Movie Critic 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

Michael O'Keefe Robert Stevens directs this crime drama; almost the perfect crime. Frank Harper(Rory Calhoun), a con man down on his luck and flat broke, goes to a long time crime boss named Flood(James Gregory)to ask for set up money for the perfect crime. It takes some convincing, but Frank knows for sure that a small-town bank regularly has the near by Marine base's payroll deposited. Flood figures that if he sends his girlfriend Kay(Mary Costa)with Harper to set up house as a new couple to the community they could prepare for the caper without suspicion. Calhoun comes across real cool. Costa is convincing as a pretty woman that needs affection and the chance for a real life. Planning out the heist is interesting. Other players include: Robert Harris, Paul Picerni, Roxanne Arlen and Ray Teal.

zardoz-13 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.

BILLYBOY-10 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.