The Big Caper
Brief Description:
A con man in debt and down on his luck comes up with what he thinks is the perfect caper—robbing a small-town bank that keeps a lot of money on hand because of the payroll of a nearby army base. He convinces a vicious crime boss to bankroll his scheme, but when he and his boss’ girl move into the town to make preparations for the heist, he begins to have second thoughts about the whole operation.
(from frankfob2@yahoo.com, via IMDb)
Date: 1957
Genre: American crime drama film noir
Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes
Cast:
Rory Calhoun (Frank)
Mary (Kay)
James Gregory (Flood)
Robert H. Harris (Zimmer)
Roxanne Arlen (Doll)
Corey Allen (Roy)
Paul Picerni (Harry)
Director: Robert Stevens
Production company: Pine-Thomas Productions
Based on: The Big Caper by Lionel White
Setting/Aesthetic/Feel: 5/5
I loved, loved, loved the 1950s American small town aesthetic/feel. It was sooo sweet and wholesome and homey!! <3 The addition of little Bobby or what’s-his-name brought out all the mother + father in Kay & Frank and was super cute. And the barbecue. XD
Characters: 2/5
Flood was terrifying. Doll was an idiot and a very loose woman. Zimmer was despicable. Frank was… okay. He was loyal and ended up redeeming himself. Kay started out nasty and turned into a pretty normal American housewife. Roy was straight up c r e e p y.
Plot: 1/5
Strike one: Kay & Frank living together as man and wife to win the town’s trust. (They had different bedrooms, but still.)
Strike two: scene where Roy gets super creepy on Kay, and then Flood shows up and literally makes him lie down on the bed and flogs him with a rope while Kay sits and hears Roy scream. (Really creepy scene. Really.)
Strike three: Doll. The whole addition of Doll, who flirts and throws herself at every guy. Bleh.
Strike four: Zimmer. I hated Zimmer and he creeped me out almost as much as Roy did. The guy was a raging alcoholic and so disgusting and terrifying with his cold remorselessness and pyromaniac tendencies.
Strike five: the scene where Roy + Doll goes swimming (I was getting really tired of seeing him in a speedo) and then SPOILER he attacks her. I expected a sexual attack. Instead it was a murder. END OF SPOILER But it was literally thrown in for ZERO reason except to amp stuff up??? Or get rid of Doll??? Literally remained 100% unresolved. And it’s never explained why Roy is so weird and why Flood “rescued” him (from what?!).
Strike six: it literally ends with the bad guy barely knocked out, and the MCs are kissing and whatnot instead of running to get the police to stop this guy before he murders them.
Oh, and strike seven, which I forgot: Kay basically propositioning to Frank a couple times, if not specifically in one scene.
There was probably more, but I think that covers the basics.
The only thing I liked was all the suspense about saving the kids. Very cool addition. And Kay + Frank suddenly turned into heroes. That part of the film was really fun, actually.
Romance: 1/5
Sorta already covered all that. I was not a fan of Kay & Frank’s sorta-illicit-because-she’s-Flood’s-girlfriend, whirlwind, passionate romance. Oh, and I wasn’t a fan of all the kissing, stroking, lap-sitting, and otherwise romantic moments between Roy, Harry, Frank, or Flood towards Doll and/or Kay.
Content: 1/5 (high)
See all my ranting above.
Violence: 3/5 (medium)
Besides my ranting above, there’s some onscreen violence (fistfights, shooting, etc) but nothing graphic.
Overall: 1/5
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