Armored Car Robbery

Dave Purvis has spent months on the plan: the armoured car's route, each man's job, the way out. When a policeman is shot during the robbery in Los Angeles, everything runs off the plan. Purvis takes the money, clears out his partners one at a time, and thinks about leaving with his mistress. The dead officer's partner will not drop the case. Richard Fleischer's film is short, dry and fast. It was made as an RKO second feature, but counts among the pictures that settled the mechanics of the planned-heist story before the genre's larger examples arrived. Nothing is spare: no backstory, almost no emotional scene. Charles McGraw plays the detective and William Talman the cold criminal. Scenes shot in real Los Angeles locations give the film a documentary grain. Who it's for: Viewers curious about where the heist film comes from, and anyone who likes short, tight noir. Who it's not for: Character depth is close to nonexistent and the female role has limited function. There is no psychological tension to find here.