Crashout (1955) User Reviews (20)

Takes All Kinds...Especially B-Movie Suckers

[AudioFileZ · 8/10 · 15 December 2013]

Crashout gets to the point quickly. A story of desperate escapees making their way out of the abyss. William Bendix gives a "close to the bone" portrayal of a desperate man who escapes prison with a motley crew.

Nothing in this story comes easy. The six escapees work their way through several states by the skin of their teeth. On the other side is a split of a big pay day, but that pay day is way away buried in some of the most inhospitable territory imaginable. The common denominator is the promise of a huge buried payout. That's the story of Crashout. It's no easy road to glory for the cons, in the ensuing journey they cross paths with some unwitting characters. A journey of attrition whereby along the way not only does a possible love story evolve, but a the deaths of all but two remaining cons. The path to the big pay day is anything but a simple story. This is where Crashout rises above it's "B Movie" roots. Bendix give his usual colorful performance, but this time as a star front and center. The story suits his skills well.

The end is a heartless reckoning. A sort of good trumps bad, but there is an opening. The character of "Joe" played by the great Arthur Kennedy may or may not be the last man standing. Does he have the buried fortune? Probably not, but if he survives he may actually have gained much more than the 180 grand. This is a really tasty slice of film noir. It grabs the viewer early on and doesn't let go. Your're in for the ride. It's especially gritty and dark for the day in which it was filmed. It has a buried heart which all humanity can connect to. Basically hopeless, Crashout still has something that one can grab on to and in that it keeps the viewer invested. Great "B-Movie" film noir and as such recommended viewing for those to whom this stuff speaks.

Not a typical prison film

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 14 October 2021]

Crashout isn't your typical prison movie.

The film was produced by Ida Lupino's company with script contributions by blacklisted writer Cy Enfield. Crashout stars William Bendix, Arthur Kennedy, Gene Evans, William Talman,Luther Adler, Marshall Thompson, Beverly Michaels, and Gloria Talbot.

Six men escape from prison and hide out in a cave while the police scour the countryside looking for them. One is killed almost immediately. The head guy is Van Morgan Duff (Bendix) who has $180,000 hidden, and he's on his way to get it, agreeing to split it six wways.

However, right at the beginning, he's badly wounded - in fact, he plays dead, convincing the cop who shot him that he's finished. Though he seems like he's dying, he's strong enough to lay some groundrules.

The men are supposed to stay in the cave for three days, but the food didn't make it during the escape. Peeking outside and seeing no one around, it's decided they can leave. From then on, we see these ruthless men robbing, stealing cars, killing, and walking toward their individual fates.

Arthur Kennedy, no surprise there, is a standout as Joe Quinn. When the escapees take over a farmhouse, a spark ignites between Joe and Alice, who lives there.

The cast is excellent, with Bendix, so pathetic in "Lifeboat," is mean as dirt here, and future television actors William Talman, Gene Evans, and Marshall Thompson lend good support, along with Broadway actor Luther Adler.

I first saw Beverly Michaels in Pickup, giving an Ann Savage-like performance. From the films of hers I've seen, she can be soft and vulnerable, too. And as usual she towers over everyone.

What some people won't do for money - including a very impressive walk in a blizzard up a mountain. A really good movie, exciting and well acted.

Fleeing the law

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 5 January 2014]

This independent film production is one of the grimmest motion pictures you'll ever see. I'm not surprised that in 1955 no major studio would have made Crashout, especially without no real rooting interest in any good guy.

Six convicts are all that remain unapprehended after a giant Crashout of a prison break. The six and they're all different in their own ways are William Bendix, Arthur Kennedy, Gene Evans, Luther Adler, William Talman, and Marshall Thompson. The film is their story and what happens to each of them fleeing the law.

Bendix is wounded, but the rest have reason to keep him alive because he knows where $180,000.00 in buried loot is from his last job. They even get him a doctor and later kill Dr. Percy Helton.

Some other people get in their way and one by one they're killed by the law or by each other. Bendix the toughest and meanest of the bunch is the most memorable, followed by Arthur Kennedy who was not a lifer like the others but just wanted a taste of freedom and William Talman who is a religious fanatic. Not exactly the crowd I'd choose to hang with, but these guys have drawn each other in life's game of chance.

Bendix was the box office draw here. In films he was an excellent character player, but on radio and television he was a star and was still doing and starring in The Life Of Riley on television when Crashout was made. He's also one of my favorites and those of you discovering William Bendix for the first time see this and then see an episode of The Life Of Riley. You can't get more apart than lovable, bumbling Chester Riley and the escaped convict in Crashout. You'll barely believe it's the same actor.

Crashout is an unforgettable noir film of the Fifties, don't miss it if it is broadcast.

Thick-ear Gem

[dougdoepke · 20 October 2009]

A curiously compelling little movie, Crashout is a throwback to the tough prison-escape movies of the 30's. Fortunately, the producers had the good sense to hire an expert cast of B-movie veterans to enliven an otherwise shopworn plot. Writer-producer Hal Chester and director- writer Lewis Foster provide each convict with a distinct personality that holds viewer interest as tensions mount, while the audience anticipates how each character will be brought to justice. Standouts in the cast are the always subtle Arthur Kennedy, an engagingly ambivalent Marshall Thompson, and William Tallman doing his scary psycho bit, this time as a knife-throwing religious fanatic. Then there's that raspy little gnome Percy Helton, lending his unique brand of character color. And in a poignant bit part, cult favorite Gloria Talbott as the prospect of a normal life for the ill-fated Thompson. The scenes in the dingy roadhouse are well done, along with an appropriately ironical ending. Though you've seen it all before, there are many nice touches that lift this otherwise generous slice of thick-ear beyond the merely routine.

Semi-starry cast (and Beverly Michaels) helps carry routine jailbirds-on-the-lam noir

[bmacv · 6/10 · 7 June 2002]

Like Canon City seven years earlier or Big House, U.S.A. of the same year, Crashout follows half a dozen convicts along their futile path to freedom. The drama centers only incidentally on their pursuit by police but explores the tensions that erupt among them and their hostile reaction to the world beyond the machine-gun turrets and barbed-wire fences. It's fast, brutal and far from subtle, but its cast is above-average, and the movie even slows down now and again for a poignant little vignette.

Self-appointed leader of the pack is William Bendix, wounded during the (pre-credits) prison break but brooking no dissent nonetheless. Strangest among them is William Talman (who also appeared in Big House, U.S.A. but of course lost countless cases to Perry Mason on TV, as District Attorney Hamilton Burger); he's a knife-throwing religious nut. Luther Adler as a Latin Lothario, Marshall Thompson as a sentimental kid in this thing over his head, and Gene Evans round out the roster of escapees – except for Arthur Kennedy, who survives with something like a conscience stirring within him.

Helping to stir that conscience is farm gal Beverly Michaels, who arrives much too late in the story. Michaels, in her handful of roles (she starred in Russell Rouse's Wicked Woman), throws off a cool nonchalance that's all her own; with her low, distinctive way of talking, she suggests Sally Kellerman a decade or so later. In the ironic style that was coming into fashion, Crashout's ending leaves us hanging, at least a bit; still, it's competent enough to stand comparison with other installments of the jailbirds-on-the-lam sub-genre.

Excellent, tough little B-Movie.

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 14 August 2020]

This prison break movie wastes no time in getting down to business. "Crashout" is a B-Movie directed by Lewis R. Foster and it's just the kind of B-Movie the American cinema did beautifully in the fifties and it's got a terrific cast, (Arthur Kennedy, William Bendix, Luther Adler, Marshall Thompson, Gene Evans and William Tallman), all playing escaped convicts. Kennedy and Adler take the acting honours but they are all excellent and it's got a great plot involving stolen loot and dishonour amongst thieves. If it feels at times like an extended episode of a TV series, it's still a good one that scores points in every department. Maybe not an undiscovered gem but a pleasure nevertheless.

A crash of convicts

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 20 December 2013]

***SPOILERS*** Overlooked prison escape drama with six convicts , out of some 50, escaping in a major break-out of a Southwestern prison and little by little doing the job, by killing or having themselves killed, that the pressuring police and state troopers have in store for them. Lead by the brutal Van Duff, William Bendix, who was seriously injured during the escape the six wanted men plan to make their way to the snow capped Rocky Mountians where he had previously stashed some $180,000.00 of stolen loot. With so much money on the line the six escaped convicts end up murdering kidnapping and assaulting a number of innocent people on their way to find the $180,000.00 pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Murdering and kidnapping their way to the stashed money all but one of the escaped convicts bank embezzler Joe Quinn, Arthur Kennedy, survived to keep it only to end up being caught by the state troopers and put back behind bars before he could spend and enjoy it. The movie showed just what greed can do to those infected by it which caused the six escaped convict to self destruct before the film was finally over. And their flight to money and freedom turned out to be a very brief one for them. And far less satisfying then what they were facing behind prison bars.

Check out a very young innocent and sexy Gloria Talbot as the girl on the train. Gloria struck up a friendly conversation with escaped convict Billy Lang, Marshall Thompson, who fell in love with her and was going to quit running from the law. Billy ended up murdered by fellow escapee religious fanatic Swanee Remmsen, William Tallman, with a knife in his back. Swanee a convicted murderer despite in his keeping with the biblical ten commands didn't quite observe the one that said "Thou Shall not Kill".

Production Code-predictable: crime just could not pay in 1950s US movies

[adrianovasconcelos · 6/10 · 7 August 2022]

This 90 minute B film noir is a throw back to the chain gangs of the 1930s and it boasts a solid cast of usual second stringers, with Arthur Kennedy the standout performance, contrasting with the more animalesque nature of the rest of the convicts fleeing jail at the start of the movie. The ever reliable Bendix also shines as the ruthless leader using everyone to advance his own interests.

Foster does a good job of directing, and extracts poignantly honest performances from Beverley Michaels and Marshall Thompson. Dialogue is credible, and photography more than suitable in terms of mood, atmosphere, and the elements.

Ultimately, the main shortcoming is the production code in force at the time, whereby the criminal had to pay. You know well before the end what will happen to each of the six escapees.

Film Noir doesn't get any more gritty than this!

[randy-151 · 10/10 · 4 September 2000]

What an overlooked gem! What a find! This convicts-on-the-run thriller is outstanding. Top-drawer performances led by William Bendix and Arthur Kennedy leave their dirty thumb prints all over this film. Explicitly violent for its time, film noir doesn't get much darker than this. "Crashout" is on the same level as "Kiss Me Deadly", "The Asphalt Jungle" and "The Killing". This masterful story is an absolute must-see for any crime-drama and/or film noir buff. A guaranteed wild ride.

"But Mr Bendix....I don't want my belly turned inside out !"

[kalbimassey · 6/10 · 8 March 2021]

1955 must have been Percy Helton's annus horribilis. Fingers crushed to a pulp in a drawer by Ralph Meeker in 'Kiss me Deadly'and much worse was to follow. Railroaded by a merciless gang of escaped convicts in 'Crashout', as a good-natured doctor, forced to treat and indeed save the life of William Bendix, who's been shot so full of lead he could have been sold for scrap metal.

Bendix, who spends the early part of the movie, falling down rocks and into puddles, being shot and then swarmed upon by ants, begins to assert his power over the remaining five, by revealing that he has a vast stash of hot cash that he's prepared to share. Just one problem. It's three days journey away and hidden in a remote mountain location. Why couldn't he have stuffed it in a mattress and made life easier for everyone?

The Bill Bendix Sextet inevitably starts shedding members as they undertake their challenge, driven by greed and desperation. Whenever one of the Inside Out Belly men auto-destructs, Bendix observes with cool detachment, calmly aware that an increased share in the spoils awaits him.

Still, following a rumbling tum build-up, they eat well, have a ride aboard a steam train, view some breathtaking scenery and meet several AWFULLY nice people along the way.

A rare leading role for Bendix and a change of pace from his more familiar likeable rogue persona. He largely nails it as the thoroughly odious, callous, ruthless crook, who emerges from a position of life-threatening helplessness to manipulate and orchestrate every move, preying upon the insatiable desire of the others to lay their grubby paws on the loot. His Brooklyn brogue intermittently slides into a gravelly Eastwood style rasp, depending upon the amount of pain he's in.

Competently directed, well paced and featuring a solid supporting cast, including Arthur Kennedy and William Talman, as a phony, debauched man of the cloth, who conducts the most convoluted baptism by immersion (on Bendix) in Christian history. There have probably been faster drownings!

Docked a Brownie point for its somewhat formulaic narrative and for a laughable sequence in which Talman runs down a motor cycle cop, who has sufficient time to make a will before the vehicle hits him. Didn't he consider dodging out of the way?

Nevertheless, an entertaining minor noir, which provided some light relief in the wake of England's dismal performance in India. "See ya sucker(s)," could well have been Virat Kohli's dismissive farewell to the forlorn tourists.

It takes all kinds to make a world. Especially suckers.

[hitchcockthelegend · 9/10 · 19 November 2013]

Crashout is directed by Lewis R. Foster, who also co-adapts the screenplay with Hal E. Chester. It stars William Bendix, Arthur Kennedy, Luther Adler, William Talman, Gene Evans and Christopher Olsen. Music is by Leith Stevens and cinematography by Russell Metty.

Six convicts crashout of prison and embark on a life and death struggle to reach safety…

As tough as hobnail boots, Crashout is right there in the upper echelons of convict based film noir. There's not exactly anything new here on formula terms, the cons are angry macho men, each one has their own hang ups, and each one has their respective flaws. Be it religious maniac, fantasist, psychopath or the one who doesn't belong in this company, it's a roll call of familiar convict types. Yet the performances are so strong, the tension so tight, all worries about familiarity breeding contempt disappears the moment the men hide out in a disused mine. For here we learn about their psychological make-ups, and quickly buy into the fractured dynamic that we know is going to result in a machismo fuelled implosion.

The warden said dead or alive and he didn't say which.

Narrative strength comes by way of the fact the leader of the group, Van Morgan Duff (Bendix), is very injured and needs medical help. An out and out cold blooded brute, Duff wisely strikes a deal to split a pot load of hidden loot with the group, thus ensuring he gets to stay alive and in charge! The men then traverse the lands and encounter civilians, which in turn throws up some potent and tense filled scenarios. Murder and violence does follow, the film pretty brutal for the time, while the question of if anyone survives till the end looms large throughout.

You can take the con out of the jail, but you can't take the jail out of the con.

Lewis and Metty do a fine job of cloaking the picture with rugged toughness. Often the camera is up close and personal to reveal the grime, blood or sweat that oozes from the men. Scenes of the guys breaking bottles to use as weapons, a hand caked with hot candle wax, or Duff laid down in the dirt with ants crawling over him, it's all relevant to making these cons as tough as they come. We are not meant to like them, to root for them, they are outcasts of society and we know it. Visually it scores best when in the claustrophobic confines of the cave, and with an extended night sequence at Dexter rail station that's bathed in shadows and murky lights.

Pulsing with fatalism and dripping with dread, Crashout is highly recommended to those after a tough cons on the lam film noir. 8.5/10

You know they are doomed from the time they escape.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 21 December 2013]

A group of escaped convicts hide out in a wet cave waiting for the search for them to slow down. The ailing leader of the escape (William Bendix) is on the verge of death, and the poor doctor (Percy Helton) who is called to help them at gunpoint will find that he won't be allowed to tell what he knows. A few of the escapees seem to have a major love of carnage, and Bendix has a sadistic streak that won't even allow one of the younger members of the party (Marshall Thompson) go off with a young girl (Gloria Talbott) he meets on a train. When they hide out in the farmhouse of Beverly Michaels (a tough "B" girl giving her most versatile performance here), the compassion of one of them (the brilliant Arthur Kennedy) is revealed. Michaels plays a farm-bread girl who obviously tried the big city, became a victim to it, and returned home older, wiser, and sadder. Christopher Olsen is good as her illegitimate son who doesn't understand what's going on but shows deep courage anyway.

This is one of those enjoyable yet far-fetched stories of crime that wasn't quite film noir but played like it on the surface. The characters are fascinating, if somewhat one-dimensional to watch, and William Bendix chews up the scenery as if it was steak. Acting honors go to Kennedy who makes his criminal character quite likable in spite of his past. Luther Adler, William Talman and Gene Evans also deliver exciting performances. The film is fast-moving, tightly edited, and filled with some shocking moments, one of them involving a man on fire. The ending is filled with irony and makes up for the film's over-all clichés.

Excellent suspense film

[mls4182 · 10/10 · 30 November 2021]

No honor among thieves.

Top notch writing, cast and director. It is slow starting but soon picks up speed. Great supporting characters and actors.

Percy Helton's most challenging role.

A hidden gem buried of unholy six of the cave, also character study!!

[elo-equipamentos · 8/10 · 21 October 2023]

Look out how DVD event allowed to us, a hidden gem from the fifties never seen before for large majority of moviegoers, a fabulous story of six fugitives from prison lead by the most crook character of cinema industry of all time William Bendix extremely stigmatized due he was often pick up by playing bad guys, these six convicts hide in a cave previously planed by the treacherous Van Morgan Duff (William Bendix) following by their inmates the former Reverend Luther Remsen (William Tallman), the skilled gambler Pete Mendoza (Luther Adler), the good hearted thug Monk Collins (Gene Evans) the newbie Bill Lang (Marshall Thompson) and the intruder sardonic thief Joe Quinn (Arthur Kennedy) that trapped into the escape jointing in the group.

During the escape Duff was deadly injured by a bulled at your shoulder, thus their mates are considering leave him dying there, then the clever Duff offers to them a stolen money to share with the group if they got a doctor to extract the bullet and after a little resting to recover led them to hide money, when they leaving the cave Duff whispers to his closest pal Luther concerning all remainder are suckers, along the long journey to heading to the money the police makes a hard interstate chase to arrest them, in every spot to get food and clothes also a new car in order to puzzle the police, someone is laying in the ground killed by the evil reverend or by the police, later on last stop in a distant farm Joe finds a unmarried woman Alice (Beverly Michaels) the chemistry each other is instantaneous let Joe figures out that it should be a new beginning and he must stop running, not quite simple, there more to come, betrayal shall be exactly word for the suckers.

A finest Noir presentation exposing character study on the long journey, their fears, their souls, their worst nature is slowing displaying thru the escape to the audience allowing to us separating the wheat from the chaff, plus many psychological elements enable us pinpoint such gap of the real human being and those wicked nature, on final sequence is paramount to see the whole portrait of human being, fantastic picture!!

Thanks for reading

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.

A prison break movie that treads an unconventional path

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 19 December 2021]

38 felons escape the penitentiary, but six of them are on the same page. One, played by William Bendix, told the other five to meet up in a cave he knows about. But Bendix is wounded during the escape yet managed to make it to the cave and appears to be dying. The other five decide to leave Bendix behind and go their separate ways. But Bendix tells them he has 180 thousand dollars in stolen loot from a bank robbery hidden, and tells them if they will get him a doctor and take him along, he will cut them in as equal partners on the money. They agree. And thus begins their joint journey.

In the beginning, while they are in the cave, the escaped cons converse. You quickly find out about all of them. One is an embezzler, one was convicted of murder but says it was an accident and seems rather tame, one is crazy, and the other three are brute beasts of assorted varieties. What makes this film stand head and shoulders among other related prison break films is that the viciousness of these criminals is demonstrated time after time. Every time you think - Oh, I know what is going to happen here...This is your classic hostage situation, this is your classic "love of a good woman" scenario, etc., the film takes an abrupt turn you were not counting on and surprises you. And best of all it moves from scene to scene at a good pace and keeps you engaged. Even the ending is unexpected. I'd highly recommend this.

The production code was technically still in force in 1955, but it was showing some cracks, and some things were being shown and talked about here that would not have been just five years before. Also take note of William Talman as a homicidal maniac who quotes scripture, likes to listen to hymns, and seems to have something to prove when it comes to the opposite sex shortly before he plays D. A. Hamilton Burger on Perry Mason. His character seems like a forerunner to the Dirty Dozen's Maggott from twelve years in the future.

ignore the plaudits

[rupie · 3/10 · 5 September 2014]

Inspired by all the wonderful reviews on this site, I actually bought the CD, especially because of the wonderful cast - primarily William Bendix and Arthur Kennedy, but also a host of character actors we recognize but to whom it is difficult to attach faces, i.e William Talman (the hapless D.A. on Perry Mason), Gene Evans, Marshall Thompson, and Luther Adler. Despite all the plaudits here, the film, despite its attempts to capture the flavor of noir, descends into rote formulas and plot clichés. The fault is not with the actors, who all do well, but with the script. Credibility is stretched beyond the breaking point. No woman held hostage, with son in tow, by a group of thugs could ever realistically be expected to develop a romantic attachment with one them on a side trip while her son was being held by the others, especially when that side trip is a blatant plot device for exactly that purpose. Arthur Kennedy is one of my favorite actors and he does his best here with what he is given, but this potboiler should be avoided.

Forgotten escape from jail film

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 14 November 2021]

I don't know why, maybe because of the presence of Bill Thalman in both features, but I have always confounded this movie with Howard Koch's BIG HOUSE USA. In both movies same topic, characters, atmosphere, overall efficient directing and acting. It is an underrated film from Lew Foster, whose most known films were adventure yarns and westerns. This film noir could also be considered as one of his best work. Thrilling, exciting, riveting. A real must see. In the genre you also had CANON CITY.

I mean please!!!!!!

[juanmuscle · 10/10 · 10 March 2019]

Pray tell no? Another fan claimed it grips you from start to finish but, where is the solid ending, does he make it down the mountain or not?

It is as though they burned the last real or something, something went wrong and they lost the last scene or every single filmmaker involved in this gem is a complete and utter masochist devil, devil I tell you! lol

I gotta say, Beverly is the greatest! I so wanted to see Joe make it safely down the mountain with all that scratch and make a new life for himself with Beverly's family!

But who knows, otherwise every single scene in this movie only serves to juice up the following scene, cause its a fantastic idea, and although I don't believe in remakes, I would love if someone grabbed this idea and filled in the rest with their own creativity, 6 cons escape, try to get to the money and "things" happen, well those things someone like QT can do a lot with and for sure, you're going to get a whole lot of fun! Gosh that would be cool, not to say that this here, original is incredible nevertheless and can stand on its own, fan fn tastic!

Totally Gripping

[marccherry-15866 · 10/10 · 8 October 2022]

Kennedy, Bendix, Talman, Adler those names alone in the cast mean it's going to be a great movie. So many twists & turns which keep you on the edge of your seat. Filmed in b&w it's atmosphere is enhanced. Beverley Michaels not an actress I'm familiar with is excellent & her scenes with Kennedy have depth & intensity about them. The trip back in time feel is enhanced with the steam train & the old Nash cop cars. If this was remade today it would have nowhere near the depth of this film. William Talman famous as Hamilton Burger in Perry Mason was much much more a first rate bad guy in movies as shown here & as Emmet Myers in Hitchhiker a performance straight from your worst nightmares. Give me a good 40's/50's noir over anything today. Total class.