5 Against the House (1955)

I love this movie so much

Nice effects though.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The last 25 minutes are good, since this is considered a film noir, but the first hour of this movie is pretty lame. Make that "very lame." It's as if they tried to make a comedy about this heist story. Some of the dialog is humorous and clever but most of it is just plain dumb. Why Columbia Pictures added this to their excellent "Film Noir Volume One" set is beyond me. It's the only poor movie in the package.One of the few redeeming qualities of the movie, at least for us males, is a chance to ogle Kim Novak, who began to make a name for herself the year this film came out. Brian Keith is fairly intense as "Brick," the ex-Korean soldier with mental problems but even he is fairly boring most the movie. The rest of the cast looks and sounds more "Gilligan's Island" than actors in a supposed film noir. It was doubly surprising because director Phil Karlson didn't usually offer up "fluff" like this. This light-hearted wink-wink comedy-drama was not his normal style.

"Hornet's Nest" director Phil Karlson helmed many memorable films, including "Kansas City Confidential," "The Phenix City Story," "Walking Tall," "The Texas Rangers," "Key Witness" and "Frame Up," during his 31-year career, but his lame 1955 casino caper "5 Against the House," with Guy Madison and Kim Novak, doesn't qualify as one of those films. This 84-minute, black & white crime melodrama lacks substance, and the robbery itself is nothing to rhapsodize about in the greater scheme of heist movies. None of the usual characters that populate these dramas appears in this Columbia Pictures release. Essentially, four college age students—two Korean War veterans on the G.I. Bill and two roommates try to steal a million dollars from Harold's Club in Reno during a city-wide celebration. Indeed, they don't get away with the crime, but the initial plans that the mastermind concocted had little to do with getting away with the transgression. Karlson stages this modest crime story with his customary aplomb, but he is forced to stretch out the rather lackluster screenplay by "In the Heat of the Night" scenarist Stirling Silliphant, William Bowers of "The Gunfighter," and John Barnwell which was based on Jack Finney's magazine novel. Yes, this is the same Finney who wrote the immortal sci-fi classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The dialogue is pretty decent and there is one rather clever gag. Boredom serves as the stimulus for the crime. The heroes have just gone back to Midwestern University after spending a summer at work. Al Mercer (Guy Madison of "Till the End of Time") and Brick (Brian Keith of "Arrowhead") are attending college to obtain law degrees. Al and Brick served in the infantry in Korea, and Brick saved Al's life. Unfortunately, Brick came out of the war with a combat injury that makes him susceptible psychotic episodes. He nearly beats a younger man to death during an argument. This brief close-quarter, hand-to-hand combat scene is beautifully staged and "Women's Prison" lenser Lester White does a superb job with his pictorial compositions. Al and Brick are friends of Roy (Alvy Moore of the CBS-TV sitcom "Green Acres") and rich boy Ronnie (Kerwin Mathews of "Barquero") and they operate as a quartet. During their return journey to college, our protagonists stopover in Reno at Harold's Club and witness an attempted robbery. Actually, the authorities are on the verge of arresting Roy and Ronnie as accomplices of the anonymous thief (Frank Gerstle of "Between Heaven and Hell") because they appeared to be in on the crime. This incident gives Ronnie an idea for a 'foolproof' plan to rob the casino. He constructs a cart like those that the employees trundle into and out of the counting rooms. Essentially, he places a large but portable reel-to-reel tape player inside the cart and connects it to a concealed button in the handle so that it sounds as if there is a man hidden in the small compartment. They smuggle their cart into the casino during a celebration and coerce a casino employee, Eric Berg (William Conrad of "The Killers"), into helping them. Basically, Berg believes the heroes that there is a small man armed with a gun who will burst from the cart and start shooting if Berg doesn't comply with their orders. Complications arise from Brick's violent episode with another college student during a vicious fight and Al recommends that Brick check back into the hospital, but Brick refuses to go quietly.Meantime, Ronnie devises his plan to hold up Harold's Club, but the catch is that he will return the money. Once Brick gets wind of the crime, he has no desire to get the money back. While all of this is transpiring, Al has fallen in love with an initially reluctant Kay Greylek (sexy bombshell actress Kim Novak of "Pushover") who sings in a nightclub. Ronnie's plan requires four people and Al and Kay accompany them to Reno with no idea what is in store for them. Of course, everything works out in the end and nobody dies. Ronnie's plan works like a charm, but the police are on to them because Kay has contacted them. The heist takes place near the end of the action with about 15 minutes devoted to the actual crime. It appears that Karlson shot the action on location in Reno, and they showcase an interesting as well as elaborate car parking gantry that scoops up a vehicle with huge metal tusks, hoists it up vertically to a parking space in a high-rise garage and parks it. Motorists are not allowed to ride up in their cars. This gadget is more interesting than anything else in the film. What sets "5 Against the House" from most crime pictures of its day is the way that Karlson depicts the actual workings of the crime. Early on in the action, Ronnie buys a disposable car and trailer using cold cash so that nobody can trace the vehicles back to him. Earlier, the Production Code forbade the depiction of a crime because the censors feared that such a depiction might inspire impressionable viewers into attempting the crime. Naturally, our heroes are good kids. Brick cannot help himself and the police capture him in the garage after Al talks him down. The actual crime itself with the tape player in the cart is rather far-fetched, but even this crime seems like it foreshadows the far more elaborate crime that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin orchestrated in director Lewis Milestone's "Ocean's Eleven." Karlson and his scenarists provide us with a glimpse of casino security; we see the guards roaming the catwalks in the gambling house and peering through slots over the gaming and cashier areas that are concealed behind mirrors. Altogether, "5 Against the House" never generates much in the way of either momentum or tension until the commission of the crime. You won't feel your palms getting sweaty or your mouth dry in anticipation of the danger involved.

Uneven heist film. Making 30-somethings Madison and Keith into college students is a bit of a stretch. But I guess pairing them with the youthful Moore and Mathews presented a problem that a college dorm room could solve. Screenplay is by the celebrated TV writer Stirling Silliphant who, nonetheless, can't seem to script a line without a wise-guy quip. It's clever, but does get tiresome.The movie has two things going for it. First is an absolutely superb performance by Brian Keith. Few actors could get more mileage out of a squint and a cigarette than this low-key tough guy. His final descent into battle-shock madness is both persuasive and oddly touching. The entire movie turns on an ability to convey the required changes and he brings them off beautifully. The other plus is the location photography in Reno. It's entertaining to watch the crowds milling around the casinos, circa 1955. How the production crew got the crowds to act so natural, without acknowledging the camera, amounts to a real feat. Also, the parking garage makes for good staging, but apparently is a commercial novelty that never caught on.At the time, Columbia's head Harry Cohn was promoting Novak into the studio's newest sex goddess. Novak is okay in the role, but unfortunately her scenes with Madison slow down the pacing. Her role here looks like a rather awkward add-on to the main plot. In fact the heart of the film is neither the casino heist nor the Madison-Novak romance. Rather, the emotional center is the solid bond between the two Korean war vets. The chemistry between the two older men strongly portrays the kind of special kinship forged only in combatCertainly director Phil Karlson knows his way around action movies as proved by his gripping Phenix City Story. I suspect that had he a freer hand here, a leaner, sharper, more coherent movie would have resulted. As it is, the 90 minutes is entertaining, but not front rank. As a heist movie, it's so-so; as a buddy film, it's first rate. (In passing-- Looks like the producers of Oceans 11 {1960} sat through this film more than once.)

This movie, 5 Against the House, had an interesting tag line which is why I saw it. However, I found that the build up of the story line and the build up of the characters took forever! Once the plot got going though, about thirty-five minutes in, the story took off from there and held my attention until the end. This movie is good if you are looking for an obscure film noir to view, other than that, pass on it.