Straße des Terrors

The opening credits show the prison break itself so this movie is all about the run for freedom. A rag-tag motley crew of inmates, none of whom seems to like the others much, crack under the tension of the chase in different ways and seem fated to never truly escape themselves. The atmosphere is doom-laden from the outset and becomes more tragic as it goes on. Rare moments of levity arise in a few contrastingly sentimental mini-subplots as certain women are encountered/accosted along the way - but here again there is a melancholic tone, the same one that runs through this tale from start to finish. A raw, gritty and fatalistic movie which is much better than it has any right to be! Recommended.

This prison break movie wastes no time in getting down to business. "Crashout" is a B-Movie directed by Lewis R. Foster and it's just the kind of B-Movie the American cinema did beautifully in the fifties and it's got a terrific cast, (Arthur Kennedy, William Bendix, Luther Adler, Marshall Thompson, Gene Evans and William Tallman), all playing escaped convicts. Kennedy and Adler take the acting honours but they are all excellent and it's got a great plot involving stolen loot and dishonour amongst thieves. If it feels at times like an extended episode of a TV series, it's still a good one that scores points in every department. Maybe not an undiscovered gem but a pleasure nevertheless.

Like Canon City seven years earlier or Big House, U.S.A. of the same year, Crashout follows half a dozen convicts along their futile path to freedom. The drama centers only incidentally on their pursuit by police but explores the tensions that erupt among them and their hostile reaction to the world beyond the machine-gun turrets and barbed-wire fences. It's fast, brutal and far from subtle, but its cast is above-average, and the movie even slows down now and again for a poignant little vignette.

Self-appointed leader of the pack is William Bendix, wounded during the (pre-credits) prison break but brooking no dissent nonetheless. Strangest among them is William Talman (who also appeared in Big House, U.S.A. but of course lost countless cases to Perry Mason on TV, as District Attorney Hamilton Burger); he's a knife-throwing religious nut. Luther Adler as a Latin Lothario, Marshall Thompson as a sentimental kid in this thing over his head, and Gene Evans round out the roster of escapees – except for Arthur Kennedy, who survives with something like a conscience stirring within him.

Helping to stir that conscience is farm gal Beverly Michaels, who arrives much too late in the story. Michaels, in her handful of roles (she starred in Russell Rouse's Wicked Woman), throws off a cool nonchalance that's all her own; with her low, distinctive way of talking, she suggests Sally Kellerman a decade or so later. In the ironic style that was coming into fashion, Crashout's ending leaves us hanging, at least a bit; still, it's competent enough to stand comparison with other installments of the jailbirds-on-the-lam sub-genre.

Crashout is directed by Lewis R. Foster, who also co-adapts the screenplay with Hal E. Chester. It stars William Bendix, Arthur Kennedy, Luther Adler, William Talman, Gene Evans and Christopher Olsen. Music is by Leith Stevens and cinematography by Russell Metty.

Six convicts crashout of prison and embark on a life and death struggle to reach safety…

As tough as hobnail boots, Crashout is right there in the upper echelons of convict based film noir. There's not exactly anything new here on formula terms, the cons are angry macho men, each one has their own hang ups, and each one has their respective flaws. Be it religious maniac, fantasist, psychopath or the one who doesn't belong in this company, it's a roll call of familiar convict types. Yet the performances are so strong, the tension so tight, all worries about familiarity breeding contempt disappears the moment the men hide out in a disused mine. For here we learn about their psychological make-ups, and quickly buy into the fractured dynamic that we know is going to result in a machismo fuelled implosion.

The warden said dead or alive and he didn't say which.

Narrative strength comes by way of the fact the leader of the group, Van Morgan Duff (Bendix), is very injured and needs medical help. An out and out cold blooded brute, Duff wisely strikes a deal to split a pot load of hidden loot with the group, thus ensuring he gets to stay alive and in charge! The men then traverse the lands and encounter civilians, which in turn throws up some potent and tense filled scenarios. Murder and violence does follow, the film pretty brutal for the time, while the question of if anyone survives till the end looms large throughout.

You can take the con out of the jail, but you can't take the jail out of the con.

Lewis and Metty do a fine job of cloaking the picture with rugged toughness. Often the camera is up close and personal to reveal the grime, blood or sweat that oozes from the men. Scenes of the guys breaking bottles to use as weapons, a hand caked with hot candle wax, or Duff laid down in the dirt with ants crawling over him, it's all relevant to making these cons as tough as they come. We are not meant to like them, to root for them, they are outcasts of society and we know it. Visually it scores best when in the claustrophobic confines of the cave, and with an extended night sequence at Dexter rail station that's bathed in shadows and murky lights.

Pulsing with fatalism and dripping with dread, Crashout is highly recommended to those after a tough cons on the lam film noir. 8.5/10

Crashout gets to the point quickly. A story of desperate escapees making their way out of the abyss. William Bendix gives a "close to the bone" portrayal of a desperate man who escapes prison with a motley crew.

Nothing in this story comes easy. The six escapees work their way through several states by the skin of their teeth. On the other side is a split of a big pay day, but that pay day is way away buried in some of the most inhospitable territory imaginable. The common denominator is the promise of a huge buried payout. That's the story of Crashout. It's no easy road to glory for the cons, in the ensuing journey they cross paths with some unwitting characters. A journey of attrition whereby along the way not only does a possible love story evolve, but a the deaths of all but two remaining cons. The path to the big pay day is anything but a simple story. This is where Crashout rises above it's "B Movie" roots. Bendix give his usual colorful performance, but this time as a star front and center. The story suits his skills well.

The end is a heartless reckoning. A sort of good trumps bad, but there is an opening. The character of "Joe" played by the great Arthur Kennedy may or may not be the last man standing. Does he have the buried fortune? Probably not, but if he survives he may actually have gained much more than the 180 grand. This is a really tasty slice of film noir. It grabs the viewer early on and doesn't let go. Your're in for the ride. It's especially gritty and dark for the day in which it was filmed. It has a buried heart which all humanity can connect to. Basically hopeless, Crashout still has something that one can grab on to and in that it keeps the viewer invested. Great "B-Movie" film noir and as such recommended viewing for those to whom this stuff speaks.