故事發生在二十世紀初的北愛爾蘭貝爾法斯特，剛剛出獄沒多久的約翰尼（詹姆斯·梅森 James Mason 飾）參與了一次搶劫行動，并且為了掩護隊友而遭到了警察的槍擊，約翰尼失手打死了警察，惹上了重罪，成為了全城通緝的對象，身負重傷的約翰尼體力不支，昏了過80s。　　窮的叮當響的無賴漢謝爾（F.J.麥考密 F.J. McCormick 飾）發現了約翰尼的蹤跡，在他的身上看到了發財的法子，他將情報通告給神父湯姆（W.G. Fay 飾），卻被凱瑟琳（凱思琳·賴安 Kathleen Ryan 飾）發現。凱瑟琳趕在謝爾之前找到了躲在瘋畫家魯奇（羅伯特·牛頓 Robert Newton 飾）家中的約翰尼，就這樣，兩個人踏上了逃亡的旅途。

80s電影Howard Tyler (Frank Lovejoy) is a family man, living in California, who can't seem to get by financially. He meets up with a small-time, but charismatic, hood Jerry Slocum (Lloyd Bridges). Soon, Slocum convinces Tyler to participate in gas station robberies to get by. Later, they kidnap a wealthy man in hopes of getting a huge ransom. Things go wrong when the man is murdered by Slocum then thrown in a lake. Tyler reaches his limit emotionally, and he begins drinking heavily. He meets a lonely woman and confesses the crime while drunk. The woman flees and goes to the police.　　When the two kidnappers are arrested, a local journalist (Richard Carlson) writes a series of hate-filled articles about the two prisoners which eventually lead to a brutal lynching.　　The despair of the lower middle-class A family man ashamed of being unemployed allows himself to be convinced by a gangster to take part in a kidnapping. The police arrests them both and the anger of the small town’s population is unforgiving. THE SOUND OF FURY is a dark crime movie that builds up to an apocalyptic storm, but never loses sight of social realities, thus telling a lot about the daily despair of the working-class. A masterpiece, it was Cy Endfield’s last film before he felt compelled to move to Britain.