work with Cummings to eliminate the annoying cop. Deaney is killed shortly thereafter during an attempt on Mitchell's life.
Cummings refuses to let Mistretta use his port facilities to bring the shipment in, earning him the ire of Gallano who begins sending thugs to harass him. Cummings decides that the only ally he still has—aside from his faithful butler and bodyguard, Benton (Merlin Olsen) -- is Mitchell, because he's no good to the police dead.
Cummings offers a deal. If he is allowed to go free, Mitchell will be allowed to pose as a chauffeur and pick up the drug shipment, putting him in a position to both confiscate the drugs and arrest Mistretta. However, Cummings double-crosses Mitchell by alerting Mistretta to his real identity. He's also double-crossed Mistretta by replacing the heroin with chalk. Mistretta decides to kill Mitchell and dump the body on Cummings' boat.
Mistretta is killed in the subsequent gun battle, freeing Mitchell to go after Cummings, who is attempting to flee the country by sea. Mitchell is dropped onto the boat by helicopter and kills Benton with a gaff hook. Cummings is killed after one final attempted double-cross fails, bringing the story to a close.
Read more about this topic: Mitchell (film)
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“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)