The Big Caper

"The Big Caper" is a neglected noir thriller that deserves a lot more recognition...this is one of Rory Calhoun's best and most atypical roles. The pace is brisk and the acting quite good even in the minor roles. A very effective sense of threat and menace are maintained throughout, building tension, grabbing and holding the viewer's interest. Calhoun's and Costa's criminal characters' pretense of the "straight life" as a struggling young married couple in a small town is very striking as the set up to their elaborately plotted bank robbery. Gregory is appropriately frightening as the murderous kingpin. Calhoun was at his height at this time and shows that he had enough skill and screen presence to justify awarding him bigger and better roles outside of the westerns to which he was mostly relegated. This film has undeservedly been eclipsed by many others, less engaging, of the 50's.

A heist gang is assembled from character types to knock over a million-dollar bank. But first, the gang must establish credentials in town by pretending that two of their number are a married couple that buy a gas station. But will the diverse types be able to carry out the scheme, especially in the midst of an all-American community.

Well-made thick ear. Despite the title, the heist part is pretty ordinary. The movie's real appeal is in colorful characters and human interest. Robert H. Harris has to be the biggest bundle of pathetic sweat in movie annals. When he isn't setting off diversionary explosions, he's in near orgasmic delight over the fires he sets. It's a thankless role, he brings off to the proverbial T. Then there's Corey Allen's demented hipster Roy, and a long way from his commanding role in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). With his blond crew-cut, I almost didn't recognize him. But in my view, the movie really belongs to James Gregory's mastermind, Flood. He brings real authority to the role, making much of the movie more credible than it is. No wonder he had a long run on TV.

The various little conflicts make up most of the story, and except for some cheap sets, they're compelling enough to hold interest. However, suspense doesn't really kick in until the final 20-minutes, while some threads are left hanging; that is, unless I missed something. Anyway, Calhoun and Costa make an attractive couple, with a good look at that 50's suburban ritual, the backyard bar-be-cue. And despite a couple of plot stretches, the production remains on the whole an entertaining little package.

The Big Caper has enough interesting characters to make it worth watching. But this 50s noir caper film could have used a lot of improvement in the characters and their motives.

Rory Calhoun is a conman associate of big time crook James Gregory and Calhoun has blown the proceeds of the last score on slow horses at Del Mar. He wants to work again and has bank job lined up, a small town bank where the money for the pay of the US Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton is located.

Gregory cooks up a scheme and it's a dilly. Part of it involved Calhoun and Gregory's girl friend buying a filling station and a home and living in the town for a few months as Ward and June Cleaver clones. Mary Costa the girlfriend gets to like the lifestyle, Calhoun isn't crazy about it at all.

I can't really believe that Gregory sends Costa off to live with Calhoun and pretend to be man and wife. Is there something wrong with that picture?

The scheme however is something else. And Gregory collects around him some set of helpers. Robert Harris is an explosives guy who gets his jollies from his work and has a real drinking problem. There's muscle bound Corey Allen who has issues and is crushing out on Gregory as a father figure. Paul Picerni brings along the ultimate bimbo Roxanne Arlen and tells her just enough about the score to have to have her taken care of.

These people, especially Arlen really make The Big Caper worth looking at. The plot and the redemption of our protagonists is not especially well dramatized.

By the Mid-Late-50's Film-Noir was often Seen in 2-Story Suburban Homes, as Opposed to the Streets of an Inner-City.

A Certain Aesthetic of Style is Surely Missing from the Genre that was Birthed Mostly on the "Mean-Streets" of Urban-America, Down Dark Alleys, Neon-Lit Bars, and Desperate Men and Woman Trying to Survive Among the Corruption and Decadence.

Morphing Early on, About 1950, Film-Noir Quickly Became a More Living-Room, TV-Fixated Genre Called "Police-Procedural" and were Cranked Out Steadily Over-Shadowing True-Film-Noir that Faded Fast,

By the Mid-50's and into the Early 60's, Crime Films and Heavily Dramatic Psychological Films were Often Brightly-Lit (antithesis to Noir) Sets and Sprawling Open Suburban Landscapes, and Carpeted Homes with Barb-B-Q Back-Yards.

That's where "The Big Caper" is Set.

But the Hoodlums and Gang Members are Film-Noir "Friendly".

Psychos, Nymphos, Homosexuals, Alcoholics, Pyromaniacs, Cold Blooded Killers...are Lurking About the Bright-Sun and in 2nd Bedrooms, Reeking Havoc while Waiting for the Heist to be Planned and Executed.

Rory Calhoun Leads an Eclectic Cast, but is the Only Sane Member of these Misfits, Misanthropes, and Con-Men.

He Hooks Up with the Gang-Leader's (James Gregory) Gal (Mary Costa) as a Faux Married Couple as to Not Arouse Suspicion.

There's a Bleach-Blonde-Body-Builder, who probably is Gay, that Likes to Show Off His Muscles, Switch-Blade Dogs, and Strangle any "Doll" who Might Cause Trouble.

There's an Elderly Fire-Starter that is Drowning Himself in Gin and is Ready to Blow-Up a High-School with Kids Rehearsing as a Diversion.

There's the Safe-Cracker whose All Business, who Probably Has a Ph.d ("Pass me the soup, I make my own, and step back") and is Worried about Getting to the Bus Station and getting Out of Town Fast.

Other Assorted Gunsels and Thugs are Imported in, and Before You Know it the Bank-Heist is Over and so is the Movie.

One of the Most Abrupt Endings Ever.

Bizarre, Fast-Paced, and Lurid.

The Big Caper (1957)

Fabulous. Here's where having unknown talent and a plot about ordinary folk really gels into something genuine, without glitz and without the high production values that are terrific in the best crime noirs but are also so slick they become something more and also less. "The Big Caper" obviously has aspirations, beginning with the title (one of the great "Big xxx" films like "The Big Heat" and "The Big Combo" and "The Big Sleep"). And it doesn't let up, or let down.

By the end this is a heist film through and through, but the curious part is the core central part where a couple, with criminal intentions, sets up a normal seeming life in a small and unsuspecting town. But the woman of this pair is married to another man, who happens to be the mastermind of the whole affair. Things go wonderfully right for awhile, and romance blossoms as well as a clever and huge (and simple) robbery. But of course things also go wrong.

All of this is unfolded in an idealized American town, and that's part of the fun. When some of the smaller characters in the crime arrive, they are glaringly out of place. I smelled hints of sexual weirdness (including some possible S&M stuff with a strange blonde guy) and of course there's the conflict between the two leading men and the leading woman. Like Kubrick's "The Killing," a nearly contemporary heist film, this isn't about getting caught at all, but just about the inside workings of some small time thugs with a very big and bad dream. If Kubrick's film is better technically, and has some acting that rises above (several key players are terrific), this one rises up on its quieter simplicity, and on some very solid and less sensational acting.

And on a great job pulling it together. Robert Stevens did mostly television, including a whole series for Alfred Hitchcock t.v., and among his handful of feature films this is probably the best. Nicely filmed with lots of convincing (and real) night stuff, and edited tightly, it never flags. If the ending is a little too sweet, remember this isn't Kubrick after all. But good stuff.