You’d think that a movie with a name like The Big Caper would have a mighty fine scheme up its sleeve, but that’s just the problem with this movie. It promises a big caper, and it doesn’t deliver one (for a really big caper movie made around the same time, try Jules Dassin’s Rififi). We do get a moderately interesting parable of the suburban life with its family barbecues and weekly scrabble games proving to be the ironic lure for a couple of career criminals, but even the drama inherent with that transformation is somewhat clumsily handled.
The Big Caper (MGM MOD)
Directed by Robert Stevens
Studio: MGM/UA
Year: 1957
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 85 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English
Subtitles: none
MSRP: $19.98
Release Date: now available
Review Date: February 18, 2012
The Film
2.5/5
After blowing his considerable bankroll on a series of lame wagers, Frank Harper (Rory Calhoun) needs a really big score to set himself up again, and he finds it with a million dollar payroll just waiting to be taken from the San Felipe National Bank. His well-heeled partner Flood (James Gregory) has enough money to keep him and his moll Kay (Mary Costa) set for at least a year, but continual prodding by Frank finally convinces Flood to organize a gang to make the heist. Flood’s team is a mixture of a pure professional locksmith (Patrick McVey) along with an alcoholic demolitions expert with a fire fetish (Robert Harris) and for muscle ladies man Harry (Paul Picerni) and bodybuilder Roy (Corey Allen). To get the inside information on the workings of the town, he sets Frank and Kay up as a married couple running a local gas station and becoming the attractive young neighborhood newlyweds. But Kay falls for Frank and the secure life of neighbors and friends and tries to convince him to ditch his partner and go on the straight and narrow. Frank has some potentially life-changing decisions to make before the caper commences.
Robert Stevens handles the film’s dialogue sequences briskly and does keep the movie’s middle sections of suburban utopia humming nicely along and helping us understand why this quiet life would appeal to the voluptuous Kay. This is especially important since there is a clear absence of action (the actual bank job doesn’t begin until the last eighteen minutes of the movie), and since Frank wants to be loyal to his partner Flood, he resists Kay’s charms far longer than one might think he would. We’re told the scheme is foolproof and genius in its thoroughness and innovation, but when Flood finally reveals it fifty-five minutes in, it doesn’t seem all that special. Not only that, but at the last minute, Flood decides to do the job on a Saturday instead of a Sunday thus rendering all the careful “foolproof” plans rather null and void (Martin Berkeley’s screenplay could have used an infusion of common sense somewhere along the line). It’s no surprise at all when things don’t go according to plan, and with Kay and Frank’s change of heart, the caper itself seems quite second nature by the time it finally happens.
The cast is better than the material they’re performing. Rory Calhoun can turn on and off the charm quite ably, and Mary Costa, while a bit too sophisticated for a typical moll, convinces that she loves the “fake” existence she’s living for the sake of the caper. James Gregory, always good, underplays with his usual expertise. With blond hair, Corey Allen is almost unrecognizable as the satyr-like bodybuilder while Robert Harris is completely convincing in his compulsive need for gin. Roxanne Arlen has a neat little part as Doll, a chippie Harry brings along for the ride and who finds herself in over her head when she wants a cut of the take.
Video Quality
3.5/5
The image appears to be an open matte transfer with its 1.33:1 aspect ratio. There is plenty of head room, and a little zooming frames the image quite nicely, but it should have been done correctly without the need for user tinkering. It’s a sharp transfer featuring well above average grayscale with only blacks being a bit less than ideal. Without anamorphic enhancement, of course, there is moiré to be seen in patterned coats and dresses and some aliasing and flashing on polka dot ties and jackets. Most of the image is clean and age-artifact free, but toward the end of the film, there are some flecks of debris, a scratch or two, and some dirt specks. The film has been divided into chapters every ten minutes so there are nine chapters present.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack is decoded by Dolby Prologic into the center channel. This is a very typical sound mix for its era, but as such is surprisingly clean and artifact free. There is none of the usual hiss and crackle associated with low budget films from this period, and while the music doesn’t have much lower end, dialogue and sound effects work well together and never overpower one another.
Special Features
0/5
There are no bonus features on this manufactured-on-demand disc.
In Conclusion
2.5/5 (not an average)
A decent little noir programmer from the 1950s, The Big Caper doesn’t offer many thrills and chills, but a good cast copes competently with less than grade-A material.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
