LeonLouisRicci Both Derivative and Influential, This Richard Fleischer B-Movie from RKO was the Kind of Thing that Fleischer Excelled. It's a No Nonsense Noir with the Ever Increasing "Police Procedural" Element that Started to Change Film-Noir Starting About 1950.The Darker Psychological Aspects of the Genre were Pushed to the Background and America Began Flexing and Propagandizing its Muscle, Using Technology and Bureaucracy as Weapons to Announce Proudly that the US was "On Top of the World".This Tight Toned Film is Highlighted by L.A. Locations, Some Sharp Photography, an Insane and Brutal Villain (Hamilton Burger), some Solid Support (Steve Brodie, Adele Jergins), a Bit of Snappy Patter, (after viewing some spilled blood in the getaway car, tough as nails cop Charles McGraw after hearing the robber bled some...McGraw growls..."Not enough for me.".The Fast Pacing and the Clipped Exposition are Woven to Create a Semi-Classic of the Heist Genre. McGraw and Fleischer are in Their Element and This is the Kind of Thing that RKO was Known and Admired For.

AaronCapenBanner Richard Fleischer directed this compact thriller that stars William Talman as Purvis, a clever criminal mastermind who is employed by a gangster named Benny to pull off a daring armored car robbery because his mistress(played by Adele Jergens) is losing interest in him. What he doesn't know is that she is having an affair with Purvis! The heist goes wrong when a cop is killed, whose friend and fellow policeman(played by Charles McGraw) becomes determined to avenge. Meanwhile, Purvis kills Benny, and runs off with his mistress, in a desperate bid to escape capture. Well-directed film has good performances and exciting action. A model of its kind.

sol1218 **SPOILERS** By the numbers armored car robbery that goes sour within the first minute of it's execution with the cops unexpectedly coming on the scene. As everything was going like clockwork in knocking off the $500,000.00 Wrigley Field ballpark ticket recipes, that the parks armored car picked up, policemen Let. Jim Cordell, Charles McGrew, and his partner Let. Phillips, James Flavin, came on the scene that resulted in a deadly shootout. Let Phillips ends up getting shot and killed and his partner Let. Cordell is now more then determined to get his killers.Let. Phillips' killer and head of the robbery gang is the elusive and almost unknown, because of his clean or non-existent rap sheet, and extremely careful Dave Purvis, William Talman. Purvis had recruited three local hoods to help him pull this half million dollar robbery off Al Mapls, Steve Brodie, Ace Foster, Gene Evens, and Benny McBride, Douglas Fowley. Benny who ended up getting shot by Let. Cordell has now become a liability to Puvris in slowing down his, and both Mapes' & Fosters, getaway attempt. It later turns out that Purvis who's also been having an affair with Benny's old lady, burlesque dancer Yvonne LeDoux (Adele Jergens), behind his back ends up blasting the badly wounded hood when he got a a wee bit too greedy. Knowing that he hasn't that long to go Benny wanted his share of the loot before he finally kicks off.This was probably, on Benny's part, to pay off his bills and get his credit rating straightened out so that he can go out of this world on a clean, financial, slate.Purvis and the remanding members of his gang never get that far in that Purvis is more interested in screwing them out of their share of the loot then getting away Scot-free with his 50% of it. Purvis had planned, even when Benny was alive and healthy, to take off with all the cash and Yvonne as well with him ending up screwing those who helped him steal it!The police end up getting the remaining two members of the armored car robbery team out of the picture, gunning down Foster and capturing Mapes, which leaves open an avenue of escape for Purvis and his moll Yvonne whom the cop are totally unaware off. That's until they inspect Benny's hotel room and find evidence of his connection to them. A photo of Yvonne and a telephone number, on a pack of matches, that lead directly to Purvis!Crime does not pay police drama with Let. Cordell and the LAPD tracking down Dave Purvis, who thought that he had all the cards, to the Los Angles Airport as he and Mrs.McBride, or as she's known professionally as Yvonne LeDoux, were about to take off for Mexico with their ill gotten gains. ****SPOILER ALERT****Purvis knowing that he's finally been screwed, after screwing everyone else in the movie, tries to make a run for it but doesn't go to far. Purvis goes just far enough to get a really close shave in the propeller of an incoming airplane!

dougdoepke Great B-movie cast with many nice touches. Everybody's favorite 50's psycho William Talman heads the heist gang, looking almost suave and sleek at times. He even gets to kiss the girl, probably the only time in his career. Too bad he turned legit on the old Perry Mason show. That fine utility actor Steve Brodie has some good moments too, along with a sneering Douglas Fowley and a blue-collar Gene Evans. And, oh yes, mustn't forget the great cheap blonde of the era, Adele Jergens, all decked out in her best Victoria's Secret finery. Her strip show may be on the tame side, but we get the idea. And in dogged police pursuit, the ever-forceful Charles McGraw who could play either side of the legal fence with jut-jawed persuasion. There's a thousand slices of A-grade thick ear wrapped up in this hard-boiled assembly.Then too, director Fleischer makes all the deft moves-- the balky car, the gruesome corpse. Maybe somebody forgot the utility bill, but there's a real change of mood half-way through, when the screen shifts from high-key daylight to low-key noir as the shadows and bodies pile up. Yeah, you've probably seen it all before, but rarely done this well and with an Oscar night of B-movie all-stars. Too bad, Stanley Kubrick didn't acknowledge this modest programmer when he lifted the caper film to artistic heights in The Killing (1956). As he learned, prop washes make a superb visual blender for loose dollar bills, along with a lasting note of dramatic irony. Acknowledged or not, this little potboiler has all the earmarks of RKO's golden age of take-no-prisoners noir.