Lively Gang-Driven Late Film-Noir...Very Dark "Mob" in Very Bright Suburbs

Hollywood Rivera Apartments where Kay meets Flood, Roy, Harry and Doll

1400 North Hayworth Avenue, West Hollywood, California, USA

Edward G. Robinson and Jean Parker in Black Tuesday (1954)

Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes in Mr. Soft Touch (1949)

Howard Duff, Steve Cochran, and Ida Lupino in Private Hell 36 (1954)

Joseph Cotten, Wendell Corey, Martha Crawford, and Rhonda Fleming in The Killer Is Loose (1956)

Edward G. Robinson, Kevin McCarthy, and Connie Russell in Nightmare (1956)

Lee J. Cobb, John Dall, and Jane Wyatt in The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)

Joanne Dru and Edmond O'Brien in 711 Ocean Drive (1950)

Leslie Brooks and Robert Paige in Blonde Ice (1948)

Gaby André, Wally Cassell, and Steve Cochran in Highway 301 (1950)

Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea in Trooper Hook (1957)

Dean Martin and Yvette Mimieux in Toys in the Attic (1963)

Rory Calhoun and Mary Costa in The Big Caper (1957)

Rory Calhoun, Mary Costa, and James Gregory in The Big Caper (1957)

Rory Calhoun

Mary Costa

James Gregory

Martin Berkeley

Lionel White

A &quot;confidence couple&quot; pose as husband and wife while attempting a bank heist.

Robert Stevens

The Big Caper

Economical, pacy minor 50s crime movie.

Adapted, like Stanley Kubrick&apos;s more celebrated 1956 crime movie THE KILLING, from a novel by underrated thriller writer Lionel White, THE BIG CAPER is an economical, pacy minor 50s crime movie which, unfortunately, somewhat loses its grip and falls away on the home strait to deliver less than it initially promises. Trapped in an ever-increasing spiral of gambling losses, Frank (Rory Calhoun, taking a welcome break from the saddle) sells his now semi-respectable gangster boss Flood (James Gregory) the idea of bankrolling a &apos;big caper&apos;. The sleepy Californian coastal town of San Felipe is home to a bank which holds the substantial payroll for a nearby army base, and appears just ripe for the pickings for a team of professional hoods. Flood stakes the plan, and, after buying up the local gas station (an ideal stakeout locale for the bank located across the street), Frank sets up home with Flood&apos;s moll Kay (Mary Costa), aiming to win the trust of the local populace based on a seemingly legitimate veneer of domestic normality. Biding their time, Frank and Kay ingratiate themselves with the local &apos;square&apos; population as they await the arrival of Flood&apos;s specialist team. But when this outfit includes an alcoholic pyromaniac, an inveterate womaniser, a psychotically loyal bodyguard and a kingpin who is beginning, rightfully, to suspect that his girl wants out from her previous lifestyle, the seemingly perfect caper begins to look fatally flawed. Swift and punchy, and betraying the best of its paperback origins in swift, sharp characterisation and abrupt narrative gear changes, this benefits from a nicely embittered change-of-pace lead performance from Calhoun (who, in forsaking his cowboy boots and spurs here, suggests he would have made an effectively downbeat noir actor) and a surprising sense of well-oiled coiled-spring menace from the underrated Gregory. Although a tad schematic in its paralleling of the Eisenhower-era nuclear family with Flood&apos;s dysfunctional criminal one, and running out of steam on the way to a regrettably contrived ending which involves a Damascene conversion which doesn&apos;t quite convince  (a more cynical remake would probably put that right, though), this is a diverting slice of 50s criminality which seems, like much of the quirky crime roster from this period, to have slipped off the generic radar in recent years. Worth a look, even if it can&apos;t hold a candle to Kubrick&apos;s more celebrated Lionel White adaptation from the same period.

Adapted, like Stanley Kubrick's more celebrated 1956 crime movie THE KILLING, from a novel by underrated thriller writer Lionel White, THE BIG CAPER is an economical, pacy minor 50s crime movie which, unfortunately, somewhat loses its grip and falls away on the home strait to deliver less than it initially promises. Trapped in an ever-increasing spiral of gambling losses, Frank (Rory Calhoun, taking a welcome break from the saddle) sells his now semi-respectable gangster boss Flood (James Gregory) the idea of bankrolling a 'big caper'. The sleepy Californian coastal town of San Felipe is home to a bank which holds the substantial payroll for a nearby army base, and appears just ripe for the pickings for a team of professional hoods. Flood stakes the plan, and, after buying up the local gas station (an ideal stakeout locale for the bank located across the street), Frank sets up home with Flood's moll Kay (Mary Costa), aiming to win the trust of the local populace based on a seemingly legitimate veneer of domestic normality. Biding their time, Frank and Kay ingratiate themselves with the local 'square' population as they await the arrival of Flood's specialist team. But when this outfit includes an alcoholic pyromaniac, an inveterate womaniser, a psychotically loyal bodyguard and a kingpin who is beginning, rightfully, to suspect that his girl wants out from her previous lifestyle, the seemingly perfect caper begins to look fatally flawed. Swift and punchy, and betraying the best of its paperback origins in swift, sharp characterisation and abrupt narrative gear changes, this benefits from a nicely embittered change-of-pace lead performance from Calhoun (who, in forsaking his cowboy boots and spurs here, suggests he would have made an effectively downbeat noir actor) and a surprising sense of well-oiled coiled-spring menace from the underrated Gregory. Although a tad schematic in its paralleling of the Eisenhower-era nuclear family with Flood's dysfunctional criminal one, and running out of steam on the way to a regrettably contrived ending which involves a Damascene conversion which doesn't quite convince  (a more cynical remake would probably put that right, though), this is a diverting slice of 50s criminality which seems, like much of the quirky crime roster from this period, to have slipped off the generic radar in recent years. Worth a look, even if it can't hold a candle to Kubrick's more celebrated Lionel White adaptation from the same period.

A "confidence couple" pose as husband and wife while attempting a bank heist.

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