O Grande Roubo do Banco

In the western town of Friendly, there's a bank so impenetrable that even as hordes of Mexicans stampede down the street to rob it, people continue chatting and throwing horseshoes because it's just that impossible to rob. This is the bank referred to in the title of this spoofy western, in which no less than four separate teams are planning to break in, most of whom want the loot that famous outlaws have stashed there (because of it's fortress-like stature and a manager who keeps the books hidden from authorities.) Mostel plays a faux-reverend whose flock include a tunnel-digger, a demolitions man, an artist and a decoy (played by a shockingly curvy and flesh-flashing Novak.) He is the top-billed star of the film, but it's really an ensemble piece not unlike "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" or any other overdone comedy in which disparate people want the same thing and wind up fighting for it in an extended chase at the end. Walker plays a Texas Ranger who wants inside the bank for it's account information. Other potential bank robbers include Tamiroff and Storch leading the Mexican contingent of bandits and Akins as an outlaw who claims to hate killing people, though he does so frequently. The film is broad and occasionally loud, but has been unfairly dismissed as worthless and unfunny. Though the humor is low and sometimes lame, there are still a number of laughs to be had. All of the performers are quite dedicated to their roles and to the parodic elements of the story. Some of them just tend to overplay it. Mostel has an outlandishly ridiculous musical number which is funny in spite of itself. It's so tacky and ludicrous it winds up being entertaining on a camp level. Novak, not exactly a strong comedienne, has a lot to offer physically. She betrays all her fine earlier work in films like "Vertigo" (!) and "The Man with the Golden Arm" taking on such a decorative and exploitive role, but does deliver on those terms. Walker is everyone's ideal authority figure. Sure and proud, he's the perfect choice for his role. He has a dazzlingly bizarre picnic scene with Novak in which he is slipped some peyote and is given a rare opportunity to cut loose and have some fun while displaying (for one of the last times?) his tremendous chest. At 42, he puts anyone else on earth to shame hanging from a tree by one arm and rolling around in the grass with his head upside down. Many other familiar actors round out the cast, notably "All My Children"'s Warrick in a weak role that she makes the very most of. Cook also does well as Akin's nervous sidekick. It's all a big, overblown mess by the end (and in a grievous error, Walker is offscreen for ages in the climax), but it's worth a look for several amusing moments and the physical attributes of Novak and Walker. The approach to drugs is dated and it doesn't always hold up completely, but there is a certain degree of cleverness in it. One note: A free bag of peanuts to anyone who can understand what Tamiroff is saying in his opening scene.

John Anderson has come up with a great idea in The Great Train Robbery. He has a bank in the town of Friendly, Texas that caters to bank robbers who want to hide their loot. People like the James Brothers, the Daltons, the Youngers all swear by him and it's a pretty secure facility. In effect Anderson has invented money laundering.

The big gangs avoid this place especially since Claude Akins gang is responsible for security. But a Mexican gang headed by father and son Akim Tamiroff and Larry Storch want to take it down.

And also there's a gang of confidence men disguised as clergy people and Zero Mostel heads it as the new town preacher. Other members are Peter Whitney, John Fiedler, Sam Jaffe, and Kim Novak. They've got a rather involved scheme to rob this place.

Before there was Blazing Saddles there was The Great Bank Robbery. Maybe this could have used the touch of Mel Brooks, but it's funny enough for me.

Best scene for me is Kim Novak exposed to peyote and then treating Texas Ranger Clint Walker. Walker is busy satirizing the cowboy hero myth and what peyote does to a cowboy hero is something to see.

Lots of laughs in this forgotten comedy.

Zero Mostel managed, after being blacklisted in the McCarthy period, to climb back to his place as one of the leading stage personalities of his day. UlYSSES IN NIGHTOWN, RHINOCEROS, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF made him a Broadway immortal. The film versions of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED and THE PRODUCERS showed he could have been one of the great screen comedic actors. Then, came GREAT CATHERINE and THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY, and Zero soon was seen as good as support but not in leads. He would have other screen highlights in the future (THE HOT ROCK, THE FRONT), but the possible great film career was screwed up.

As Reverend Pious Blue, Zero was supposed to be the head of a gang masquerading as revivalists, but actually a criminal gang planning to rob the bank owned by Big John Anderson (who is also the town Mayor). The gang includes Kim Novak and John Fiedler. The trouble is that others are considering a bank robbery: Claude Atkins, the film's stereotypical (?) bad man, and a gang of Mexican bandits led by Akim Tamiroff and Larry Storch. There is also a hero, who is romancing Kim, played by Clint Walker. These various elements, which also include Atkins' sidekick Elisha Cook Jr. and Ruth Warwick, simply do not jell. There are moments that are amusing, but more that are simply stupid. The robbery itself is not as good as the destruction of the theater by Zero, Gene Wilder, and Kenneth Mars in THE PRODUCERS, and that sequence only took five minutes of film (originally - now it's been cut to three minutes). The most notable point about it was the getaway (in a balloon).

But there was one bright spot - not Zero but Claude. Atkins was always a good actor, usually as heavies (even in INHERIT THE WIND he was the fundamentalist reverend who turns against his daughter for supporting Bertram Cates). Another typical role was in THE DEFIANT ONES, when he is the man who would turn Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis over to the Sheriff (Theodore Bickel) because of his racism. But in this film he was allowed to be unique. He is the most moralistic gunfighter I know of in film. Every time he faces one of the questionable characters in the film, he starts referring to them as "scum" or "scum of the earth". It becomes like a moralistic mantra. He is a man with a hot temper, as Cook discovers to his cost, but he can show a nice sense of remorse afterward. His over-the-top moral bad-guy is the best thing in the film. As a result watch it for that. But otherwise it was a dismal failure for everyone else involved.

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.