Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The entire cast manage to give their worst-ever performances in this slow and boring, dated old film. Lewis Gilbert was a competent director who never reached the front rank, unsurprisingly judging from this effort. Richard Basehart and John Ireland always were mediocre actors at best but the normally good Gloria Grahame is just awful. Laurence Harvey, one of the most wooden actors imaginable, badly overplays his part. It's truly amazing that he got so many major roles in British and American films. The only actor who even tries to give a decent performance is the forgotten Welsh actor Stanley Baker. The sets look like they're made from paper mache. Worth watching only for the final chase at the end, or as a look back on life in England in the early 1950s.

Better than it has a right to be this film starts somewhat uncomfortably in very British stiff-upper-lip fashion, stagily introducing four very different couples all with problems which under the self-serving guidance of ringleader Laurence Harvey moves unexpectedly to an excellent almost UK take on film noir. Basically a cautionary tale of when thieves fall out the film meanders fairly lightly to the trigger point in the film where Harvey ups the ante on their post office heist by inexplicably shooting a nosey policeman right in the face. From there on it's all darkness and shade with some fine cinematography effectively conveying the mean streets which will eventually claim them all as victims. Of course some of the language is dated and some of the performances mannered but the four male leads are contrastingly good, particularly Harvey as the suave psychopath who clearly has no plans to share any of the hard won loot with his erstwhile colleagues. The female players, starry as they are, are less effective, conveying less realism than their male partners. Director Lewis Gilbert, later to helm a number of James Bond outings, prefigures this work here by demonstrating his greater grasp of action set pieces than character study. Certainly worth watching, especially the suspenseful second half, which lifts the film to a different level altogether.

Four men are in a car. They are all from different walks of life and a short time ago none of them were nothing more than drinking buddies – now they are on their way somewhere with a box full of guns. A washed up boxer, a man trying to win his wife back from a controlling mother, an RAF officer with a cheating wife and a "gentleman" with no means of his own. Only a few weeks ago, "gentleman" Miles finds himself out of luck with his women and his money pit in-laws and, needing money so, when he meets the other three men, he sees a chance to take advance of their various needs.For a while back in the fifties, British cinema seemed to have enough grit and clout to it to almost be able to compete with the American market in regards crime thrillers (if not quite noirs); The Good Die Young is one of those that has a good try and is a pretty enjoyable piece even if it lacks the grit and tension of similar American products. The film opens with an intriguing set up but then jumps back to establish the story and characters and it is here where it becomes weak. The back stories are rather melodramatic and it doesn't fit well with what was meant to be a bit tougher and gripping; they are interesting enough to do the job but I must admit to feeling that they were a bit dragged out and unnecessarily long. However, if you make it through this main body of the film you'll get to an ending that is just what the film should have been throughout. I won't spoil it but it is enjoyably brutal, downbeat and gripping – "about time" was my thought when I realised that the film had gotten going.The cast do their best with the melodrama but the material isn't there for them and they are mixed. Harvey and Baker stand out with strong performances; Basehart is good but Ireland feels like he is just making up the numbers. Naturally Collins stands out today, and she is quite good but the melodrama is made better by Grahame, Ray and, to a lesser extent, Leighton. Of course the men are all much better in the proper crime side of the film and this is partly due to better and more atmospheric direction from writer/director Gilbert, who also injects the pace when it is required.Overall this is an average film mainly because the back story takes up far too much of the film, is too melodramatic and doesn't sit well with the tough tension promised in the first scene and delivered at the end. With the main trunk being rather plodding, the ending does feel a lot better mainly because you're grateful that the film has gotten going. Could have been great but is merely reasonably good; worth seeing for genre and period fans but will not impress a wider audience.

To understand the impact one particular quote from this movie had on me, you need to know that I first saw it at an 'Astra' cinema in the 1950s, while serving in the RAF.In a scene early on in the film, John Ireland, a sergeant in the USAF, is accusing his wife, played by Gloria Grahame, of infidelity. She turns to him with self-righteous indignation and says (as only she can) :"Eddie, your time in the Air Force has coarsened your mind." It shouldn't be difficult to imagine how, in front of an audience comprising a couple of hundred airmen, that one line brought the house down! That apart, this is quite a decent crime caper movie, with some similarities to The League of Gentlemen (1959), but without the humorous touches.The only blemish is the usual wooden performance from Laurence Harvey. (How on earth did that man get so many leading roles in both British and American productions?) Harvey apart, the acting is of a high standard. Stanley Baker is particularly impressive as the broken down prizefighter and Richard Basehart and John Ireland (the two token Yanks in British minor movies of the fifties) give excellent support as the other two conspirators. The young Joan Collins is ravishing as the wife any man would rob a dozen banks for and Freda Jackson is outstanding as her manipulating witch of a mother. Gloria Grahame is (of course) brilliant as the femme fatale and there is a delightful cameo from Robert Morley as the villain's father.