This movie is about a reporter and his photographer wife who accidentally become involved with a vicious gang of modern day cattle rustlers! Oddly, this gang is more like organized crime and the couple see a potential story if they can infiltrate them. The trouble is, and this makes the film a bit silly, is that the leaders of the gang know who they are--so taking up with some of their lower level gang members seemed awfully risky and was destined to be discovered. Still, the story was moderately interesting.
This film can be found on the DVD "Forgotten Noir Double Feature Vol. 5: FBI Girl / Tough Assignment". FBI GIRL and TOUGH ASSIGNMENT were made by Lippert Productions, a small-time Hollywood film company. Unlike FBI GIRL, TOUGH ASSIGNMENT looked very low budget and cheap. It also suffered from sub-par writing, as the film oddly couldn't decide if it wanted to be a serious crime drama or a comedy--as it had BOTH in the film! That's because veteran low-budget comedian Sid Melton ("Alf Monroe" from GREEN ACRES) is one of the gang members--though anyone with half a brain would question this. He's very small, makes wise-cracks and one-liners CONSTANTLY and seems about as threatening as a cheeze puff!! Why they stuck this guy in what should have been a hard-bitten crime drama is beyond me--and this makes the film just another B-picture.