"Since Edward and Mildred Dein have fashioned dialogue that is occasionally adult and funny and have the services of principals who can accentuate these humorous lines and situations, Shack Out on 101, which was unveiled at the Globe yesterday, avoids the stigma of being a sub-standard spies-vs-F. B. I. imbroglio. But Mr. Dein, who also directed this minor intrigue, has too many issues simultaneously confronting a viewer. Shack Out on 101, in short, is not only bursting at its foundation with muscle men but with romance, idealism and a smidgin of silly plotting. It is slightly diverting but it is also enough to make an observer's head swim...Credit Lee Marvin with a polished portrayal as the tough, sinister and seemingly thick-witted cook, Terry Moore is a pleasing eyeful as the waitress who attracts all the males in the vicinity."
- Bosley Crowther, The New York Times

"...trash classic...Absolutely one of a kind, with most of the action taking place on a single shabby set (Wynn's beanery)."
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide

"One of the oddest movies of the fifties...It has amazing dialogue, sax music, and skin diver suits."
- Michael J. Weldon, The Psychotronic Video Guide

"What comes out of this silly little Red Scare spy drama from the smack-dab middle of the 1950s is an almost perfect, semitrashy set piece; everybody has a good time...The movie is a dead-on minimalist portrait of America at its most paranoid. It's the one to show the history class."
- Barry Gifford, The Devil Thumbs a Ride & Other Unforgettable Films

"Among the last of the Red-scare movies, this is also one of the most hilarious. It's in the so-bad-it's-great category. In what other genre could a grease-stained, lecherous cook named 'Slob' also serve as Mr. Big in the Communist Party?"
- Arthur Lyons, Death on the Cheap" The Lost B Movies of Film Noir!

"...Lee Marvin, who is easily the most repulsive object that Hollywood has dug up in recent years, is such a skillful performer that when he starts hacking away at a bacon-lettuce-and-tomato on toast, the spectator has all the visceral sensations of watching an MVD interrogator do work on an enemy of the people."
- Time Magazine

"...Lee Marvin's delightful portrayal of a simple-minded short order cook, who turns out to be the menace of the film...Marvin will certainly gain in importance as a marquee name with this picture."
- Motion Picture Herald

"Modest suspenser which seemed at the time to have some fresh and realistic attitudes."
- Halliwell's Film & Video Guide

"This is probably the strangest film in which Lee Marvin ever appeared, topping even Gorilla at Large [1954] for eccentricity...Shack Out on 101 is a melodrama with a message: Communist agents can be, and are, anywhere...It truly is an oddity, with its uneven mixture of exploitation, political message and comedy."
- Robert J. Lentz, Lee Marvin: His Films & Career

"A snappy entry into those Red Scare movies from the Cold War paranoid period of the 1950s in America. Writer-director Edward Dein and his wife Mildred who is co-writer, provide a very funny take on those kind of superpatriotic films while at the same time preaching to the choir. It's also helped by a fine cast, with Lee Marvin excelling in his role as a lecherous greasy-spoon short-order cook named "Slob"..."
- Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews