Armored Car Robbery

Richard Fleischer's Armored Car Robbery is a lean little heist thriller, from which Stanley Kubrick apparently borrowed a thing or two six years later for The Killing. In a refreshing preview of truth in packaging, the title pretty much sums it up: it's the few-frills story of a criminal gang who knocks over a payroll truck at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field, followed by the inevitable falling out of thieves and their pursuit by John Law.

Coming together are several of the second string of noir actors. Charles McGraw stays as gruff as a minion of the law as he was as a menace to society; he takes the heist heavily because his partner was killed in the shoot-out. Leader of the gang is ruthless William Talman, who starred in almost as many noirs as Raymond Burr, for whom he was to co-star in the Perry Mason television franchise; while falling just shy of Burr's opulent evil, he could seed a few nightmares himself. And bringing up the distaff side is tough blonde Adele Jergens, here a `Burly-Q' headliner who never seems to lose her heavy white stole. She's making hay with Talman even though her older husband, on his uppers, also dies as a result of the truck robbery (when he pleads for a doctor for his gunshot wound, Talman shoots him, muttering his mantra `No loose ends').

Fleischer, son of legendary animator Max, was not one of the poets of the noir cycle but a wrap-it-up director with a racing pulse; The Narrow Margin (also starring McGraw) remains his best-known film. In later years he directed a number of big action pictures, few of any real distinction. His metier was probably these brief, shoestring programmers, because bigger budgets and longer running times slowed him up and made him ponderous (viz. Tora! Tora! Tora!). Armored Car Robbery endures as a testament to how good he was with the swift and blunt approach.

Robert Fleischer's film Armored Car Robbery is, in many aspects, a straightforward heist movie. It features all of the usual suspects, including a bunch of ragtag tough guys, a heartless dame who only cares about the promise of lots of 'lettuce', and a lantern jawed, square shouldered cop who deep down really cares about his partner. These caricatures are expected and well played; what was a surprise was how well William Talman filled a role a less skilled performer might have slept through. Talman, who played the leader of the gang, infused his character with a flinty, almost sociopathic nature that plays as believable and chilling. Additionally, the movie had great momentum, one that moved a somewhat predicable plot forward at a gripping and exciting pace.

All of the actors gave good to excellent performances, though Charles McGraw's character was a smidge too one dimensional at times, as he spoke his clipped sentences through gritted teeth and wore the heroic big suit like a comic book lieutenant. Still, an enjoyable heist film that won't disappoint fans of the crime or noir genres. Some lovely visuals as well!

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.

Wow, this was a neat little film, far better than I had hoped. I don't tape many shows on TV, but this was one I'm sure glad I did, especially since it is not available on VHS or DVD.

I say "little" film because it's only 67 minutes long. Richard Fleischer, who directed THE NARROW MARGIN (1952), another short and fast-moving crime story, directed this movie, too, and you can see some similarities. The major similarity is how fast-paced these films are. Another is the presence of one of the best 'B' tough guys ever: Charles McGraw.

Because of that, and it's so interesting to view, it's one I plan on viewing a number of times. McGraw, as the cop, and William Talman, as the leader of the gang, are fun to watch.

It's a heist tale and most of the film is about the gang trying to escape after the robbery and what happens to each one. In that regards, it reminds me a bit of another great film: THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, which also came out at this time. This isn't up to that level, but it's good and highly recommended viewing if you see it listed on TCM, where I saw it.