Bradford Dillman plays Artie Straus, the dominant of the two friends who believe they fit Nietzsche's philosophy of a "superman" (Übermensch), thus are above the law.

Dean Stockwell plays Judd Steiner, the submissive personality who goes along with Artie's increasingly criminal commands.

Martin Milner plays Sid Brooks, a classmate of Steiner and Straus's, a reporter who discovers the eyeglasses found near Paulie's body, assumed to be his, are too large to be Paulie's and are key evidence.