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Awesome Movie

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I just finished watching "The Big Caper" and thought it among the best film noir pictures I have seen--and I've seen a lot. Because it was so good, I am shocked that its current rating on IMDb is quite mediocre. Believe me, it's well worth your time.The film begins with Frank (Rory Calhoun) approaching Flood (James Gregory) with a plan to knock over a bank. But, it's no ordinary bank--it will have a million dollars for the payroll of the nearby military base. The plan, however, is NOT to just walk in and steal the money--it's much more subtle. Frank and Kay (Mary Costa) will first go to this small town and open a business. Then, after four months of fitting in, they'll launch the caper.There are LOTS of glitches along the way. The biggest one is that after four months of playing house, Frank and Kay find they actually are enjoying their fake married life. The business is going very well and they like the community. For the first time, they like being normal. But, normal is NOT what the rest of the gang turns out to be. They are among the sickest group of misfits I've ever seen--far sicker than the usual noir baddies. Frank's phony uncle is actually a psycho who loves blowing up and burning things...and he's also an unpredictable alcoholic and complete sociopath. Flood's other recruits aren't much better--but you'll just have to see this motley group for yourself to believe it. Where does it all go? As I said, you just have to see it for yourself.The biggest pluses of this film are the character development as well as the assorted group of sick freaks. Frank and Kay's transformation through the course of the film is believable and the sickies are terrifying. In addition, the film is quite taut and exciting. Rarely have criminals seemed so evil during this era than in "The Big Caper". Believe me, they make folks from other contemporary films like "The Asphalt Jungle", "DOA" and "The Killers" seem like pussycats! Well worth your time.

Not too bad for this type B noirish thriller (except the criminals don't get away with it darn it--but this is 1957--no body got away with any thing.)The plot: Frank (Rory Calhoun) enlists Flood (James Gregory) to help him steal 1 million dollars that is deposited every payday in a small town bank near Camp Pendleton for the military payroll. The plan is to have Kay-Flood's girlfriend (Mary Costa) pretend to be married to Frank and go to the small town where the bank is located 6 months before the heist and blend into the local community by buying a gas station and a house (far too nice and expensive for a tiny gas station owner by the way)---Hollywood never had much reality in these type of details. Somehow by living there this will make the caper work I guess by supplying a safe house where no one will think to look for the money---because neither Kay nor Frank are critical to the robbery itself. It is OK to pass some time since you know in the beginning this caper will fail and there is nothing particularly suspenseful about any of it. It is competently acted and filmed...gets a 5 or 6.RECOMMEND

Rory Calhoun swaps his horse for a car in director Robert Stevens' taut little heist thriller "The Big Caper" with Mary Costa and James Gregory. If this slickly done melodrama is predictable, you have to remember that when it came out, nobody could get away with a crime. Although the robbers aren't able to get away with a cool million in bank notes, they manage to execute the crime. "The Big Caper" is memorable chiefly because of its gallery of warped rogues, right down to the amoral protagonist who finds the right gal and decides to quit the racket. Stevens and scenarist Martin Berkeley never let the action go slack as the thieves lay out the project. Unfortunately, the trust among the thieves erodes quickly after a gin-swilling explosives experts is recruited into their ranks. Meanwhile, Flood (James Gregory) grows suspicious about the relationship between Frank Harper (Rory Calhoun) and his girlfriend Kay who have settled in town of San Felipe, California, as a couple who operate a gas station. Zimmer drives the wedge in deep between Flood and Harper because Harper doesn't like him hitting the bottle. Things grown complicated because the thieves want something to distract the authorities while they steal a million-dollar payroll intended for the Marines at Camp Pendleton. When the gang isn't slowing deteriorating, Harper grows compassionate with his neighbors. Ultimately, he turns against Flood when he learns that Zimmer plans to plant the explosives for the distraction at the local high school. The catch is that when Zimmer plants the explosives, the school is filled with kids practicing a play. The abrupt ending is the worst thing about this superbly acted drama.

This is a 1.5 hour train wreck. Scene one we know RC (star Rory Calhoun) is determined to rob a bank so we immediately know happily ever after ain't gonna happen. He enlists an old ex-con pal to plan the caper.Normally you would blow into town unknown, pull off the job and split but instead RC buys a gas station and a house, befriends the the community, joins the Country Club to get everyone to know an love him and his fake wife for six months and THEN pull off the bank job and stick around for another month and then split town. Brilliant plan, right? I don't see it that way myself but his old pal is a criminal master mind so what do I know? Half the flick revolves around the fake life of our fake schmaltzy couple until the various characters involved in the caper show up in town to plan and carry out the caper....and boy, do I mean Characters with a capital "C". First the pyromaniac gin addicted torch man, the spooky masochistic body builder looney toon, a floozy dame whose name is Doll, the businesslike safe cracker and a harmless watch-out. As this gang of idiots play out the train wreck really takes place and naturally ends in the inevitable pile up with our rehabilitated fake couple promising to hook up no matter what. The End. Nice old DeSoto's tho.