starring Edward G. Robinson, Peter Graves
directed by Hugo Fregonese
80 minutes
Mob boss Vincent "King" Canelli (Edward G. Robinson) is headed for the electric chair when some of his guys break him out of prison, minutes before he is due to be executed. They take with them Peter Manning (Peter Graves), another death row inmate who is due to be executed just after Canelli. Manning killed a cop while robbing a bank of $200,000. He hid the money well enough that it has yet to be found.
Canelli and Manning take a few hostages with them. They hide in an abandoned warehouse but the cops find them and a gun battle breaks out. Canelli threatens to start killing hostages if the police don't back off and let them leave.
I saw this movie as part of the 2024 edition of the Noir City DC film festival. Eddie Muller introduced it. It was the front half of a double feature. The back half of the double feature was Le Trou (1960). Prison break was the common theme in this double feature.
This was a lot of fun. It was everything I hoped it would be. Edward G. Robinson played a character very similar to the one from Key Largo (1948). He was unrepentantly evil and poured it on so thick that there was no doubt as to how sincere he was.
The pacing of the movie was brilliant. It was always in motion from the narrow escape from the electric chair to the standoff with the police and everything in between.
This is a must see for any fans of the genre. I believe it can be found on YouTube.
No comments:
Post a Comment