Victor Mature stars but its actually an ensemble piece - a heist film crossed with small town melodrama. Stephen McNally turns up to rob a bank in a small town where the son of the mine owner (Richard Egan) is a drunk with a slutty wife, the mine manager (Mature) has a kid who is embarrassed about him because of his lack of a war record, the bank manager (Tom Noonan) likes to perve on a nurse who falls for Egan, there are some Amish farmers (led by Ernest Borgnine) whose farm the robbers hide out in.
It's surprisingly entertaining, with plenty of going on and an exciting robbery sequence and good action afterwards. Egan was never much of a star but could be effective as a support and is good as a weakling; Borgnine is fun as an Amish farmer who discovers the joys of violence; Lee Marvin is terrific as a glue sniffing robber who is mean to small children. Mature is professional but has the worst subplot - who gives a stuff if his whiny baby boomer brat thinks he's a hero? The little turd will probably turn on him when the sixties hit. Some of the female actors - Virginia Leith, Margaret Hayes - are hard to tell apart.
No comments:
Post a Comment