The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959)

Directors:

Charles Guggenheim
John Stix

Writer:

Richard T. Heffron (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 September 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Bank | Planning | Suspicion | Caper

Cast

Steve McQueen	...	George Fowler
Crahan Denton	...	John Egan the Boss
David Clarke	...	Gino, Ann's Brother
James Dukas	...	Willie the Driver
Molly McCarthy	...	Ann, George's Ex Girl
Martha Gable	...	Eddie's Wife
Larry Gerst	...	Eddie
Boyd Williams	...	W.H. Dalton, Bank Officer
Frank Novotny	...	Pat, Ann's Boyfriend
Nell Roberts	...	Woman in Bar Talking to George
Bob Holt	...	Police Dispatcher
May Kohn	...	Bank Cashier
Jay Elliot	...	Car Salesman
Robert Klauss	...	Phone Repairman
Barney Barnett	...	Policeman

Also Known As:

The St. Louis Bank Robbery (UK) (DVD title)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Charles Guggenheim & Associates

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.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Night Train

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.