Guns Girls and Gangsters

Chuck Wheeler (Gerald Mohr) gets out of prison and heads to Las Vegas to enact an elaborate heist where he plans to steal an armored car carrying over $2 million in post-New Year's gambling money. He enlists the aide of local gangster Joe Darren (Grant Richards) and his lounge singer fiancé Vi (Mamie Van Doren), who just happens to be the wife of Wheeler's old cell mate. They plan everything out and it looks like it will go smoothly until Vi's ex-husband, Mike (Lee Van Cleef), breaks out of jail. This is a quick moving B-picture and director Edward L. Cahn never lets it lag through its 70 minutes. Van Doren isn't as much of a bad girl as in the previous feature I saw, VICE RAID. Here she is more of a good girl caught in a bad situation. To show how good she is, Van Doren gets two musical numbers in this one. Surprisingly, they don't play up her curves as much as VICE, but the swelling horn section is still abused plenty on the soundtrack. The supporting cast is all good and it is funny to know that even when he was young, Van Cleef still looked old.

This film begins with an ex-convict named "Charles Wheeler" (Gerald Mohr) going to a nightclub in Las Vegas to meet a showgirl named "Vi Victor" (Mamie Van Doren) who just happens to be the wife of his former cell mate "Mike Bennett" (Lee Van Cleef). As it turns out, Charles has discovered that Vi has been having an affair with a man named "Joe Darren" (Grant Richards). That being the case, Charles needs Vi to set up a meeting between him and Joe. To further elaborate, Charles has formulated a plan to rob an armored car worth $2 million and he needs Joe's connections to the black market to launder the stolen money. But having spent several years in prison staring at a picture of Vi, the money isn't the only thing that Charles wants. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film turned out to be slightly better than I anticipated due in large part to the interesting plot and the presence of the incredibly beautiful Mamie Van Doren who dominated every scene she was in. Of course, being a low-budget production this film had some limitations but even so it managed to keep my attention for the most part and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I watch this movie every two years. It's a great classic grade B thriller, perhaps the greatest of the 50's; and the best picture shot by Edward L Cahn. The director usually gives us sleepy flicks, always built on the same frame, except his first ones, the 30's ones, as "Law and order". He lost his soul during the 50's and early 60's, till his death.

A little masterpiece. Mamie Van Doren, Lee Van Cleef contribute much for it.

A fast paced and pretty shot little thriller. If you are a caper movie lover as I am, DON'T MISS IT.

I would put it on the same scale as "Plunder Road".

With this great title we get Guns (45's, rifles with scope and silencer, 38's), Girls (Mamie and a Nuclear White Bread Wife), and Gangsters (cons, gamblers, techno-nerds, thugs). Mamie Van Doren was the third-rate platinum blonde (after Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield) of the 1950's.

She had a hard look and demeanor contrasting Marilyn's doey-eyed sweetness and Jayne's playful pin-up, so she played Molls and Dames and wore her skin-tight, reflective attire with seductive charm. Here she is also allowed two "singing and dancing" numbers that are pedestrian but passable.

Lee Van Cleef's sneering and devilish face provide the violence and nastiness. It is a somewhat boring pace but kick's in after a very slow start with a gabby set-up and less than interesting compositions.

Not a bad B-Movie and is welcome enough but just isn't too remarkable. Some blame could be put on the over-age, unattractive, baggy-eyed Mohr who was one of the most unappealing self-conscious "leads" around the Drive-In Movie circuit.

There is a scene in this movie that totally sums up the 1950s. Mamie Van Doren, bleached hair flowing in the wind, glamorous sunglasses glinting in the sun, drives a 1958 Edsel Citation Convertible, no doubt pink, that is pulling a horse trailer. It doesn't get any more 1950s than that!!!!

Enjoy this movie for its 1950s clichés. All the good girls are brunettes, and the bad girls are blondes. Men in tight suits and skinny ties. Crappy Rock-n-Roll. Cops save the day. Bad people get punished. People talk tired Film-Noir-speak. Mamie Van Doren's Bullet Bra and wide hips encased in an iron girdle.

Show this movie at your next 1950s party.