The Great Bank Robbery
Brief Synopsis
Outlaws pose as a religious group to mask their attempt to rob a Western bank.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Hy Averback
Director
Zero Mostel
Rev. Pious Blue
Kim Novak
Lyda Kabanov
Clint Walker
Ben Quick
Claude Akins
Slade
Akim Tamiroff
Papa Pedro
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Crime
Western
Release Date
Jan
1969
Premiere Information
Houston opening: 24 Jun 1969
Production Company
Malcolm Stuart Productions; Warner Bros.--Seven Arts, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros.--Seven Arts, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Great Bank Robbery by Frank O'Rourke (New York, 1969).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 37m
Sound
Stereo
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1
Synopsis
Slade, a gunfighter, robs a Texas train of a large shipment of gold and deposits it in a bank in the town of Friendly. The vault's contents are being sought by two rival gangs. Mexican bandit Papa Pedro and his men make two fumbling attempts to rob the vault, first by rushing the bank only to be chased away by a blast of gunfire, and then by attempting to break down the door with a battering ram. The second gang is led by the Rev. Pious Blue, who has established himself as the town's preacher; his associates, who include the beautiful Lyda Kabanov, plan to tunnel into the bank and dynamite the wall on the Fourth of July, when an explosion will go unnoticed. Texas Ranger Ben Quick, with his band of five Chinese secret service agents, is also trying to tunnel into the bank, but his mission is to obtain evidence that will incriminate Kincaid, the town's crooked mayor and owner of the bank. On the Fourth of July, Reverend Blue's gang reaches the vault first. While robbing the vault they accidentally discover the evidence against Kincaid; the gang is then chased by Quick until they come to a giant balloon waiting to take them to safety. The reverend miscalculates the weight of the gold, however, and the balloon is unable to rise. To lighten the load, Lyda jumps out, permitting the reverend to escape, and she remains with her lover, Quick; and the Texas Ranger gets the evidence needed to convict Kincaid.
Director
Hy Averback
Director
Cast
Zero Mostel
Rev. Pious Blue
Kim Novak
Lyda Kabanov
Clint Walker
Ben Quick
Claude Akins
Slade
Akim Tamiroff
Papa Pedro
Larry Storch
Juan
John Anderson
Kincaid
Sam Jaffe
Brother Lilac
Mako
Eliot Fong
Elisha Cook Jr.
Jeb
Ruth Warrick
Mrs. Applebee
John Fiedler
Brother Dismas
John Larch
Sheriff
Peter Whitney
Brother Jordan
Norman Alden
The Great Gregory
Grady Sutton
Reverend Sims
William Zuckert
Ranger commander
Bob Steele
1st guard
Ben Aliza
2d guard
Mickey Simpson
3d guard
Byron Keith
Deputy
Kenny Endoso
Roy Ogata
George Sasaki
Yoneo Iguchi
Hiroshi Hissamuri
Chinese laundrymen
The Robert Mitchell Boychoir
Church choir
Crew
Paul Baxley
2nd unit Director
William Peter Blatty
Screenwriter
Sonny Burke
Music Supervisor
Sammy Cahn
Composer
Ben Chapman
Production Manager
Jack Cunningham
Assistant Director
Ken Darby
Vocal Arrangements
Mark Davis
2nd unit Photographer
Richard Freed
Associate Producer
Fred Gammon
2nd unit Assistant Director
Gil Grau
Orchestration
Al Greenway
Makeup Artist
Everett A. Hughes
Sound
Howard Kazanjian
1st & 2nd Assistant Director
Fred Koenekamp
Director of Photography
William L. Kuehl
Set Decoration
Moss Mabry
Costumes
Gene Milford
Film Editor
Miriam Nelson
Choreography
Jack Poplin
Production Design
Don Record
Title Designer
Jean Burt Reilly
Supervisor hairstylist
Nelson Riddle
Music
Malcolm Stuart
Company
Malcolm Stuart
Producer
Tyler Camera Systems
Aerial Photographer
James Van Heusen
Composer
Ralph Webb
Special Effects
Jack Willoughby
Helicopter Camera
Paul Edward Yost
Ballooning
Film Details
MPAA Rating
Genre
Comedy
Adaptation
Crime
Western
Release Date
Jan
1969
Premiere Information
Houston opening: 24 Jun 1969
Production Company
Malcolm Stuart Productions; Warner Bros.--Seven Arts, Inc.
Distribution Company
Warner Bros.--Seven Arts, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Great Bank Robbery by Frank O'Rourke (New York, 1969).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 37m
Sound
Stereo
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1
Articles
The Great Bank Robbery
Outlaws pose as a religious group to mask their attempt to rob a Western bank.
The Great Bank Robbery
Outlaws pose as a religious group to mask their attempt to rob a Western bank.
Ruth Warrick (1915-2005) - Ruth Warrick, (1915-2005)
She was born on June 29, 1915 in St. Joseph, Missouri. After attaining a degree in theatre from the University of Kansas City, she left for New York, where in 1938, she joined the Mercury Theater troupe, headed by a young artist on the rise by the name of Orson Welles. When Welles prepared to film Citizen Kane (1941) he took several players from his Mercury Theater (Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloan, Agnes Moorehead) and of course, Ruth Warrick. She made her film debut in Welles' cinematic epic as Emily Norton Kane. Indeed, to many film buffs, Warrick's icy charms are indispensable to the celebrated montage sequence opposite Welles at the breakfast table; particularly when he broaches the subject of her husband's infidelity:
Emily Kane: Charles, people will think...
Charles Kane: What I tell them to think!
Warrick received fine reviews for her performance, and she had good roles in her next two films The Corsican Brothers (1941), with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Journey Into Fear (1942), opposite Joseph Cotton. Sadly, Hollywood, not knowing what to do with a well-trained, mature actress like Warrick, began to cast her into routine, forgettable fare: Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944), China Sky (1945), and Swell Guy (1946). Disney's Song of the South (1947), was a box-office hit, and was her best film in a while, but overall, the material she received over the next few years, simply wasn't worthy of her talents.
Things turned around for her in the mid-50s, when Warrick discovered the medium of television. She had regular roles on The Guiding Light (1953-54), As the World Turns (1956-60), Father of the Bride (1960-61), and was unforgettable as the sinister housekeeper, Hannah Cord, in Peyton Place (1965-67). Yet it was her 35-year run in the role of Phoebe Wallingford in All My Children (1970-2005), that Warrick achieved her greatest triumph. As the rich, intrusive matriarch of the fictitious, affluent town known as Pine Valley, Warrick found a role that could be at once gloriously hammy and quietly conniving - qualities that highlighted her renown versatility as an actress. To honor her contribution to television, Warrick received a lifetime achievement award from the Daytime Emmys last December. She is survived by three children, a grandson, and six great-grandchildren.
by Michael T. Toole
Ruth Warrick (1915-2005) - Ruth Warrick, (1915-2005)
Ruth Warrick, the actress who will forever be identified as the first Mrs. Kane in Orson Welles'
Citizen Kane (1941) to film buffs; and Phoebe Wallingford, the meddlesome nosybody on the long-running soap opera All My Children, to modern television audiences, died at her Manhattan home on January 15 of complications from Pneumonia.
She was 89.
She was born on June 29, 1915 in St. Joseph, Missouri.
After attaining a degree in theatre from the University of Kansas City, she left for New York, where in 1938, she joined the Mercury Theater troupe, headed by a young artist on the rise by the name of Orson Welles. When Welles prepared to film Citizen Kane (1941) he took several players from his Mercury Theater (Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloan, Agnes
Moorehead) and of course, Ruth Warrick. She made her film debut in Welles' cinematic epic as Emily Norton Kane. Indeed, to many film buffs, Warrick's icy charms are indispensable to the celebrated montage sequence opposite Welles at the breakfast table; particularly when he broaches the subject of her husband's infidelity:
Emily Kane: Charles, people will think...
Charles Kane: What I tell them to think!
Warrick received fine reviews for her performance, and she had good roles in her next two films The Corsican Brothers (1941), with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Journey Into Fear (1942), opposite Joseph Cotton. Sadly, Hollywood, not knowing what to do with a well-trained, mature actress like Warrick, began to cast her into routine, forgettable fare:
Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944), China Sky (1945), and Swell Guy (1946). Disney's Song of the South (1947), was a box-office hit, and was her best film in a while, but overall, the material she received over the next few years, simply wasn't worthy of her talents.
Things turned around for her in the mid-50s, when Warrick discovered the medium of television. She had regular roles on The Guiding Light (1953-54), As the World Turns (1956-60), Father of the Bride (1960-61), and was unforgettable as the sinister housekeeper, Hannah Cord, in Peyton Place (1965-67). Yet it was her 35-year run in the role of Phoebe Wallingford in All My Children (1970-2005), that Warrick achieved her greatest triumph. As the rich, intrusive matriarch of the fictitious, affluent town known as Pine Valley, Warrick found a role that could be at once gloriously hammy and quietly conniving - qualities that highlighted her renown versatility as an actress. To honor her contribution to television, Warrick received a lifetime achievement award from the Daytime Emmys last December. She is survived by three children, a grandson, and six great-grandchildren.
by Michael T. Toole
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Summer July 1969
Released in United States Summer July 1969
