Armored Car Robbery (1950)

Before making the stone-cold noir classic 'The Narrow Margin' in 1952, director Richard Fleischer and noir icon Charles McGraw made another film noir, 1950's 'Armored Car Robbery'. While 'The Narrow Margin' is a better movie all around, don't hesitate to catch this one either, it's a great little caper in its own right.

Dave Purvis (William Talman) has come up with a plan to rob an armored car dropping off money at LA.s Wrigley Field park. He's timed the police's response to several false alarms he's triggered, and figures there's plenty of time to carry out his plan. Of course things don't go quite according to plan, as police lieutenant Jim Cordell (Charles McGraw) and his partner happen to be near the park when the police receives another alarm. They arrive sooner than Purvis expected, forcing a shootout. Both one of the Purvis's men, Benny McBride (Douglas Fowley), as well as Cordell's partner get shot. Purvis and his men manage to escape tho, while Cordell's partner dies in the hospital later that day. Cordell is determined to catch the gang, and Purvis has to deal with his gang while evading the police...

Charles McGraw will always be fondly remembered as one of noir's tough guys, whether he played a good guy like here and in 'The Narrow Margin' or a villain such as in 'The Killers' or 'The Threat'. He has Presence with a capital P. His gravelly voice, granite face and hard-boiled demeanor made him perfect for film noir. I have yet to see a performance of his I didn't enjoy. This one's no exception, he's all sorts of great in this movie. The same can be said for William Talman, who's best known in noir circles for playing the titular character who sleeps with one eye open in Ida Lupino's 'The Hitchhiker', but overall is probably best remembered for playing the D.A. who never stood a chance against Perry Mason in the classic TV series starring Raymond Burr. Talman had an atypical look, and could act with the best of them. He has a menacing, vicious presence here, and it's clear he's not nearly as clever or calculated about the heist's plan as he himself believes. His improvisation skills during the heist, as well as in the aftermath, tend to be on the more violent side, heh...

Like Cordell's partner, Benny McBride also doesn't make it to the end of this movie, which is maybe for the best for him. He's a two-bit loser fallen on hard times, whose beautiful girlfriend and burlesque dancer, Yvonne LeDoux (Adele Jergens, 'The Dark Past', 'The Miami Story') also happens to be two-timing him... with Purvis of all men! For whatever reason, I've grown fond of seeing B-movie character actor Douglas Fowley show up in low budget noirs and crime movies of the 40s and 50s. He might not be the greatest actor ever, but he's got enough charisma and the right oily looks to always leave an impression, whether he's playing a good guy as in 'Bunco Squad' or a sleazy one as in 'Behind Locked Doors'. I wish I could say the same for Adele Jergens. I like her performance here, but it's a bit one-note and I could just as easily see another actress play her burlesque dancer role equally well.

Speaking of burlesque dancers, one of Cordell's police detectives pronounces the word burlesque as 'burle-queue'. As far as I know it's pronounced 'burlesk'... I don't know if this was a common alternative way to pronounce it, does anybody know? I'm curious, heh...

There's one other actor I'd like to mention here, and that is another member of Purvis's gang, Steve Brodie ('Desperate', 'Out Of The Past'). Brodie's name might not ring a bell to many these days, but he always turned in a solid performance and could just as easily play a good guy as he could a crook. He's good here as essentially the only guy in the heist gang who won't be played by Purvis.

There's an interesting scene involving a microphone Cordell has planted in Yvonne's dressing room. The agent assigned to listening to it can eventually tell by the sounds what Yvonne's doing, such as taking off her dress, taking off her headdress, her beads, etc... It's funny and voyeuristic at the same time.

With its fairly short running time of under 70 minutes, director Richard Fleischer (also 'The Clay Pigeon' and the sci-fi classic 'Soylent Green') keeps things fast-paced and tense. The cinematography by Guy Roe ('The Sound Of Fury') fits the movie well, even if he doesn't go into full-on chiaroscure mode. The movie delivers tho, and is a solid heist-noir with good performances. Recommended!

7+/10