Pitfall is a 1948 American film noir crime film directed by André de Toth. The film is based on the novel The Pitfall by Jay Dratler and stars Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, and Jane Wyatt, and features Raymond Burr.
Plot
John "Johnny" Forbes (Dick Powell) is a middle-class husband and father who is tired of his boring routine, working for the Olympic Mutual Insurance Company in downtown Los Angeles. On a day when he is especially downhearted about his life, private investigator and former policeman J.B. "Mac" MacDonald (Raymond Burr) reports to him regarding an embezzler who had been bonded by Olympic Mutual. The man, Bill Smiley (Byron Barr), is serving time for the crime, and is eligible for parole in two months. Smiley had given several expensive gifts – including a speedboat named Tempest - to his girlfriend, Santa Monica model Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott).
Mac admits he is attracted to Mona and, wanting to remain on the case, offers to go speak to her about retrieving the illicit gifts. Forbes tells the investigator his job is done and that he will go himself. At her apartment, the sultry blonde cooperates, especially after she learns that Smiley's parole may be sped up if she does, but needles Forbes about his job. He suggests they go for a drink. They go out on the speedboat, taking turns driving it; Forbes notices how much she loves the boat. After the drinks, Mona suggests dinner. The two begin a physical relationship. Mac, who is parked outside her apartment, sees Forbes leave much later that night.
The next day, Mac is waiting for Forbes in his office. He says he has noticed the list of items reclaimed from Mona, but that the boat is not there; Forbes denies knowledge of it. Mac reveals he possesses the bill of sale. He reiterates how much he likes Mona and asks Forbes what it was he found to spend so much time talking with her about. Forbes is taken aback and decides to allow the boat to be re-possessed. When he tells Mona about this, that Mac knew he had let her keep it and could cause trouble, she reveals that Mac had been pounding on her door the previous night "until all hours".
When Forbes arrives home, Mac is there and proceeds to beat him up, saying, "I told you I like that girl" and "Maybe this will keep you home where you belong for a few days".
A happy Mona awakes the next morning and finds that Forbes has left his briefcase in her apartment. From her job at May Company department store she telephones his office and learns that he has called in sick. She borrows a co-worker's car, having decided to go to Forbes' home to visit him and take him some food; she gets his address from a card in the briefcase. She arrives at the moment when the doctor, Forbes' wife Sue (Jane Wyatt), and their son Tommy (Jimmy Hunt) are all outside. She overhears their conversation and realizes her lover's marital status. When he recovers, Forbes meets Mona and she breaks off the affair, not wanting to destroy his family.
Forbes rededicates himself to his wife, son and career, feeling a new contentment. Meanwhile, Mac continues to stalk Mona, both at her job and at home; she tells him bluntly that she does not like him, but he is not deterred. She contacts Forbes to tell him that when she threatened to call police, Mac in turn threatened to tell Sue about the affair. Forbes goes to Mac's apartment and repays him for the beating, promising to kill him if he ever talks about his family again. Mac visits Smiley in prison and drops broad hints that Mona has been fooling around with the insurance adjuster. Shortly, Mona learns that her cooperation had an effect and that Smiley is getting out of jail imminently. She visits him the day before and he angrily asks about both Mac and Forbes; he sees that she is not wearing the engagement ring he had given her with the stolen funds.
Mona tells Forbes how Mac has been visiting Smiley and provoking him. At home, Sue, who has not believed the story that her husband told her about being beaten up by muggers, probes him to tell her what is on his mind. As he is about to do so, their son has a nightmare; the subject is dropped.