Framed by another man, truck driver Johnny Morrison serves a year in prison. After his release, Johnny confronts the man, Mitch Mitchell, who plunges off a roof to his death.

Johnny then learns that his former employer, Hackett, was the one who set him up as a fall guy. Hackett claims it was a test of loyalty, and since Johnny passed, he now stands to earn $100,000 for helping Hackett pull off the robbery of an armored transport company.

Johnny's old girlfriend, Carol Wayne, still has feelings for him, even though she has been seeing Mike Benning, a young doctor. While the death of Mitchell is investigated by police Lt. Coster as a homicide, Johnny and three other thugs pull off the heist.

Unable to get the loot to Hackett due to roadblocks, Johnny hides out. Hackett, believing he has been double-crossed, shoots Johnny and buries the money on his family farm, but the police catch up to him. A wounded Johnny knocks out Mike and abducts Carol, but collapses and dies after a few steps. Mike leads Carol away as the cops arrive.

• Dane Clark as Johnny Morrison
• William Talman as Hackett
• May Wynn as Carol Wayne
• Robert Horton as Dr. Michael Benning
• Barton MacLane as Det. Lt. Dan Coster
• Fredd Wayne as Egan
• Richard Benedict as Lew 'Mitch' Mitchell
• Richard Reeves as Rutberg
• Harry Lewis as Cole
• Bobby Jordan as Thorne
• Larry J. Blake as Ray Perkins
• Darlene Fields as Terrycloth
• John Mitchum as Officer

• List of American films of 1956

• The Man Is Armed at IMDb  
• The Man Is Armed at AllMovie
• The Man Is Armed at the TCM Movie Database