AllMovie

One of the many "exposes" of corporate corruption filmed in the 1950s, Houston Story was ground out with stingy efficiency by Columbia Pictures. Gene Barry plays Frank Duncan, a laborer who figures out a clever way to sneakily siphon gasoline and oil from major corporations and sell it as his own. Then he makes an absurd and foolish decision by taking his discovery to the mafia, and before long he's in boiling hot water. Houston Story is of interest for its cast of TV stars-to-be: Future "Bat Masterson" and "Burke's Law" headliner Gene Barry, daytime-drama leading lady Jeanne Cooper, and "Perry Mason" costar Barbara Hale (in a blonde wig). Edward Arnold (The Devil and Daniel Webster), he of the wicked laugh and deadly glare, co-stars as a mob-boss.