This Gun for Hire is a 1942 film noir directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. Ladd plays Raven, a smooth-talking, cold-blooded killer-for-hire who is double-crossed by his boss, nightclub owner Willard Gates (played by Laird Cregar), and is determined to get revenge on him.
In the beginning of the film, Raven is hired by Gates to assassinate a wealthy industrialist who is suspected of selling secrets to the Japanese. Raven carries out the job with cold efficiency, but when he tries to collect his payment, he discovers that the marked bills have been traced to him by the authorities.
Enraged by Gates' betrayal, Raven sets out to find him and get his revenge. He boards a train out of town and meets Ellen Graham (played by Veronica Lake), a beautiful and innocent chorus girl who works for Gates and is unaware of his criminal activities. Despite Ellen's initial fear and disgust of Raven, she gradually becomes sympathetic towards him as she finds out more about his troubled past.
Meanwhile, Raven is pursued by a determined police lieutenant named Michael Crane (played by Robert Preston), who is engaged to marry Ellen. Crane is determined to capture Raven and bring him to justice, but Ellen begins to suspect that there may be more to Raven's story than meets the eye.
As Raven and Ellen's relationship deepens, they become embroiled in a dangerous game that forces them to confront their own beliefs about justice, morality, and loyalty. In the end, Raven must decide whether to continue on his path of revenge or to choose a different path that may lead him to redemption.