O Grande Roubo do Banco

This was an excellent "escape" movie. I mean, if you wanted to escape reality for a couple of hours...this is a humorous way to escape. It truly was almost a laugh a minute. You could keep ahead of the action and guess what was coming. It did not disappoint you! It was a FUNNY movie. With all the chases going on and so many main characters to follow; it truly kept your mind occupied and kept you following the ever-changing plot lines. The inter-mingling of so many sub-plots just added to the overall effect of the movie. Just when you thought you had seen the end of the plot line, there was even more intermingling between the various groups involved in "Harmony". Does anyone know where I can buy a copy for home viewing? DC III

Anyone who was not in stitches after watching this movie should take another look. This was quite simply one of the best comedies ever made. Hopefully, someday the powers that be will recognize the worth of this film and release it on DVD. Fans of Clint Walker and Kim Novak owe it to themselves to have this movie as a part of their collection, because the scope of their careers and the range of their abilities can not be adequately represented without it.

Warner Bros made a great PR note that Kim Novak was to star in her first Warner Bros film The Great Bank Robbery. At first when I heard it I was dismayed because Kim Novak took second billing to Zero Mostel who true to his name the fine actor had 'Zero' box office, and also because I believe Kim replaced Melina Mecouri, not a good sign for a major star of the then magnitude of Kim Novak's stardom. Also Kim Novak had just starred in the flop The Legend of Lylah Clare at MGM and I thought Kim took the first big paycheck offered to her; I was wrong. Ms Novak is gorgeous and delightful in this zany comedy directed by Hy Averback and co starring WB rugged Clint Walker along with a cast of fine character actors. This film is a delightful surprise.

This is a funny piece of work by Exorcist author Blatty. Hey, it has every character actor on the list in crazy situations which play off our ever-loving Western Movie stereotypes. It was done before the great ones like Blazing Saddles, Rustler's Rhapsody and The Villain. See it and judge for yourself. The cast is great and the situations amusing.

About five years before this film hit the movie theaters, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World proved a box office success. It was a cartoonish, madcap collection of skits bound together by its central theme--a race to find a buried treasure.

One might wonder if the success of that film inspired The Great Bank Robbery and other films. TGBR is also cartoonlike and wacky. Like Mad World, it features competing factions out to find wealth--this time to rob a bank of its gold. It does not boast the array of film and television stars that Mad World does, but there are a few: Zero Mostel, Kim Novak, Clint Walker, Claude Akins, Larry Storch, Sam Jaffe, Elisha Cook, Jr.

I am not sure what rating the film earned, but it contains some nudity that might deserve an R, which is surprising, because the film has the feel of a Disney product, like The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975). It even features two songs with words by Sammy Cahn.

In the end, this is an uneven film. But if you like the kind of mugging you can expect from Larry Storch or Zero Mostel, it has a certain charm.