The Big Steal
directed by Don Siegel
This is often listed as a film noir. I didn't see it that way. I thought it was just a run of the mill action movie with a few twists.
directed by Don Siegel
This is often listed as a film noir. I didn't see it that way. I thought it was just a run of the mill action movie with a few twists.
The director would later go on to helm a number of Clint Eastwood films as well as the 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Big Steal has its fair share of snappy dialogue. "Don't ask questions just take it and like it!" stands out but this is not a noir film.
It's a crime drama but even more than that it's just a chase drama with the requisite number of double crosses.
Perhaps at the time of this release car chases were considered more exciting than they would later become but a great deal of this film is consumed by car chases. After the first few I could have done without any more. As usual in these films there's a hypercompetent woman who is (initially) cold. She and the hero have some witty repartee while they are trying to decide if they like each other, trust each other, and if they should, well you know.
US Army Lieutenant Duke Halliday (Robert Mitchum) loses the $300,000 battalion payroll to a robbery set up by smooth crook Jim Fiske (Patric Knowles).
Unfortunately for Duke his superior officer, Captain Vincent Blake (William Bendix) thinks that the robbery went down too easily and that Halliday had to be involved.