The Great Bank Robbery (1969)

Dreadfully Boring

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Zero Mostel and Kim Novak. Larry Storch. How can it go wrong? Well, it can. And did.At this writing, there are no "memorable quotes" from this movie on the IMDb site, and for good reason: I really can't remember anything particularly funny or witty from this script. My understanding from some sources is that this movie had a fat bankroll, and Mostel, Novak, and some of the others in this movie were doing what they were told and collecting a big paycheck. Mostel, for example, had just recovered from being blacklisted, and after a series of Broadway and movie successes, was trying to earn money to make up for lost time. Don't get me wrong, however, a poorly utilized Zero Mostel is still better than a well utilized almost anyone else. Unfortunately, he didn't have the support to really make it sizzle.But the saddest part is the tragic misuse of Kim Novak. She is in this movie solely to decorate the screen. (Which she does, admirably. One good thing about this movie is that this may be Kim Novak at her most beautiful.) It is amazing, however, how many scenes she has where she has absolutely no lines, and just is there to look pretty. The Lady Godiva scene is a classic example of the "shut up and look pretty" mentality, and it's a pointless embarrassment. Give her some lines to say! As an actress, she was good enough for Hitchcock, so she should have been good enough for Hy Averback and this piece of drivel.Sorry, I'm getting more and more worked up as I write this review. I'll quit now. BOTTOM LINE: I could have used a pleasant movie on a pleasant Saturday afternoon. This wasn't it.

Two rival gangs compete with each other to rob a fortune in gold from a small town bank. It's up clever lawman Ranger Ben Quick (the excellent Clink Walker) to thwart their plans. Director Hy Averback, working from a witty script by William Peter Blatty, relates the funny story at a snappy pace, does a good job of creating and sustaining an amiable lighthearted tone, stages the shoot-outs with real aplomb, and adroitly mines the sharp sense of brash'n'n'broad humor for plenty of belly laughs (the madcap climax in particular is a complete riot). The bang-up cast of familiar faces have an absolute ball with the wacky material: Zero Mostel as shrewd bogus priest Reverend Pious Blue, Kim Novak as the lovely and sassy Sister Lyda Kebanov, Akim Tamiroff as scruffy bandito gang leader Papa, Larry Storch as the dim-witted Juan, Claude Akins as formidable outlaw Slade, Sam Jaffe as the fussy Brother Lilac Bailey, Mako as the crafty Secret Agent Fong, John Anderson as the wily and corrupt Mayor Kincaid, Elisha Cook Jr. as Slade's antsy, but loyal partner Jeb, and John Fiedler as impish explosives expert Brother Dismas Ostracorn. As a nice added plus, Mostel heartily belts out the catchy song "Rainbow Rider" and Novak looks positively ravishing throughout (Kim's eye-popping Lady Godiva bit is especially memorable). Fred J. Koenekamp's lush widescreen cinematography makes neat use of fades and dissolves. Nelson Riddle's spirited score hits the stirring spot. An enormously entertaining romp.

Zero Mostel managed, after being blacklisted in the McCarthy period, to climb back to his place as one of the leading stage personalities of his day. UlYSSES IN NIGHTOWN, RHINOCEROS, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF made him a Broadway immortal. The film versions of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED and THE PRODUCERS showed he could have been one of the great screen comedic actors. Then, came GREAT CATHERINE and THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY, and Zero soon was seen as good as support but not in leads. He would have other screen highlights in the future (THE HOT ROCK, THE FRONT), but the possible great film career was screwed up.As Reverend Pious Blue, Zero was supposed to be the head of a gang masquerading as revivalists, but actually a criminal gang planning to rob the bank owned by Big John Anderson (who is also the town Mayor). The gang includes Kim Novak and John Fiedler. The trouble is that others are considering a bank robbery: Claude Atkins, the film's stereotypical (?) bad man, and a gang of Mexican bandits led by Akim Tamiroff and Larry Storch. There is also a hero, who is romancing Kim, played by Clint Walker. These various elements, which also include Atkins' sidekick Elisha Cook Jr. and Ruth Warwick, simply do not jell. There are moments that are amusing, but more that are simply stupid. The robbery itself is not as good as the destruction of the theater by Zero, Gene Wilder, and Kenneth Mars in THE PRODUCERS, and that sequence only took five minutes of film (originally - now it's been cut to three minutes). The most notable point about it was the getaway (in a balloon).But there was one bright spot - not Zero but Claude. Atkins was always a good actor, usually as heavies (even in INHERIT THE WIND he was the fundamentalist reverend who turns against his daughter for supporting Bertram Cates). Another typical role was in THE DEFIANT ONES, when he is the man who would turn Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis over to the Sheriff (Theodore Bickel) because of his racism. But in this film he was allowed to be unique. He is the most moralistic gunfighter I know of in film. Every time he faces one of the questionable characters in the film, he starts referring to them as "scum" or "scum of the earth". It becomes like a moralistic mantra. He is a man with a hot temper, as Cook discovers to his cost, but he can show a nice sense of remorse afterward. His over-the-top moral bad-guy is the best thing in the film. As a result watch it for that. But otherwise it was a dismal failure for everyone else involved.

By 1969, Zero Mostel had finally achieved some Hollywood recognition. After a fine performance in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM and an even better one in THE PRODUCERS, I suppose Warner Brothers figured Mostel had a charmed film career. Well, after back to back disasters like THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY and GREAT CATHERINE, I don't believe Mostel ever had another starring role. Actually, Mostel comes off better than most of the cast. t this point in her career, Kim Novak was apparently reduced to displaying lots of cleavage (as does Ruth Warrick), and she and everyone else overacts pretty horribly. This is especially surprising with as talented a comedy director as Hy Averback (I LOVE LUCY) atthe helm. Actually, the only cast members left standing with much of their dignity are Elisha Cook, Jr. and Clint Walker. Especially terrible are Larry Storch and Claude Akins. Today, the drug usage gags would probably get this movie a PG-13 or an R. As it is, they are no funnier than the rest of the movie. Oh well, the cinematography is pretty...