The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959)

A gang's plans for a St. Louis bank robbery are complicated when the sister of one of the thieves starts voicing her well-founded suspicions.

Directors:

Charles Guggenheim, John Stix

Writer:

Richard T. Heffron (screenplay)

Stars:

Steve McQueen, Crahan Denton, David Clarke

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve McQueen	...	George Fowler
Crahan Denton	...	John Egan
David Clarke	...	Gino
James Dukas	...	Willie
Molly McCarthy	...	Ann
Martha Gable	...	Eddie's Wife
Larry Gerst	...	Eddie
Boyd Williams	...	W.H. Dalton - Bank Officer
Frank Novotny	...	Pat - Ann's Boyfriend
Nell Roberts	...	Salvation Army Woman
Bob Holt	...	Police Dispatcher
May Kohn	...	Bank Cashier
Jay Elliot	...	Car Salesman
Robert Klauss	...	Phone Repairman
Barney Barnett	...	Policeman

Storyline

George Fowler is drawn into a gang planning to rob a bank in St. Louis that they expect will have a $100,000 on hand on an upcoming Friday. George is drawn into the plan as the gang's driver by Gino, an old girlfriend's older brother. As the gang goes about its planning, George and Gino have to find a way to live for the next two weeks and they turn to Gino's sister, Ann, for help. George is hoping to go back to college and the money he would make would go a long way to helping him do that. Not trusting George to keep his nerve, the gang's leader John Egan moves him to the inside, but the robbery doesn't go off as planned.

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Plot Keywords:

gang | bank | planning | suspicion | homosexual villain | 

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Taglines:

Never before in Police annals! Never before in film history!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 September 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asalto al banco de St. Louis

Filming Locations:

Southwest Bank - 2301 S. Kingshighway Blvd. at Southwest Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Charles Guggenheim & Associates, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This story is based on a true incident. Many of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers and bank employees play themselves doing what they did during the actual robbery.

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Connections

Referenced in Steve McQueen: The King of Cool (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Night Train"
By Bernardo Segall (as Bernardo Segáll) and Peter Udell

User Reviews

Proposed bank heist suffers from unforeseen entanglements.

This too little known noir work was filmed five years after the events of which it treats, and employs the settings where it occurred, Southwest Bank and its environs in St. Louis, while carefully utilizing within its cast the actual policemen, bank customers and area residents who were involved in the affair, all of which produce somewhat of a documentary impression. Three ex-convicts are joined by a college expellee, George Fowler (Steve McQueen during his Method period), creating an abruptly formed criminal quartet, with Fowler, assigned as wheel man for his first organized illegal endeavour, and we watch them as the robbery is carefully planned by the group's leader, John Egan (Crahan Denton) amid an assortment of simmering frustrations and jealousies which infest the men. Producer Charles Guggenheim also directs, with assistance from John Stix, and the duo focus upon obtaining a naturalistic setting from the interesting script, which is very intense in feeling, with rather harsh dialogue, resulting in a dark film, at the heart of which is an old fashioned shootout where tactics are forgotten by both sides.