The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery

1959 "Never before in Police annals! Never before in film history!"
5.9| 1h25m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 10 September 1959 Released
Producted By: Charles Guggenheim & Associates
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Career criminals and a local youth carefully plan and rehearse the robbery of a Missouri bank.

Genre

Thriller, Crime

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Director

John Stix, Charles Guggenheim

Production Companies

Charles Guggenheim & Associates

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The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery Audience Reviews

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
hawktwo I tuned this in to catch a glimpse of early Steve McQueen. I stayed to watch it. The scenes of St. Louis were very interesting from a historic point of view. So much attention on the cars and the buildings -- this is an accidental snapshot in time. Steve McQueen grabs the attention as very angst ridden about his decisions, seemingly being drawn in a bad situation inch by inch. His girlfriend, although encouraging him to stay on the right path, also abets by funding the duo and not going to the police. Although not a well-known film, overall the acting and the dialog is quite natural. I can see why there is question of a homosexual relationship -- but in those days, hotels/motels were frequently not much more than a tiny bedroom with a double bed and a common bathroom down the hall. Kids frequently slept 2 or 3 to a bed and it wasn't uncommon for adults to share beds to save money.
peter-cossey Little known, but quite extraordinary independent movie from the tail end of the fifties, that is as good as any of the great heist movies from the post-war noir era. It's a stunning exercise in naturalistic movie making, using only real locations with natural lighting and sound that would grace an Italian neo-realist classic. Continuing that theme the actors are all either amateurs; down the list character actors; or,like STEVE McQUEEN and MOLLY McCARTHY, very inexperienced. The 4 gang members are all seedy losers with no redeeming features, but lots of psychological flaws that the bleak, uncompromising script lays bare, giving the audience no respite as they stumble towards their sordid oblivion. The raw method of McQUEEN in his scenes with MOLLY is sub-Brando, but interesting and unsympathetic, and of considerable historical interest; and the 3 C-list actors playing the other gang members seize their opportunities in lead roles, that in the case of CRAHAN DENTON especially, but also JAMES DUKAS, involve a startlingly blatant homosexual theme that would have had 50's audiences fainting in the aisles if they had known what they were watching. It is homosexual jealousy and angst that leads DENTON to commit the appalling killing of the girl, and an earlier scene in the hotel room with his henchman DUKAS reveals their dominant/submissive homosexual relationship quite openly. Don't be put off by the low production values - this movie has much to say, and much to offer.
dickson9 is a must to see. Before he became "one of the System's bad boys". He is refreshing and I would tell any true Steve McQueen fan to see this movie just on the strength of his performance.The movie itself is a hoot! I mean with not so evasive homosexual references and shades of Noir...and in the early 50's!!....it is worth seeing. I liked it.It is a story of the "Great St. Louis Bank Robbery" in the early 50's....great period piece for those of us who were alive then....and for those who were not to see what a section of Americana looked like....Using the real people involved in the actual heist is great! Non-Actors who are reliving their dream or nightmare....depending.See it. You won't be disappointed.
sol1218 (Some Spoilers) True story about the armed robbery of the Southwest Bank in St. Louis and the fate of the four bank robbers who participated in it. Getting a crew together to knock off the Southwest Bank head crook John Egan, Crahan Denton, wan't his boys to case out the bank for a week before they rob it. The robbers spends hours at a time checking every angle and escape route to make sure that the robbery goes off without a hitch. Right from the start things start to go sour when one of the robbers Gino, David Clarke, recruits young George Fowler, Steve McQueen, as the wheel man in the operation. George isn't a hardened criminal and only want's to pull off this job to get enough money for him to finish college and make something of himself.Gino knows Geroge from him being his sisters Ann , Molly McCarthy, boyfriend and feels that he won't choke up when things get hot. That very fact, George being romantically involved with Ann, turns out to be the Achillese Heel of the "Great St. Louis Bank Robbery".Needing a place to stay until the day of the robbery Gino tells George to go see Ann, whom he recently broke up with, an ask her for $50.00 and tell her that he needs it to keep him from being sent back to prison in Chicago.Reluctant at first Ann gives George the money, with a personal check to send to Gino. Later Ann sees him in the city, St. Louis, and knows that he and George are up to no good.Depressed at the thought of Gino and George robbing the Southwest Bank, she saw George case it out from a diner across the street, Ann starts to get so out of hand that she jeopardies the impending bank robbery by getting drunk one evening. Later Ann goes a step farther writing in lipstick "this bank is going to be robbed" on the Southwest Bank's windows. Outraged at Ann's behavior, and George and Gino not being able to control or shut her up, John and his partner Willie take Ann to their hideout where John in a fit of anger throws Ann off the fire-escape killing her. With both Gino and George totally in he dark to what happened to Ann, John and Willie tell them that she flew off to Chicago, the four get ready for the big bank heist. Then for some strange reason George is told that he'll have to take part in the robbery and that Willie is to replace him as the wheel man; it was John's way of keeping Willie quite about his murdering Ann. The fact that Willie is put behind the wheel and George, who's not only a better driver but far more responsible and loyal to the group, was sent into rob the bank turned out to be a complete disaster. John gets shot by the cops with Gino killing himself when he saw there was no way out, and the thought of him going back to prison was just too much for him to take. George ending up badly wounded is arrested and sent to prison for the rest of his life. This destroys his dream of being able to finish his education and become an honest and upstanding citizen in the community. The man responsible for all this mess happening Willie, the getaway driver, gets away without as much as a scratch on him leaving the three other crooks to face the music, and police bullets. Solid crime caper with Steve McQueen, as George Fowler, doing his best as he methods acts his way through the movie. McQueen goes from a quite and scared college kid to a hardened and unfeeling criminal within the 89 minutes of the film. The ending is something to watch as George almost bleeding to death and holding a young couple hostage in the bank, Eddie and his wife of two months( Larry Gerst & Martha Gable), finally sees the light to what he got himself involved in. If George was as smart as he though he was he should have listen to Ann, when she was still alive,and all this would have never happened to him or her.