Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Tweekums When bank robber Jack Martin kills two police and escapes from custody one might expect him to get as far away as possible or at least lie low
instead he sets about robbing a bank he has invited the police to! That isn't quite as mad as it seems; he told them he a movie rehearsal was taking place. After that he heads out of town with both the police and men working for the local gangster, Dawson, whose turf he violated looking for him. Trying to give them the slip he goes into a library and talks to Carol, the lady on the desk; the next thing we know that are an item! It isn't long before the gangsters catch up with him and they rough him up hoping to find out where the money is; not realising Dawson couldn't care less about the money; he wants to employ Martin. Martin deals with them and is soon working for Dawson. After a succession of successful robberies Carol persuades him to quit; something Dawson won't allow.This film gets off to a fairly promising start; the opening bank robbery is rather amusing if a little unlikely. Unfortunately things aren't so good after that; there is little obvious chemistry between Martin and librarian Carol; certainly not enough to make us believe she'd walk away from her life to be with a murderous bank robber. Walter Matthau is the reason to watch this as he is always likable even when playing a character we really shouldn't have any sympathy for; the film is also notable as the only film he directed although his direction is clearly not of the same standard as his acting! The rest of the cast are okay at best and some are almost amusingly bad. The action scenes lack the tension they should have; one can tell they were done on a fairly minimal budget. Overall this wasn't terrible but it wasn't that good either; the only real reason to watch it is Walter Matthau; as actor not director.
Dewey1960 One of the more pleasing aspects of having a cable channel like TCM is the comforting knowledge that sooner or later so many wonderful quasi-obscure little film noir gems will eventually be broadcast and make their way into the home libraries of those who so ravenously covet them. One such deliriously sublime example is GANGSTER STORY, a no-budget 1960 indie noir that starred and was directed by Walter Matthau. Produced in Los Angeles on virtually no money at all, it tells the simple but compelling story of criminal Jack Martin (Matthau) who, at the outset of the story has escaped his police captors and killed a cop in the process. His flight takes him to a quiet little town where he holes up while planning an outrageously weird bank job back in the big city. The heist nets him a bundle and now with the cops, the FBI and the outraged local crime kingpins (how dare this punk upstage them!) hot on his trail, the chase that will lead to Martin's ultimate destiny becomes hotter by the minute. This is a tough one to recommend across the board, as there will no doubt be many who are put off by the obvious lack of resources devoted to the making of this picture. But connoisseurs of ragtag B crime noirs are likely to savor the abundance of eccentric touches that Matthau invests in this truly odd and surprisingly inventive thriller. Trivia freaks will enjoy knowing that Carol Grace, the actress who plays Matthau's love interest, became the real-life second Mrs. Matthau a couple of years later.
GUENOT PHILIPPE What a real pleasure for me to discover this flick. I was really amazed. Not a great picture, but short, sharp, accurate in action and characters. For a B movie I mean. No wasted shots in directing. Of course, we have already seen this scheme a thousand times, but it is still effective. Matthau is excellent and prepares us for "Charley Varrick", shot a decade later: A bank robber with the crime syndicate on his heels. No user seems to have noticed that.Description of the two heists of the film are delightful, meticulously described. And the bank robbery at the beginning is very funny. But this doesn't alter the tragic content of the story.
JoeytheBrit Although this is film-making from the lowest echelons of independent cinema, with a budget that makes a shoestring look fat, there is something about it that just occasionally raises it above the countless other no-budget b-movies of its type.Of course, the fact that Matthau's in it is probably the only reason we still have the opportunity to see it today. As well as starring, Matthau directed, and it's easy to see why he chose to stick with acting. Walter's choice of shots is sometimes comically bad; at one point, two characters holding a conversation look as if they're both staring at empty corners of the room because of the confused shooting angles he adopts.The story is a run-of-the-mill crime plot chronicling the rise and fall of Jack Martin, an escaped convict with nerves of steel and a sense of humour. Martin manages to persuade the police to help him rob a bank, and gets his pursuers to hold a library door open for him so that he can make his escape. Inside the library, he woos the prim librarian (the future Mrs Matthau) by admitting he's a bank robber. No ordinary anti-hero then - at least not for the early sixties.Sadly, that's pretty much all this film's got going for it. Matthau aside, the acting is pretty awful and there are plot holes you could drive an armoured truck through.
