5 AGAINST THE HOUSE (1955)

Directed by Phil Karlson, this production helped establish the heist film. It was produced by Stirling Silliphant and John Barnwell for Columbia Pictures with a screenplay based on Jack Finney's 1954 novel of the same name. George Duning's score adds the right amount of heft when needed. Karlson's realism is evident right from the opening night scene in Reno, Nevada as a Glendale, Arizona campus foursome arrive and have their car parked on an upper level by a nifty hydraulic parking garage system. There is plenty of genuine comic dialogue but the script's humorous quips wear a bit thin, in part due to the film eventually taking a darker turn. Enrolled to further their fall matrimonial studies are Brian Keith, Guy Madison, Kerwin Mathews and Alvy Moore, who appears to be the only age-appropriate student judging by his physique and crew cut. He is assigned the film's levity. If you can get past this absurdity of four thirty-two-year-old college students, you are nearly halfway there. For the most part, the eighty-three minutes play out logically until the nonsensical ending.

Pre-law students, Madison and Keith, play the older of the four collegians who returned after their Korean War duty. Madison is the straight arrow of the two. Capitalizing on some early roles, Keith's script dictates a volatile nature due to battle shock and a metal plate in his head yet refuses further treatments in the VA's psych ward. During this era, a metal plate worked its way into a number of post-war heads. But there are five against the house. Enter Madison's girlfriend, Kim Novak, now reunited. To his astonishment, she has become a singer at a Glendale nightclub. He had no idea she could sing and never suspected her voice would be dubbed. The chosen studio singer matches Novak's vocal range accurately enough, but it is no longer believable. Thankfully there is only one number to sit through.

Due to a sizable inheritance, the wealthy Matthews—perhaps paying cash for each semester—is obsessed with a plan to rob Harold's Club in Reno. Just for the exhilaration. All the money would be returned—how is never addressed—ensuring that no one involved would be guilty of a crime. Right. Matthews purchases a used trailer and car to pull it and then fabricates a cash cart—entirely from memory—identical to the ones used at the club. The complex operation depends on Madison's participation—and a gullible audience—if it is to succeed, however. Throwing a curve into the plan is Madison's intention to marry Novak in Reno. The entire “wedding party” take the seven hundred twenty-mile drive to Reno. Before long, Madison realizes something is up and forces the trio's hand. The happy couple want no part in it. That will not do, according to the unbalanced Keith, who now has no plan of returning the money or sharing it. Losing all sense of reason he threatens to bring them all down for their part if he gets caught.

They pull off the ideally-timed theft with the help of a nervous William Conrad, in charge of the club's cash cart, during western costume days. Matthews has a reel-to-reel tape recorder hidden inside the duplicate cart that plays a threatening recording on his command, psychologically making Conrad think “the guy in there” will shoot him if he does not play along. How Matthews turns the recorder on and off or how Conrad could not be aware of the cart's lack of weight is purely suspended disbelief. Madison catches up with the fleeing Keith and their special bond results in a tearful, emotional collapse of the latter in the same garage where the film opened. The police are there to arrest Keith and everyone else is preposterously ignored for their part in the scheme. The viewer assumes Keith will not squeal on the other four and his mental condition will result in a light sentence. Apparently, Conrad will keep silent when asked about his traumatic quarter-hour experience.

Note: This is certainly an entertaining film and generally got positive reviews at the time. But as time tends to enhance old films, this unknown noir has been raised to a higher level by some. The acting is commendable but Keith is the only standout performer, eliciting a wide range of emotions. Novak's early film role seems well-suited for the fairly one-dimensional Madison. However, the posters defy any thought of her in a supporting role. It is more like four against one.