rodrig58 It is written at the beginning of the film that it is based on a true incident happened exactly where it is filmed. True or not, the movie is well done (two directors have given their strength ...), well played. Steve McQueen, after "The Blob", which is awkward, makes a very good part, is natural, convincing. The same Crahan Denton. David Clarke, James Dukas and Molly McCarthy are also credible. Most of the other films directed by Charles Guggenheim are documentary, which is also felt here somewhat. John Stix, the other director, has only 5 credits, the other four being TV productions.

Robert J. Maxwell Sometimes a low budget just simply stops a movie from being the success it might otherwise have been. But the budgetary constrictions can be overcome to some extent by talent and sensitivity, even in the absence of stars. "The Littlest Fugitive" is a good example. Or, heck, look at "Detour" or "Gun Crazy." There's little of that poetry here.The format is that of "The Asphalt Jungle." Four met of diverse temperaments are brought together by the leader, Crahan Denton, to pull an ordinary bank robbery in St. Louis. Nothing elaborate. Nobody crawls through sewers or hacks through walls. The gang simply times the traffic lights and figures out how long it will take for the police to respond to the inevitable alarm. The judgment is that they can empty the tills at the tellers' stations, avoid fooling with the vault, and get away in time.A good deal of the movie describes the relationships between the four thieves. They're all pretty bleak. Nobody cracks a joke or even smiles except at someone else's misfortune. One of the characters is evidently gay, and Steve McQueen is the college drop out who is marginal but takes part in the robbery anyway. The robbery scene itself is extensive and doesn't make too much sense.Not all that much of the plot makes sense either. How did McQueen's girl friend guess that Steve and the rest intended to rob a particular bank? He certainly didn't tell her. I guess that's fulgurating intuition.The dialog isn't bad. A nice scene in a bar with Crahan Denton admitting to McQueen that he was born in 1897 and went to work at twelve to support his alcoholic mother. It's rather touching, despite Denton's delivery. (He acts and sounds like a villain in a 1930s B Western.) McQueen hadn't yet developed any acting chops. He walks around with his mouth open, looking bemused, and he frequently bites his tongue and purses his lips to express tension. And, OMG, is the direction and editing one hundred percent pedestrian or what. The pauses between utterances seem to last as long as the Wurm glaciation. Somebody should have stepped on the gas pedal.The bank robbery itself is a mass of confusion. There's chaos when the cops show up far too early, and without any explanation of why. And it lasts a long time. Often the staging is completely off. Trapped, one of the robbers crawls down a long flight of stairs to the room with the vault and safety deposit boxes. He's all alone, testing doors, climbing walls, looking for a way out. When he realizes there is none, he offs himself, and the spectators upstairs in the bank lobby stare at him, clap their hands to their faces, and scream -- although they can't possibly see him.The sluggish pace and meandering plot -- McQueen has an on/off girl friend -- make for tedium, yet it's not without some appeal. Nice 1950s cars. And St. Louis doesn't yet look like Dresden after World War II.

thinker1691 Six years after beginning his movie career, Steve McQueen put himself in the driver's seat with this early film. Watch it closely and you'll see this true life story has him playing the 'wheel man' during the St. Louis bank robbery. Having watched this movie icon, grow and mature over the years, you can almost notice as McQueen chafes under the director's yoke and script constrains of this black and white film. Observe if you will his natural body language silently wish he could break out of the character's mold and do his on screen magic. However, this story is based on an actual incident and once you're in, we can only sit and watch as McQueen does his best to fill in the role of the by-gone athletic hero gone bad. The men he joins lack cohesiveness and each brings his own problem to a crime, fraught with pitfalls. But each needs their $20,000 share, so to hell with the dangers. Any fan of the late McQueen can readily see the 'diamond-in-the-rough' the young star is and realize what an exceptional gem, he will become. Unlike the movie itself which left much to be desired on nearly every level, Steve McQueen rises above it and we almost wish we could follow him to a sequel of this story. ***

Snow Leopard The decent degree of realism plus one of Steve McQueen's earlier starring movie roles help make this crime feature worth watching. The story has some pretty interesting aspects, and it adds to the realism with the well-publicized inclusion of many of the actual police officers who were involved in the original events on which the movie is based. On the other hand, the rest of the cast does not come up to McQueen's stature as performers, and at times some potentially powerful scenes lack a little something as a result.The setup has McQueen's character hired as the getaway driver for a gang of bank robbers. Their careful planning is thrown into complications by an old girlfriend of George's (McQueen), whose brother is also part of the gang. The resulting tensions, plus the various unexpected developments as they carry out their plan, add some interest to the basic story. Many of the scenes are written and filmed rather well, although at times the movie expends some screen time on less interesting material.McQueen does a good job with an unsympathetic character, and the supporting cast is mostly solid. Molly McCarthy is believable and generally sympathetic as Ann, but she does not always give her character a lot of depth. Crahan Denton gives the gang's boss a good, solid persona at the beginning, but afterward the character remains rather one-dimensional even when there are chances to bring out some interesting characteristics.The straightforward, almost documentary style cinematography works pretty well, and makes a good combination with the downbeat story. Despite a few things that could have been better, this is not bad at all for its genre, and it is certainly worth seeing.