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DramaThrillerCrime

The Big Caper

- The Big Money... $1,000,000 was up for grabs!

A con artist moves into a small town to spearhead a payroll robbery.

Release Date : 1957-03-28

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Pine-Thomas ProductionsUnited Artists

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Rory Calhoun

Character Name : Frank Harper

Original Name : Rory Calhoun

Gender : Male

Mary Costa

Character Name : Kay

Original Name : Mary Costa

Gender : Female

James Gregory

Character Name : Flood

Original Name : James Gregory

Gender : Male

Robert H. Harris

Character Name : Zimmer (as Robert Harris)

Original Name : Robert H. Harris

Gender : Male

Roxanne Arlen

Character Name : Doll

Original Name : Roxanne Arlen

Gender : Female

Corey Allen

Character Name : Roy

Original Name : Corey Allen

Gender : Male

Paul Picerni

Character Name : Harry

Original Name : Paul Picerni

Gender : Male

Patrick McVey

Character Name : Sam Loxley

Original Name : Patrick McVey

Gender : Male

Florenz Ames

Character Name : Dutch Paulmeyer

Original Name : Florenz Ames

Gender : Male

Louise Arthur

Character Name : Alice Loxley

Original Name : Louise Arthur

Gender : Female

Roscoe Ates

Character Name : Falkenburg

Original Name : Roscoe Ates

Gender : Male

Reviews

C

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2025-03-13

I quite liked the premise of this heist caper, as the down-at-heel “Harper” (Rory Calhoun) comes up with the idea of robbing a small bank that just happens to house the wages of a nearby military base. He can’t do it on his own, though, so taps up the ruthless “Flood” (James Gregory) for resources. There’s $1 million at stake here so he and his new investor’s gal “Kay” (Mary Costa) move into the town and pretend to be the married owners of the petrol station. It’s a friendly enough town, loads of chatty neighbours and family BBQs so the question is: will their sinister motives be spotted in a town where butter wouldn’t melt? Unfortunately, this doesn’t really come alive until the end, and then only just. For the main part, it’s more of a character study of their eclectic gang and of a quiet American township. “Roy” (a solid effort from Corey Allen) is the right-hand man whose obvious psychopathy is barely controlled by their boss; Zimmer” (Robert A. Harris) maybe has the most fun as everything he touches has to light up and/or go bang whilst Costa also delivers well with a bit more to her role than is often given to woman in crime thrillers. It is really the malevolence from “Flood” that steals the limelight, though, in the face of a rather soporific effort from an all-American Calhoun who barely imposes himself at all until he begins to wonder if they are doing the right thing then has no idea how to stop what he’s started. It’s a tight ship, with the direction tautly paced and few extraneous cast members to get in the way of the scheme and I think it passes eighty minutes quite interestingly - even if that is more to do with the underlying issues of right and wrong than of dynamite and car chases.