Le plus grand des hold-up

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.

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.

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.

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.

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