Customer Reviews

Plunder Road [VHS]

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4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hubert Cornfield's "Plunder Road" is the story of a carefully planned and flawlessly executed robbery of a train carrying a gold shipment on its way to the US mint. The script, written by actor Steven Ritch, who plays Eddie, a former car racer turned wheelman, is interestingly spare. There are long stretches in the film without dialogue, but the script is terse and incisive, in both its voice-over narration and dialogue. The cast includes Wayne Morris, who delivered a fine performance in Stanley Kubrick's "Paths Of Glory", and the legendary character actor Elisha Cook in the role of Skeets, a career criminal with dreams of escaping to Rio. All of the performances are generally low-key, but effective. Gene Raymond, as the mastermind of the job, makes for an interesting gang leader: a laconic, cynical, college-educated tough guy. The robbery sequence is very well done, and the rest of the film seldoms lets up in delivering suspense."Plunder Road" isn't quite on the level of John Huston's "The Asphalt Jungle" or Kubrick's "The Killing", but fans who like films about well-planned and perfectly-carried-out robberies that go awry shouldn't be disappointed by this fast-paced, well-written, and tightly-directed story.

A capable caper film distinguished by expert performances from a veteran cast. Gene Raymond's turn as the world-weary ringleader is especially noteworthy and a long way from his sappy, lightweight roles of the 1930's. Authentic war hero Wayne Morris is a likable co-conspirator, but unfortunately just two years away from an untimely early death. Professional loser Elisha Cook's presence guarantees a bad end to the best laid plans, and though the movie as a whole doesn't disappoint, the budget appears to be in the neighborhood of $50 tops, as the getaway truck revolves endlessly around Griffith Park. Director Hubert Cornfield looks to be aiming at a breakthrough film on the order of Stanley Kubrick's remarkably successful caper film of the year before, The Killing, but doesn't get it. Plunder Road simply lacks the imagination and panache of its predecessor. Nevertheless the movie merits a look for its spartan virtues, expert pacing, and capable cast.

Well worth a look, 'PLUNDER ROAD' is a tense little crime film that, like so many others did, got lost among the bigger name thrillers of the period. But despite it's relative obscurity the film is a highly entertaining yarn involving a group of thieves attempting to get away with an elaborate gold heist, while facing slim odds. No big names to speak of, an ostensibly low budget, and a cheeky title (a Mitchum reference?) do nothing to diminish the impact of this scrappy little gem. Check it out.

A great film,a great crime and of course the great consequences,I like the Big Rigs(Semitrucks) involved and the lone locomotive as well as the plot and characters,Too bad this isn't on dvd as of this writing,was able to see it instantly thanks to netflix.

The hard, slashing night rain in Plunder Road's first five minutes all but obscures our view of the lynchpin of the plot: the hijacking of a train for its cargo of gold bullion. The remainder of the film follows the hijackers along their various escape routes. (There are foreshadowing's of Goldfinger's Rolls Royce -- or echoes of Judy Holliday's Solid Gold Cadillac -- in the plot). Its no-frills narrative, poverty-row cast and spare economy of means make Plunder Road a surprisingly effective example of late noir.

Here's an entertaining & genuinely suspenseful example of what can be done on a low budget, if you've got some real filmmaking talent. A taut, nervous noir about a carefully planned gold heist & its aftermath, it's a stripped-down, no-frills film that delivers everything it promises. From the tense opening of the robbery itself, to the ways in which Fate overtakes everyone, we follow a handful of life's losers to their seemingly inevitable ends. Their lives are scraped down to the bone, with more desperation than hope to keep them going -- yet if they can just pull off this one job, they'll be set for life. Until the smallest, most inconsequential things go wrong ...

The characters don't ask for any pity, but most viewers will probably have a certain sneaking sympathy for them, which works perfectly for this film. You can sense how barren their lives have become, and identify with their hunger to escape to something better, no matter what the cost. But as with all noir films, that pot of gold is somewhere over an elusive rainbow you can never cross ...

A pity it's not on DVD, but if you can track down a VHS copy, it's well worth picking up -- recommended!

This is another of those "Poverty Row" film noirs, a crime movie made on a low budget but yet decently acted and certainly entertaining.

Gene Raymond and Elisha Cook Jr. are known actors to classic film buffs but the rest of the cast may not be too familiar. There is no one star in this film anyway but all give good performances, particularly Raymond, the most interesting member of the gang.

The weak link of the film, at least to me, was the ending...but I give it points for originality. Overall, the story was a simple one, but oddly told. I say that because the important things that happened in the film (the arrests of the criminals, for one thing) would be glossed over quickly while minor things would be detailed longer than necessary.

Despite that, the film was interesting thanks to good dialog, realism on the part of the characters and the short running time (73 minutes). I hope to see it on DVD some day.

Since I am the first reviewer in eight years to comment here, I assume few people have seen this film. That's a shame; it's a decent film.