Império do Terror

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.

Having just watched Spike Lee's Inside Man recently, it occurred to me that the caper/heist genre movie has gradually become so familiar that even the twistiest of plots seems predictable and ordinary. With this in mind I stepped back about 50 years to this entry in the genre that is almost a documentary by way of comparison to recent films. Instead of building to twists and revelations, this film takes a much straighter line and plays up the noir aspects of the film to deliver a solid b movie that is lacking in fireworks but not any less satisfying for it.

Apparently this film caused a bit of a stir at the time of release as it was criticised for being too "instructional" in regards planning a job and also police procedure in the investigation. This is maybe pushing it a bit far but certainly it is played pretty straight throughout and by doing so seems to work well as just a tough crime story. The tough part is key because, although the basic story is solid, the film is sold on the atmosphere as painted by the script, the direction and the performances. The film is set in the grey world of noir where the criminals are hard but the cops seem to be driven by bitterness and revenge just as much as a desire to do the right thing. This gives the film a nice dark edge that fits the material well and although it lacks flair, the straight-shooting approach works well.

The direction is good and Fleischer is confident within the smoky confines of interview rooms, nightclubs and hideouts. The script is not a classic but it does provide some memorable lines and has a tough edge that the cast take to. Talman is suitably sharp and dark as the gang leader, convincing in his infatuation with Yvonne just as he is betraying his gang. McGraw is more obvious but no less enjoyable in the role of the bitter, driven detective after the gang. Jergens is a bit too, well, round to totally convincing as the scheming showgirl but she did well enough to carry her scenes. Support from Fowley, McGuire and others round out the b movie cast but their performances all suit the material and the genre.

Overall then this runs the risk of coming over a bit dull to those that are used to their "heist gone wrong" movies with more violence and more twists but this relatively by-the-numbers film still works well. The material is enjoyable and the solid script is well delivered with a tough edge by director and cast.

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.

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.

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.