- Richard Fleischer's Armored Car Robbery is a taut and exciting heist film in which a criminal gang masterminded by Dave Purvis (William Talman) takes down an armored car in the film's first fifteen minutes and spends the rest of the film trying to keep one step ahead of the police. Lieutenant Jim Cordell (Charles McGraw) is particularly interested in hunting down the crew since his friend and partner (James Flavin) was killed in the robbery. One of the crooks, a small-timer named Benny (Douglas Fowley) also took a bullet during the heist, but Purvis doesn't seem particularly interested in nursing Benny back to health. That's probably because Purvis has been seeing Benny's burlesque-dancing wife Yvonne (Adele Jergens) on the side.
- While it's fun to see the film make a villain out of Talman, who would become famous as the lovable loser D.A. in TV's Perry Mason, neither the acting nor the plot of Armored Car Robbery proves terribly memorable. What is notable is how well Fleischer ratchets up and maintains the tension throughout the film's brief 67-minute runtime. It seems like Purvis is constantly sneaking out of windows and back doors as the police converge, and he doesn't hesitate to shoot anyone who gets in his way. In one of the film's tensest scenes, the entire crew (including Steve Brodie and Gene Evans) has to drive through a roadblock without letting on that Benny has been shot. In another terrific scene, Yvonne calls Purvis from another phone in the same diner to tip him off that a cop (Don McGuire) is leaning on her for information. Stare hard enough and you might even spot this overlooked classic's influence on future heist masterpieces Reservoir Dogs and Heat.
