“The Jack is High.” An episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre (Season 2, Episode 6). First air date: 19 November 1964. Edd Byrnes, Pat O’Brien, Henry Jones, Larry Storch, Harry Bellaver, William Bramley, Michael Macready, William Boyett. Writer: William Wood. Director: Ralph Senensky.

    “What we have here,” says Inspector Dan Zarilla (Pat O’Brien), “is an alliance of losers wanting to get into the Win column.” He’s referring to a band of misfits who have successfully pulled off an armored car robbery in Nevada, netting $3 million.

    The heist was masterminded by a man who prefers to be called The Professor (Henry Jones), with the help of a dishonorably-discharged ex-Marine (Edd Byrnes), a not-so-funny standup comic (Larry Storch), a technician (Harry Bellaver), and the only professional criminal in the bunch (William Bramley).

    The Professor has purchased a gasoline tanker truck to use in the getaway; it will act as something of a Trojan Horse as they make their way west towards Los Angeles. To complete the illusion, The Professor has had the technician weld a false bottom in the tank, leaving enough space for 2,000 gallons up top to act as ballast and to fool the cops in case they’re stopped.

    But this “alliance of losers” simply can’t get along, especially the ex-Marine and the professional criminal; plus, the technician has a heart problem he’s told no one else about; some of the welds inside the tank are not exactly tight; not to mention the dogged pursuit by Inspector Zarilla; so that ultimately The Professor’s beautifully-planned caper begins to unravel ….

    I saw this one just the other evening for the first time in nearly half a century — and in color. I didn’t remember all the story developments, but I had never forgotten the final scene after all this time, a finale that’s even more effective here than it was in black and white.

    The hollowed-out tanker truck is a direct lift from James Cagney’s White Heat (1949). At one point, during a roadblock stop, Storch, in order to divert a highway patrolman’s attention, launches into several fairly bad imitations of Hollywood stars, including Cagney — which may have beeen intended as a double inside joke because of White Heat and the fact that Pat O’Brien was often teamed with Cagney in Warner Brothers ’30s gangster films.

    In this one, however, O’Brien comes across less as a high-octane minion of the law and more like Inspector Maigret, laid-back but persistent.

    Edd Burns will always be remembered as Kookie in the 77 Sunset Strip TV series (1958-63). Pat O’Brien had a huge career, including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Having Wonderful Crime (1945, as Michael J. Malone), Crack-Up (1946), Riffraff (1947), the failed pilot for The Adventures of Nick Carter (1972), and many others, including Ragtime (1981, with Cagney).

    Henry Jones was all over films and TV: 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Vertigo (1958, as the coroner), five appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and a continuing role on Mrs. Columbo (1979-80). You might remember Larry Storch as Corporal Agarn in F Troop (1965-67).