Rock-hard crime film, immediate precursor to director Richard Fleischer’s The Narrow Margin, also featuring Charles MacGraw, here as a dogged cop who contends with a group of heist artists who kill his partner in performing the title robbery outside Wrigley Field.
Films that have some of this film’s DNA in them must include The Killing, Dirty Harry (MacGraw contends cynically with a young new partner), Bullitt (in the airfield finale), through to Reservoir Dogs (the criminals have to deal with one of their number being gut-shot, and turn on each-other in a warehouse hideout). William Talman is particularly effective as the ice-cold chief villain. Fleischer’s handling is lean and procedural, and its wraps up in a snappy 63 minutes.
