The Money Trap (1965)

Pretty Good

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

They were looking pretty tired in this. It was the characters they played but they didn't have to stretch much for the part. I see why my wife has a poor opinion of Ford. I always liked him but I had never seen this movie before. I want to know more about the house that Ford and Elke lived in. The design of the pool was very unique. Did anyone notice when Ford was riding in the ambulance (a Buick conversion) talking to the dying burglary suspect, that the car next to them was pacing and passing a code 3 ambulance with its siren on? The camera was set up to shoot the scene but there was normal traffic flowing next to it, so when Ford signals to the driver that the suspect is dead and he can slow down, nothing changed in the street scene outside the window. Loved the white 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury convertible that Ford drove. That model has a value these days of $15K to $20K.

I didn't have any idea what I was getting into when I watched this one. What I got was a look at Rita Hayworth and the signs of alcoholism and aging....plus a pretty straight forward police drama...with a decent jazz score.I was really looking forward to seeing Hayworth as I like to watch former stars later in their careers. It was painfully apparent that she wasn't in very good shape for this one. I don't know if it was the starting of the Alzheimer's she got or alcoholism but she shows her age in this one. She was easily one of the most beautiful girls on screen in her heyday but I guess we all have to age. Some just not so gracefully.Glenn Ford is OK in this but the story in itself is just so transparent. You can pretty much predict every twist and turn. I wasn't surprised once at any "moment" in this film.Too many stories going on at once with a very average screenplay tells you why this didn't get released on DVD for a while. It didn't make an impact back in the day I'm willin' to bet.Go with the user ratings on this one. If you wanna feel like a genius and predict every thing that happens in a film...watch this one. You'll be the next champ of Jeopardy.

Great cast. Might be interesting. Hmmmm.... Well, it starts with a brassy, obnoxious jazz theme, followed oddly by bongo music. Our first scene is Ford as a detective at the scene of a crime wherein a woman was hung in a whore house by her husband. Next scene we have Elke Sommer undressing to go to bed with husband Ford. This film wastes no time! But then it goes on and on with crummy characters played by William Campbell, Ricardo Montalban, Hayworth and Cotten. Dreary all the way to the bitter conclusion. The post-'Gilda' reteaming of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford is a sad spectacle. Ford's haircut is so bad his ears look bat-like. Hayworth, admittedly is not playing a glamour part, but her degradation is not pleasant to watch. Together they appear dissipated, like their careers at this point. Ford really seems bored and uncomfortable throughout. And Cotten is as dull as usual. But Montalban does show some energy as fellow cop, and Elke Sommer has never looked better and plays the most likable (maybe only likable) character in the film. If that valium is making you feel too good, bring yourself down with this movie.

The Money Trap for me has the distinction of being one of the last B features I ever saw on the big screen as part of a double bill. It is a film way past its prime as a noir picture.Noir as a genre essentially died little by little as more televisions were in American homes. The kind of stories that noir does best were now being shown on television every night. Movies were getting bigger and splashier to compete with TV and films like the Money Trap were just not being made for theaters any more. Watching it yesterday on TCM, I was struck by the ludicrousness of a letter box version for a black and white noir. By the way, in 1965 television was about to go full color and black and white feature films were getting rarer each year.But even as a noir film, The Money Trap has no people you really care about. Glenn Ford is married to a wealthy woman and lives in a lifestyle beyond his cop's salary. But then wife Elke Sommer gets a letter saying her late Daddy's stock won't be paying any dividends. Well golly gee, we should all have such problems. It never occurs to Glenn Ford to tell Elke to tone down her extravagant ways, maybe even move out of that luxurious home they have to something more modest. Ford's kind of into the good life also.During a homicide investigation involving a wealthy doctor played by Joseph Cotten who allegedly surprised a burglar in his home, Ford and partner Ricardo Montalban suspect something dicey. Before expiring in the ambulance, the burglar gives Ford the safe combination.Now knowing something is amiss here. Ford and Montalban decide on a robbery. Of course the doctor is smarter than the both of them put together. The whole thing ends in one bloody mess and the viewer doesn't really care.A few years later The Money Trap would have been strictly a made for TV feature if it got made at all. Probably MGM was busy trying to get rid of long time contractual obligations to Ford and Montalban. Both of them have sure done better work.But the saddest thing of all is that this is the last feature film partnership of Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth. Rita's the best thing in this film, playing a very worn out forty something ex-girlfriend of Ford's and widow of the burglar Cotten shot. A great acting job and not anything a former reigning sex goddess ever did before.But it ain't enough to save The Money Trap.