Modest minor heist film.

I quite liked the premise of this heist caper, as the down-at-heel “Harper” (Rory Calhoun) comes up with the idea of robbing a small bank that just happens to house the wages of a nearby military base. He can’t do it on his own, though, so taps up the ruthless “Flood” (James Gregory) for resources. There’s $1 million at stake here so he and his new investor’s gal “Kay” (Mary Costa) move into the town and pretend to be the married owners of the petrol station. It’s a friendly enough town, loads of chatty neighbours and family BBQs so the question is: will their sinister motives be spotted in a town where butter wouldn’t melt? Unfortunately, this doesn’t really come alive until the end, and then only just. For the main part, it’s more of a character study of their eclectic gang and of a quiet American township. “Roy” (a solid effort from Corey Allen) is the right-hand man whose obvious psychopathy is barely controlled by their boss; Zimmer” (Robert A. Harris) maybe has the most fun as everything he touches has to light up and/or go bang whilst Costa also delivers well with a bit more to her role than is often given to woman in crime thrillers. It is really the malevolence from “Flood” that steals the limelight, though, in the face of a rather soporific effort from an all-American Calhoun who barely imposes himself at all until he begins to wonder if they are doing the right thing…

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