Guilty pleasure picture or a bucket list movie for Robert Mitchum completists, Don Siegel’s “The Big Steal” is a must-see for film buffs who like their tough guys tough, their dames mouthy and their action lean and mean — simple like, see?

It’s a chase, fight and shoot-out story down Old Mexico way starring a screen icon in the making and directed by the gritty guy who would one day bring “Dirty Harry” to life. And whatever its shortcomings, minute for minute it’s as much fun as any Bogie/Huston film noir of the era, a thriller whose Mexican settings, cast and crackling dialogue make it a must-see classic.

The plot is penny-plain. An Army base payroll has been robbed and a woman (Jane Greer, from “Out of the Past,” “Twin Peaks”) robbed and wronged.

But Joan Graham isn’t the only one who’s followed the linen-suited heel Jim Fiske (Patric Knowles) South of the Border. There’s this tall, lean, no-nonsense fellow (Mitchum) with a pistol dogging Fiske’s footsteps.

Whatever name and purpose this guy gives Joan, she and we know he means business. He barges in, tosses her room, wants to know where Fiske is and where “the money” is.

She’s out of her depth but tougher than she looks. So he drags her along on Fiske’s trail, which she doesn’t seem to mind, seeing as how he stole from her and keeps making romantic promises she knows he won’t keep. But this “Blake” guy? He’s getting on her nerves.

“Stop calling me chiquita. You don’t say that to girls you don’t even know.”

“Where I learned Spanish you do.”

She’s fluent, he’s not. She’s got a convertible and they’re off, down broken highways and dirt paths, chasing the guy who knows he’s being chased, who gets caught and gets away — repeatedly.

And then there’s the trigger-happy mug (William Bendix) who appears to be chasing them, but might be after Fiske, too. After all, there’s a lot of money involved.

It wasn’t common for Hollywood to do a lot of filming in Mexico in the ’40s. Even Steinbeck’s “Tortilla Flat” and Huston’s “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” used mostly-California locations.

But Siegel and his cast and crew scurry through multiple Mexican cities and settings, with the usual close-to-Hollywood film ranches blended in, seamlessly scaling down the travel budget. It shows. The film looks, feels and sounds like a Mexico filmgoers didn’t see or hear in the movies of the era.

Spanish and Spanglish are mangled, and silent screen icon Ramon Novarro shows up as a charming, cagey and always-underfoot Mexican Inspector General who knows all these gringos are up to something, if only he can buy them enough drinks to get them talking.

John Ford rep-company regular John Qualen plays a rare villain — a fence out to buy the stolen Army “script.” It’s one of the few times I can remember him in a role that doesn’t require him to sling a Scandiavian accent, “by yimminy!”

But colorful supporting players and short run time aside, this is a Mitchum movie. And he serves up tough guy brawls and tough-guy talk in tasty, one-sitting servings.

“I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t like to turn around, Chiquita. Besides, that there’s a guy behind me with a gun. Remember?”

The car chases give rear-projection effects and dubbed tire screeching a workout, and still dazzle for all the dated fakery involved. Siegel takes the screenplay’s obstacles and finds amusing and occasionally creative ways to work the problem and get his hero and heroine in and out of jams.

Even if “The Big Steal” didn’t have a star and future star behind the camera pedigree, it would get by just on adrenalin and fun. In other words, you have your “classic” criteria, and I have mine.

Either way, this is one you don’t want to leave off that film buff’s bucket list.

Rating: “approved,” violence and quite a bit of it

Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Ramon Novarro, Patric Knowles, John Qualen and William Bendix.

Credits: Directed by Don Siegel, scripted by Daniel Mainwaring and Gerald Drayson Adams. An RKO release on Amazon, Movies!, Youtube, Tubi et al.

Running time: 1:11