The Rebel Set

I went in with extremely low expectations, and anticipating many ludicrous attempts to exploit the notoriety of the beat movement. What I got instead was a decent heist flick, a villain who surprises, and even a bit of character development.

Nothing here about 'rebels' or beatniks to speak of, though the soundtrack features some really decent flute and percussion music early on to set the scene. I was kept interested all the way through and was rewarded with a pretty good chase sequence to finish things off.

A low production value film that definitely transcends its budget!

I saw this movie on MST3K also. It's a really, really bad movie. The plot is implausible and the acting is awful. The question is raised in the MST episode, "who is merritt stone?" because he seems to be the train conductor, but that's actually Gene Roth. Merritt Stone is Carol's dad in Earth Versus the Spider, and the king in "the magic sword". Gene Roth is the guy everyone *thought* was merritt stone.

Plot-- A slippery mastermind recruits a crew of failed bohemians from a beatnik coffee house. The target is an armored car with a million dollar cargo, and an escape aboard a train. It's all planned out with split-second precision.

Another mediocre heist film trying to emulate the start-up success of Kubrick's The Killing (1956). This one's undone on a number of levels, including spotty acting (a weak Palmer in a central role), slack direction (fails to heighten plot high points), and a leaky script (a number of plot holes). Plus, that opening beatnik scene is more like a spoof than a mood-setting suspenser. At least there's the notorious Vicki Dougan as the waitress. Her way of getting Hollywood attention was to show cleavage from the backside instead of the more usual front. Judging from her credits, it didn't work.

On the other hand, the climax is action-filled with a good look at LA's elaborate train yards. However, I'm still wondering why men crawl under freight cars when they might start up any moment. Too bad that the characterizations never get enough chance to gel. As a result, there's not much sense of irony or loss at movie's end. Instead the story simply plays out in impersonally remote fashion. And that's a problem with the movie as a whole, which I guess is a good reason why the 72-minutes has remained buried in 1950's vaults.

(In passing—the "beatnik" fad was brief, mainly 1958 & '59 on the west coast, and mainly a bohemian reaction to suburban conformity of the Eisenhower years. My guess is the stylistic change of the 1960 Kennedy election undercut the novelty appeal.)

Without mst3k, most people would never have watched these crappy movies again. Maybe people aren't happy that a bunch of puppets make fun of movies that they like, but at least it ensures that geeks (including me) everywhere will be entertained by classics like "The Creeping Terror" and "The Rebel Set" (which isn't that bad, I agree, but you really should lighten up) for years.

Yes, this is one movie I can actually watch without the mst3k filter. It starts out slowly but once they do the crime, it moves along pretty well. I like how the guy disguises himself as an evil priest. The on- foot chase at the end goes on forever though. Completely unnecessary.

"The Rebel Set" would have zero significance except for the fact that "Mystery Science Theater 3000" showed it, and for the fact that it stars Edward Platt, better known as the Chief on "Get Smart". Otherwise this is one pathetic flick. Platt plays a man who gathers some people to assist him in a heist. As can be expected, Joel, Servo and Crow have a lot of fun trashing the movie. Among the people whom they mention are Rose-Marie, Martha Mitchell, and of course Merrit Stone. Trust me, you won't want to watch this movie outside of the "MST3K" version.

PS: Director Gene Fowler Jr. was better known as a film editor. He edited "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "Hang 'Em High". His other directorial efforts include "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" and "I Married a Monster from Outer Space". His father was journalist/author/dramatist Gene Fowler.