Fri 29 Nov 2019
5 AGAINST THE HOUSE. Columbia Pictures, 1955. Guy Madison, Kim Novak, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore, Kerwin Mathews, William Conrad. Co-producer & co-screenwriter: Stirling Silliphant, based on the book by Jack Finney. Director: Phil Karlson.
I’m not sure where it fits in historically, but this is a very early heist film, one that shows, as almost all of them do, how easily “perfect plans” can go wrong. Target: Harold’s Club, one of the most impregnable casinos in Reno of its era. The perpetrators: a small group of Korean War veterans going to college in Arizona on the GI Bill.
Which explains why at least two of them (Guy Madison and Brian Keith) looks so much older than the other students on campus. The latter is having PTSD problems; the former, who is busy trying to persuade Kim Novak, a glamorous singer at a local student hangout, to marry him, is not in on the plan until too late.
The first half of the film plays out at a near sophomoric comedy level — campus hi-jinks and so on — and it’s even hard to take the second half seriously when the “perfect plan” is as unworkable as it is. But any movie with Kim Novak in it is worth watching. What a beautiful woman she was. I wish it had been filmed in color. I really do:
November 29th, 2019 at 9:24 pm
I knew the book so came to this one with high expectations, and it mostly met them for me. Novak, Madison, Keith, and Matthews are all good — Conrad is always good, and the heist, while not all that workable is just within the plausible as something a lot of college kids might come up with.
Finney returned to the heist with ASSAULT ON A QUEEN, another off beat heist, this one made into a film with Sinatra, Verna Lisi, and Tony Franciosa.
November 30th, 2019 at 10:02 am
Despite what one might infer from the review, Kim Novak is still alive (and well?) at age 86.
November 30th, 2019 at 2:52 pm
Good to know, Jeff. Thanks. I wonder if she’s the only one involved in making this movie who’s still alive. It’s quite possible.
November 30th, 2019 at 10:38 am
Sterling Silliphant, Phil Karlson, and Jack Finney (if it’s the same Jack Finney of ‘Body Snatchers?) are no small potatoes. Whew.
I had thought, ‘The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery’ was pretty early for an example of college guy + heist, but its 4 yrs later than this.
November 30th, 2019 at 2:49 pm
You’re right, Lazy. The same Jack Finney. With the credits you mention and the cast it had, I was expecting a better movie, but for me, while it had some good moments, it just didn’t jell.
November 30th, 2019 at 10:19 pm
No classic, but I enjoyed it from the get-go.
August 3rd, 2022 at 12:12 am
This movie is very pedestrian, other than the interesting character played by Brian Keith battling psychological war wounds. The film could have delved more seriously into this aspect which would have given it much more depth.
The film pales in comparison to much greater heist films like John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle, Bob Le Flambeur, Riffifi, Kubrick’s The Killing, Armoured Car Robbery, and Kansas City Confidential.
I am surprised it was on noir alley is it is in no way a noir film. There are so many more deserving noir films, but this is not one of them. Even The Killing has more noir elements.