Slightly Scarlet

Bay City crime boss Solly Caspar tasks crooked ex-cop Ben Grace with uncovering dirt on mayoral candidate Frank Jansen. Caspar hopes to use the leverage to derail Jansen's campaign and weaken the reform movement in the city. Ben accepts, setting in motion a ruthless power play that will entangle crime, politics, and loyalty.

Ben tails June Lyons to a women's prison to photograph her visiting her sister Dorothy, a kleptomaniac ex-con. The scheme threads through the campaign and into Dorothy's volatile orbit. The scene establishes Dorothy's magnetic, dangerous presence that will drive later moves.

Rather than delivering dirt on Jansen, Ben hands June an audiotape proving Caspar killed a crusading newspaper owner who had backed Jansen. The evidence shifts the balance of power and gives June leverage in the political-criminal clash. Caspar is forced to rethink his position in Bay City.

With the murder allegations and Caspar's involvement exposed, Caspar is forced to flee Bay City for Mexico to escape the fallout. His departure signals a reshuffling of control over the local rackets. Ben's position in Bay City tightens as a result.

After Caspar's departure, Ben uses his influence with June to consolidate power, seducing her and aligning her with his new control over Caspar's rackets. The personal and criminal alliances become tangled as Ben edges Caspar's empire away from his former boss. A dangerous new order begins to take shape in Bay City.

Dorothy accompanies Ben to Caspar's former beach house, where a safe supposedly holds $160,000. They search the property, but Ben leaves empty-handed, sensing more danger and scrutiny than reward. Dorothy's presence adds temptation and a potential score to the already tense dynamics.

Dorothy, testing loyalty and power, accidentally fires a spear gun at Ben's head, narrowly missing him. The near-miss heightens the risk of their volatile romance and deepens Dorothy's unpredictable influence over Ben. The moment underscores the film's dangerous game of attraction and menace.

Dorothy tells June that the beach-house trip was a romantic escapade, using it to needle Ben and complicate loyalties. June confronts Ben, who insists that his sole interest is her. The confrontation crystallizes the moral ambiguities surrounding all three characters.

Dorothy is arrested for stealing a pearl necklace, prompting June to plead for mercy. Ben leverages a favor owed by his former boss—a retired lieutenant—to intervene, securing Dorothy's release and purging her record. The rescue removes a legal threat while sowing new tensions.

Jansen, still in love with June, resists the idea of Dorothy's release and insists she must return to jail. His stance complicates the triad of loyalties and heightens the stakes for all involved. The political pressure blends with street-level vengeance as the plot thickens.

Caspar returns to Bay City from Mexico with a burning desire for revenge on Ben and to reclaim his rackets. The reappearance signals a full-blown confrontation between Caspar's former power base and Ben's newly expanded control. Old wounds flare as the two men re-engage with higher stakes.

At the beach house, June arrives to rescue Dorothy as Caspar's threats escalate. A tense confrontation unfolds on the terrace, culminating in a decisive act that shifts the balance of power. The encounter tightens the net around Ben, Dorothy, and June.

Ben phones the police and calls for a full squad to descend on the house, attempting to turn the odds in his favor. Caspar's gang offers to spare the women if Ben leaves the room, but Ben refuses to abandon Dorothy and June. The standoff tightens as authorities close in.

The police arrive and arrest Caspar and his gang, ending the immediate caper. Ben lies badly wounded on a stretcher, while June offers quiet comfort as the danger subsides. Dorothy's presence remains a volatile thread in the aftermath.

June speaks tenderly to Ben before he is taken away by an ambulance, underscoring the fragile, compromised bond between them. Dorothy emerges from the bedroom, seemingly penitent, hinting at a potential softening of her febrile ambitions. The film closes on a note of wary, unresolved loyalties.