This being a major studio film at the height of the HUAC's anti-subversive activity, of course, both country's figures of authority admittedly come off smelling a little like roses; but read between the lines, particularly in the scenes which depict the absurd and endless wait for Mexican laborers to enter America "above the table," and even the powers that be come in for some implicit criticism.
Let's not, however, mistake Border Incident for some kind of politically correct trope; there's a definite distinction here between "good Mexicans" - the suffering braceros, Montalban's character - and "bad Mexicans" - the bumbling, clown-like goons who work for the man in charge of the illegal immigration operation. And besides, like all good noirs, Border Incident is here to entertain, not teach us about international labor or racial politics. In this respect, the movie is an indisputable success. Mann's direction is a very well-executed blend of noir and Western conventions, perfect for the guy who gave us both Raw Deal and Winchester '73; he ends the film with a climactic shootout in a canyon filled with quicksand, but not before he plunges us into a grim underworld of greed and desperation, this accomplishing that all-too rarely achieved "best of both worlds."
But special mention must be given to the legendary cinematographer John Alton, whose contributions are of such magnitude that they virtually make the film. He composes beautifully in depth and light, using the faces of characters in the foreground to frame action which occurs in the background and making the illuminated visages of the villains in night scenes look positively ghoulish. His real tour de force, however, has to be a brutally beaten Murphy's run-in with a harrowing machine late in the film, which he shoots in extreme, distorting wide-angle close-ups; this scene is effective not only because Mann takes a seemingly benign, slow-moving farming tool and uses it for a terrifying moment of suspense, but because Alton photographs it with such hyperreal intensity that it remains genuinely disturbing, even to this day.
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