The Long Wait is a 1954 film based on a novel by mystery writer Mickey Spillane.

Plot

Johnny McBride is badly hurt while hitch hiking and loses his memory when the car he is riding in crashes. Two years later, a clue leads him to his old home town, where he finds he is a murder suspect. Johnny tries to clear his name of the presumed murder charges. Thugs working for the local mob boss try to end his meddling.

Reaction

Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style by Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward notes: "The inclusion of amnesia, giving the hero a sense of hopelessness compounded by the frustration of his loss of identity, instills a distinct existential bias into McBride's search. This attitude combines with a pervading sense of corruption and dehumanization to give The Long Wait a fatalistic noir ethos."

Featured cast

Actor	Role
Anthony Quinn	Johnny McBride
Charles Coburn	Gardiner
Gene Evans	Servo
Peggie Castle	Venus
Mary Ellen Kay	Wendy Miller
Shirley Patterson	Carol Shay (as Shawn Smith)

References