Henri-Georges Clouzot co-writes and directs this French thriller set in the South American jungle where supplies of nitroglycerine are urgently needed at a remote oil field. After a Mexican oil well catches fire, the unscrupulous American oil company pays four out-of-work men (Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli and Peter Van Eyck) to deliver the delicate and deadly supplies in two hulking trucks. A tense rivalry quickly develops between the two sets of drivers, a tension magnified by the unforgiving heat, the lure of filthy lucre and the rough and rocky roads where the slightest jolt could result in agonising death.