Hold-up en 120 secondes

This 1959 film, co-directed by Charles Guggenheim and John Stix, is for all its weaknesses a most commendable attempt to photograph a standard heist film in semi-documentary style. Shot on the locations in St. Louis where the actual robbery occurred, it almost succeeds. Unlike many earlier crime films in this genre, the screenplay by Richard Heffron makes no attempt to have us sympathize with the professional criminals. Few crime films of the era or before portrayed the common bank robber and his accomplices with such cold reality, going so far as to hint at the homosexual relationships that occur among hardened criminals who spent their lives incarcerated. The major weakness of the film is the time it spends attempting to establish a relationship between McQueen and the sister of one of the bank robbers. Molly McCarthy, physically believable and sympathetic, is not quite up to carrying off her admittedly complex role, particularly in comparison to the brilliance of the then 29-year-old Steve McQueen. McQueen received only $4,000 for his work, but he steals the picture, making the psychology of the young man beyond his depth who gets involved with a gang of professionals and cannot get out thoroughly believable. He is especially effective in the end of the film. The film is also helped by an original minimal score by Bernardo Segall, whose orchestration resembles that of European films of the same time. Guggenheim who had a talent for this sort of film later went on to direct many award-winning documentaries, leaving the crime film behind him. Too bad. He was after something here.

I tuned this in to catch a glimpse of early Steve McQueen. I stayed to watch it. The scenes of St. Louis were very interesting from a historic point of view. So much attention on the cars and the buildings -- this is an accidental snapshot in time. Steve McQueen grabs the attention as very angst ridden about his decisions, seemingly being drawn in a bad situation inch by inch. His girlfriend, although encouraging him to stay on the right path, also abets by funding the duo and not going to the police. Although not a well-known film, overall the acting and the dialog is quite natural. I can see why there is question of a homosexual relationship -- but in those days, hotels/motels were frequently not much more than a tiny bedroom with a double bed and a common bathroom down the hall. Kids frequently slept 2 or 3 to a bed and it wasn't uncommon for adults to share beds to save money.

This too little known noir work was filmed five years after the events of which it treats, and employs the settings where it occurred, Southwest Bank and its environs in St. Louis, while carefully utilizing within its cast the actual policemen, bank customers and area residents who were involved in the affair, all of which produce somewhat of a documentary impression. Three ex-convicts are joined by a college expellee, George Fowler (Steve McQueen during his Method period), creating an abruptly formed criminal quartet, with Fowler, assigned as wheel man for his first organized illegal endeavour, and we watch them as the robbery is carefully planned by the group's leader, John Egan (Crahan Denton) amid an assortment of simmering frustrations and jealousies which infest the men. Producer Charles Guggenheim also directs, with assistance from John Stix, and the duo focus upon obtaining a naturalistic setting from the interesting script, which is very intense in feeling, with rather harsh dialogue, resulting in a dark film, at the heart of which is an old fashioned shootout where tactics are forgotten by both sides.

is a must to see. Before he became "one of the System's bad boys". He is refreshing and I would tell any true Steve McQueen fan to see this movie just on the strength of his performance.

The movie itself is a hoot! I mean with not so evasive homosexual references and shades of Noir...and in the early 50's!!....it is worth seeing. I liked it.

It is a story of the "Great St. Louis Bank Robbery" in the early 50's....great period piece for those of us who were alive then....and for those who were not to see what a section of Americana looked like....

Using the real people involved in the actual heist is great! Non-Actors who are reliving their dream or nightmare....depending.

See it. You won't be disappointed.

The decent degree of realism plus one of Steve McQueen's earlier starring movie roles help make this crime feature worth watching. The story has some pretty interesting aspects, and it adds to the realism with the well-publicized inclusion of many of the actual police officers who were involved in the original events on which the movie is based. On the other hand, the rest of the cast does not come up to McQueen's stature as performers, and at times some potentially powerful scenes lack a little something as a result.

The setup has McQueen's character hired as the getaway driver for a gang of bank robbers. Their careful planning is thrown into complications by an old girlfriend of George's (McQueen), whose brother is also part of the gang. The resulting tensions, plus the various unexpected developments as they carry out their plan, add some interest to the basic story. Many of the scenes are written and filmed rather well, although at times the movie expends some screen time on less interesting material.

McQueen does a good job with an unsympathetic character, and the supporting cast is mostly solid. Molly McCarthy is believable and generally sympathetic as Ann, but she does not always give her character a lot of depth. Crahan Denton gives the gang's boss a good, solid persona at the beginning, but afterward the character remains rather one-dimensional even when there are chances to bring out some interesting characteristics.

The straightforward, almost documentary style cinematography works pretty well, and makes a good combination with the downbeat story. Despite a few things that could have been better, this is not bad at all for its genre, and it is certainly worth seeing.