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Remembered mostly as Hamilton Berger, TV's Perry Mason's opponent always doomed to fail, William Talman radiates with star quality as the anti-hero in this taut programmer. With few words and with no fanfare, Talman etches a finely tuned portrayal of a brainy and fussy gangster. The man is a portrait of self-discipline and clean-living except that he is a crook. Charles McGraw does well as his adversary, the detective, but it's Talman who captures our imagination and leaves indelible imprint on our minds as the meticulous crook who has figured out everything to the most infinitessimal detail. There's just one thing he doesn't know: this is an early 50's movie, so his character must learn that crime doesn't pay!

Director Richard Fleischer was responsible for two of the best of the low-budget '50s cops-n-robbers flicks, both notable for starring Charles McGraw, one of the great movie bad guys, as a tough detective. One, "The Narrow Margin," is quite well known; this is the other one, and while not as well known, it certainly should be. The story is about a vicious gang of robbers, headed by a murderous psychopath (William Talman, who seemed to have a corner on that market in the '50s), pulls off an armored car robbery that goes awry. Detective McGraw is out to track down the gang. The film is a textbook example of the best of the B movie--swiftly paced, tightly edited, with a good story and a cast of veteran character actors that work together like a well-oiled machine. Some clever plot twists and startling (for the time) violence make this one a keeper. Very highly recommended.

Richard Fleischer's Armored Car Robbery is a lean little heist thriller, from which Stanley Kubrick apparently borrowed a thing or two six years later for The Killing. In a refreshing preview of truth in packaging, the title pretty much sums it up: it's the few-frills story of a criminal gang who knocks over a payroll truck at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field, followed by the inevitable falling out of thieves and their pursuit by John Law.

Coming together are several of the second string of noir actors. Charles McGraw stays as gruff as a minion of the law as he was as a menace to society; he takes the heist heavily because his partner was killed in the shoot-out. Leader of the gang is ruthless William Talman, who starred in almost as many noirs as Raymond Burr, for whom he was to co-star in the Perry Mason television franchise; while falling just shy of Burr's opulent evil, he could seed a few nightmares himself. And bringing up the distaff side is tough blonde Adele Jergens, here a `Burly-Q' headliner who never seems to lose her heavy white stole. She's making hay with Talman even though her older husband, on his uppers, also dies as a result of the truck robbery (when he pleads for a doctor for his gunshot wound, Talman shoots him, muttering his mantra `No loose ends').

Fleischer, son of legendary animator Max, was not one of the poets of the noir cycle but a wrap-it-up director with a racing pulse; The Narrow Margin (also starring McGraw) remains his best-known film. In later years he directed a number of big action pictures, few of any real distinction. His metier was probably these brief, shoestring programmers, because bigger budgets and longer running times slowed him up and made him ponderous (viz. Tora! Tora! Tora!). Armored Car Robbery endures as a testament to how good he was with the swift and blunt approach.

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.

Robert Fleischer's film Armored Car Robbery is, in many aspects, a straightforward heist movie. It features all of the usual suspects, including a bunch of ragtag tough guys, a heartless dame who only cares about the promise of lots of 'lettuce', and a lantern jawed, square shouldered cop who deep down really cares about his partner. These caricatures are expected and well played; what was a surprise was how well William Talman filled a role a less skilled performer might have slept through. Talman, who played the leader of the gang, infused his character with a flinty, almost sociopathic nature that plays as believable and chilling. Additionally, the movie had great momentum, one that moved a somewhat predicable plot forward at a gripping and exciting pace.

All of the actors gave good to excellent performances, though Charles McGraw's character was a smidge too one dimensional at times, as he spoke his clipped sentences through gritted teeth and wore the heroic big suit like a comic book lieutenant. Still, an enjoyable heist film that won't disappoint fans of the crime or noir genres. Some lovely visuals as well!

With its lean, pared-down running time and exclusive focus on the cops 'n' robbers storyline, ARMOURED CAR ROBBERY could be a modern movie along the likes of the BOURNE films or HEAT. It's certainly a film that's stood the test of time very well, as it's extremely fast paced and action-packed with it. There's little to dislike here.

The plot is simplicity in itself: a group of bank robbers hijack an armoured car and make way with the loot. A gang of cops are soon on their tail, and then things get rather messy. There are fatalities on both sides, a sleazy burlesque club gets drawn into the mix, and there's an inexorable slide towards the inevitable showdown at the climax.

ARMOURED CAR ROBBERY boasts a tough script, excellent acting and strong direction from the reliable Richard Fleischer (10 RILLINGTON PLACE). The best of the cast is easily William Talman as the chief robber; he has a real screen presence here and holds his own against everyone else. Charles McGraw, as the dogged detective on his trail, is very nearly as good. In any case, this is a great, forgotten little movie that's rip for rediscovery.

Wow, this was a neat little film, far better than I had hoped. I don't tape many shows on TV, but this was one I'm sure glad I did, especially since it is not available on VHS or DVD.

I say "little" film because it's only 67 minutes long. Richard Fleischer, who directed THE NARROW MARGIN (1952), another short and fast-moving crime story, directed this movie, too, and you can see some similarities. The major similarity is how fast-paced these films are. Another is the presence of one of the best 'B' tough guys ever: Charles McGraw.

Because of that, and it's so interesting to view, it's one I plan on viewing a number of times. McGraw, as the cop, and William Talman, as the leader of the gang, are fun to watch.

It's a heist tale and most of the film is about the gang trying to escape after the robbery and what happens to each one. In that regards, it reminds me a bit of another great film: THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, which also came out at this time. This isn't up to that level, but it's good and highly recommended viewing if you see it listed on TCM, where I saw it.

Wow, was I ever impressed by this little film. While ARMORED CAR ROBBERY is not an especially sexy title and the film possesses no real star power, it is a wonderfully effective and superbly written little B-movie directed by a young Richard Fleischer. So far in his career Fleischer had directed some shorts and a couple undistinguished films and it was several years before he gained fame with THE NARROW MARGIN (also a wonderful B-film starring Charles McGraw), THE VIKINGS and SOYLENT GREEN. So, since he was an unknown, they gave him mostly unknowns for the film. The biggest name in it was Charles McGraw--a great heavy and supporting actor who'd been around but still hadn't made a name for himself. Additionally, William Talman plays the leader of the bad guys and while you most likely won't recognize his name, he is the man who played Hamilton Burger on the "Perry Mason" TV show.

While McGraw was as wonderful as I'd expected since I'd seen him in quite a few great Film Noir movies, I was particularly impressed by Talman. As Ham Burger, he was a bland and one-note character--the jerk who ALWAYS lost to Perry Mason. But here, he was a very cold, calculating and scary man because he was so believable and amoral. It's a darn shame that this role didn't result in better roles--he really showed he could act.

The film is naturally about an armored car robbery and it was rather straight-forward in its plotting. However, because the dialog and the rest of the writing was so true to life, it really jumped out at me. While it did have a few great Noir-like lines (spoken mostly by the great McGraw), it emphasized reality over style and seemed like a very honest crime drama more than anything else. While it lacked the tension of THE NARROW MARGIN, it made up for it with quality at every level--resulting in a marvelous and generally unrecognized little gem. Watch this film--it's dandy.

Armored Car Robbery in the no frills style of noir that characterized RKO Studios is the story of just that. The execution and then police investigation of the robbery is subject of this film. It plays like an episode of Criminal Intent with the action shifting back and forth from the cops as represented by Charles McGraw and the crooks headed by William Talman.

He's quite a piece of work in this film, Talman. He's proud of the fact that he's never even been pinched for anything, hence he's not on anyone's radar. His three accomplices, Steve Brodie, Gene Evans, and Douglas Fowley can't say that however.

Also in the mix is the high maintenance stripper wife of the luckless Fowley. That would be Adele Jergens who split these kind of parts with Marie Windsor. Jergens has been trading up and Fowley would like to get the guy she's been cheating on him with. He doesn't have a clue that it's Talman.

The Armored Car Robbery takes place in front of Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, it's the last stop on the route. That Wrigley Field was also named for the same guy who owned the Chicago Cubs and was the home of the Triple A Los Angeles Angels franchise of the Pacific Coast League. It's gone now, but just like the friendly confines in Chicago, LA's Wrigley Field was situated in a residential neighborhood as you see in the film.

The robbery is successful, but Fowley is wounded and McGraw's partner is killed. Then the tension builds. McGraw is tough and smart, but Talman is ruthless and no fool. It all ends in quite a nice shootout climax.

Like last year's The Town which also featured a robbery of a ballpark, Armored Car Robbery doesn't quite have that film's budget. But RKO studios specialized in getting these kind of films done right and tight. Armored Car Robbery is a great example of what this studio specialized in.

Heist movies are part of Hollywood's staple diet these days, but it's interesting to see 'Armoured Car Robbery', a take on the theme dating back to 1950. The film has some plusses: interesting cinematography of industrial L.A., William Tallman's performance as the intelligent, edgy villain, and a low-key mood of realism that prevails throughout. But the limitations of acting and cinematic technique of the period can never be completely forgotten while viewing, and the final scene is bizarrely weak. Ultimately, it doesn't stand comparison with the best of today's movies; but there are plenty of modern heist films that have borrowed the concept, and which may be slick, but which also seem empty and trite in comparison.

Armored Car Robbery (1950)

*** (out of 4)

Thief Dave Purvis (William Talman) plays the perfect heist of an armored car in L.A. but things take a disastrous turn when cops show up on the scene. A gunfight breaks out and a cop is killed, which doesn't sit well with Lt. Jim Cordell (Charles McGraw) who will stop at nothing to make sure those responsible are brought to justice. This film was released by Warner as a film-noir but I personally didn't see anything to connect this to that genre. This is, however, a fine crime picture that has two great actors delivering strong performances and in the end they're reason enough to watch the film. I think the biggest problem with the movie is that director Flesicher never builds up any atmosphere nor does he ever build up any real suspense. In many ways the film is very by-the-numbers because it seems like the director and screenwriter never tried to go out of their way to do something special but instead they just deliver the goods and make for a pleasant 67-minutes. The movie features some great locations around Wrigley Field as well as several scenes inside a burlesque show, which adds to the fun. The heist sequence was fairly well-directed and the pay-off is nice as well. The ending is going to remind people of Kubrick's THE KILLING, although it's a lot more graphic in nature here. Talman and McGraw are two veterans of this genre and both men know how to make their characters speak without saying a word. Both men have incredible faces that really tell us all we need to know and it seems as if both actors were having a lot of fun in these roles. Talman is very laid-back in his role and his character really comes across very collective and cool. McGraw, in an early Dirty Harry type role, is tough as nails and you just know he's not going to stop.

Richard Fleischer could get more out of a small budget than any director could in the 1950's. His string of 50's 'B' films-noir are legendary to any film noir fanatic.

This film is short and quick-paced. You'll have to watch and not blink or the movie's gone.

Do yourself a favor and grab some cigarettes and a beer and sit down and catch this one the next time it's on; it's an extremely brisk, tight and taut thriller.

There are no holes. Charles McGraw - who looks amazingly like Dick Tracy would if Dick were a real guy, is tough and solid as usual. I would have hated to meet McGraw in an alley back in the day!

I can't wait for the DVD...

After an armored car is robbed by a small gang of crooks, a determined cop goes after them. McGraw is good in what was for him a typical role of a no-nonsense tough guy. Talman, who made a career out of playing creepy villains, is also effective as the ruthless mastermind behind the robbery. The curvaceous Jergens provides the love interest. It is a solid if unspectacular crime drama, well executed by B-movie director Fleischer, who specialized in these kinds of gritty films, the best known being "The Narrow Margin," made a couple of years after this and also starring McGraw. It moves at a fast pace, clocking in at under 70 minutes.

A good early killer crime flick from director Richard Fleischer, who really hit his straps 20 years later with the classic sci-fi "Soylent Green" (1973).

This film noir is well plotted, has a great storyline and is interesting and absorbing throughout. At 67 minutes it achieves its required result with very little padding.

Brisk performances from the gravel voiced Charles McGraw who had made it big in TV in the mid-50's with "The Adventures of Falcon".

Tough blonde Adele Jergen, who had a tragic life off screen, is great as the lover of gangland leader William Talman who made a career as the District Attorney who always lost to Perry Mason.

If it ever comes on one of the movie channels do yourself a favour and see it.

7/10

By all odds the best B noir I've seen, and I've seen a number of them. William Talman and Charles McGraw are both outstanding as always, and though it may verge on the heretical, I have to say that I prefer Armored Car Robbery to the same director's justly-famous The Narrow Margin, also starring McGraw. About as tough as they come, and all wrapped up in under 70 minutes. Be on the lookout for this to turn up on cable(TCM or AMC), and don't miss it when it does!

A good low-budget noir. (Though the budget looks pretty darn low, it has a lot of big names.) The plot itself is somewhat routine. Cps vs bad guy. Really bad leader vs his underlings. The matter-of-fact title tells a whole lot of the story.

However, Adele Jergens is the draw here. She plays a burlesque dancer. (And we see her routine a couple times. Even today, it looks tawdry.) Though this came out before my time, newsstands kept girlie magazines from years and years -- decades, even -- in stock. I remember as a kid wondering about the weird shoes these women were posing in. Well, Adele Jergens looks like the quintessential bleached-blonde naughty girl of the 1950s-60s. And she was a good actress, too.

More of her would have leavened the plot./ As it is, it's too many guys who look and sound alike -- all of them fine actors but enough gets to be enough.

Armored Car Robbery (1950)

You know something? This is a perfect movie. I'm not saying it's the most original or a classic masterpiece--it's a crime film, fairly straight up--but it's acted and made with unusual focus and great post-War style. It has enough turns to keep you alert, enough dark dark night scenes to thrill any noir lover, and a steady presence by the main cast to give it intense credibility.

Starring in a role he's repeated elsewhere is Charles McGraw as the weary, determined, no-nonsense cop. Around him are cops with a similar kind of determination. The thugs are quite believably thuggish, too, including the terrific leading bad guy played by William Talman.

Yes, no big names here. And that's part of the appeal. No magic aura, no expectations or star power to get in the way, just some gritty crime back and forth, fast and beautifully made.

And the movie is ahead of its time, too, and influential without much acknowledgement. Near the end is a scene, at an airport, with a suitcase full of money bursting open and blowing away. Sound familiar? Yes, it's a mild version of the astonishing end to Kubrick's masterful "The Killing," made in 1956 But that cuts both ways, because in the heist at the center for the action the criminals use tear gas to hold up an armored truck, much like they did in the famous "Criss-Cross" in 1948.

Such is the movies, I think, and it makes you realize (and appreciate) how part of the success of any movie is simply how well done it is. And this one, coming from someone who has seen way too many of this kind of movie (as if you can see too many), is really great. See it!

Another trim, spare RKO crime quickie from the 1950's. The set up is mechanical and the plot rather pedestrian, but it has that funky flavoring you often get when character actors are given the chance to play leads. It also scores points for showing the nuances of police work in a credible "Ahhh, so that's how it works" manner.

Charles McGraw, William Talman, Don McGuire and Steve Brodie aren't exactly household names; however they, particularly McGraw and Brodie, made a career out of these kinds of un-ambitious but competent enough flicks. And Talman (sort of a skid row Peter O'Toole facially) as the ultra-careful mastermind of the job, sure does make quite a nasty villain - just as he also did in another cult item from around this time "The Hitch-hiker".

A sub-plot of McGraw's new partner (McGuire) trying to prove himself worthy falls flat, partially because McGuire is an unremarkable screen presence but also due to a slightly too short running time. You watch movies like these for the tight dialogue and this one has some good zingers, but at times you can also see it lapsing into self-parody, signaling the genre's imminent demise.

A very enjoyable, and quick, bank heist film featuring square-jawed Charles McGraw and William Talman with familiar elements, including 1950s L.A. as a backdrop. A career criminal (Talman) lines up local bad guys for a heist, with the added twist of his involvement with one of the local's girl, which leads, naturally, to a double-cross. An intrepid detective (McGraw), loses his partner in the armored car heist, and this drives the plot towards its grisly conclusion. Good fun, moves along fast, with plenty of light coming through venetian blinds, reflecting on hotel walls.

After years of watching Talman as Perry Mason's foil, the district attorney Hamilton Burger on the television series, it was great to watch him use his odd looks to full effect as a sociopathic criminal. His biography, available here on IMDb, also reveals his courage towards the very end of his life, as he filmed a short anti-smoking film for the American Cancer Society as he lay dying of lung cancer.

'Armored Car Robbery' happened to pop up in my recommended for you section not too long ago. It was hard to ignore it, and decided not to, as the story did interest me reading of it. As did the title (a simple one but grabs the attention nonetheless), there are some good heist/robbery films out there, classic film has always been dear to my heart and Richard Fleischer was no stranger to making interesting films.

Which is what 'Armored Car Robbery' turned out to be when finally getting aroud to watching it. It is not a great film and it has faults, never will it be a personal favourite but in all fairness there are so many of those out of such a large number of viewed films. 'Armored Car Robbery' is also though a good film that maintained my attention throughout and has a lot of strengths, it is sad it's not better known today because it does have enough to it to warrant more exposure.

Did feel that at just over an hour that 'Armored Car Robbery' is rather too on the short side, it could have done with fifteen minutes more perhaps, which the film could have dedicated to making Don McGuire's rather anaemic subplot more interesting. Despite some nice atmospheric photography the low budget in the production values does show, there is a hasty look to them.

Charles McGraw was mostly fine to me, the tough approach working well with him, he does give intensity and he looks committed. He does have one-dimensional moments though, with him overdoing in places the grumbling gruffer side to his character.

However, cannot say anything bad about anything else. Regarding the rest of the cast, Adele Jergens is luminous and is anything but bland but it is a chillingly cold blooded William Talman who takes the acting honours here. Fleischer directs assuredly while the attention never wavers watching the film.

Thanks to a great job with the atmosphere and maintaining a high level of suspense throughout. Also liked that it didn't shy away from realism and was honest, which did allow for some uncompromising moments. The climax, which influenced Stanley Kubrick, is a powerful one. The script is lean and tightly structured with no extraneous fat.

In summation, good film worthy of more attention. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Can you guess what this film is about? There you go, so that's the plot summary.

The film is well-made and the acting is good on all counts. Charles McGraw is usually a sign that the film will be good and here he plays the detective on the tail of the armoured car robbery gang, led by William Talman, who is also good in all his roles. Talman leads a gang of four who have to work out how to divide the money and flea before they get caught.

Talman has got an unusually large head. You know when people wear hats, there is usually a top bit of the hat that contains air and no actual head. Think of a top hat. There is a big gap of air under the top bit of the hat. Well, imagine if the top bit of the top hat was filled out by someone's head. That is Talman.

The story keeps you watching but I'm afraid it never set alight on the excitement front as it includes the very convenient get-out clause of 'shoot them'. Once the shot has been fired, that's it - end of scene. Bang! You're dead. Not very exciting or interesting, I'm afraid. As one of my bosses once said to me - lazy thinking!