Guns Girls and Gangsters

I watch this movie every two years. It's a great classic grade B thriller, perhaps the greatest of the 50's; and the best picture shot by Edward L Cahn. The director usually gives us sleepy flicks, always built on the same frame, except his first ones, the 30's ones, as "Law and order". He lost his soul during the 50's and early 60's, till his death.

A little masterpiece. Mamie Van Doren, Lee Van Cleef contribute much for it.

A fast paced and pretty shot little thriller. If you are a caper movie lover as I am, DON'T MISS IT.

I would put it on the same scale as "Plunder Road".

Chuck Wheeler (Gerald Mohr) leaves prison and plans an armored truck robbery which is carrying money from a Las Vegas casino. He forcefully recruits night club singer Vi Victor (Mamie Van Doren), the wife of his possessive ex-cellmate Mike Bennett (Lee Van Cleef). Mike escapes right before the planned robbery and all hell breaks loose.

The first memorable visual is Mamie Van Doren with those pants. One expects a ball gown but no, it's pants. She's the definition of the blonde bombshell. It's a little bit of a grind for a small time until Lee Van Cleef comes crashing in on the party. It's no doubt a B-crime thriller but it's still a good fun little short movie.

"Guns, Girls, and Gangsters" not only has a great title, but this inexpensively made film works well for lovers of film noir. While it doesn't have all the great lighting and camera angles of some of the best noir, it does have a cold, nasty edge to it that makes it a standout picture.

When the film begins, Chuck Wheeler (Gerald Mohr) boldly approaches the nightclub singer, Vi Victor (Mamie Van Doren*) and insists she introduce him to her boss...a sophisticated hood. When I say insists, I pretty much mean he forces her with threats and intimidation. Why would Chuck take his life in his hands this way? After all, this boss ALSO is sweet on Vi. Well, it seems that Chuck and his cellmate in prison came up with a great plan to steal $2,000,000 and if they keep their heads, they'll all be rich.

Unfortunately, like almost all film noir movies, there is a glitch that gets in the way of this can't miss plan...that cellmate, Mike Bennett (Lee Van Cleef) escapes from prison. Mike is a sociopath and is mostly concerned with killing anyone who is involved with Vi- -even though she divorced him long ago. Without even bothering to find out what was going on, he starts killing folks! In fact, killing people is like eating potato chips with this guy...he can't stop at just one! So what is the clear-thinking and slick Chuck going to do? And, will this great plan STILL work?

I appreciated a lot about the film. Despite Mamie Van Doren, Gerald Mohr and Lee Van Cleef all being B or C-list actors, they are all excellent and very convincing. Additionally, the script is very tough and gritty. An exciting little film...one not to be missed by noir nuts like me!

*I have no idea HOW she's done it, but I've seen recent pictures of Miss Van Doren. Despite her age, she is incredibly sexy and not the least bit apprehensive about posing in the nude. Heck, most 30 year-olds would be thrilled to have a body like hers....and I can only assume she has some sort of Dorian Gray sort of pact with the Devil that allows her to be so timeless.

There is a scene in this movie that totally sums up the 1950s. Mamie Van Doren, bleached hair flowing in the wind, glamorous sunglasses glinting in the sun, drives a 1958 Edsel Citation Convertible, no doubt pink, that is pulling a horse trailer. It doesn't get any more 1950s than that!!!!

Enjoy this movie for its 1950s clichés. All the good girls are brunettes, and the bad girls are blondes. Men in tight suits and skinny ties. Crappy Rock-n-Roll. Cops save the day. Bad people get punished. People talk tired Film-Noir-speak. Mamie Van Doren's Bullet Bra and wide hips encased in an iron girdle.

Show this movie at your next 1950s party.

Chuck Wheeler (Gerald Mohr) gets out of prison and heads to Las Vegas to enact an elaborate heist where he plans to steal an armored car carrying over $2 million in post-New Year's gambling money. He enlists the aide of local gangster Joe Darren (Grant Richards) and his lounge singer fiancé Vi (Mamie Van Doren), who just happens to be the wife of Wheeler's old cell mate. They plan everything out and it looks like it will go smoothly until Vi's ex-husband, Mike (Lee Van Cleef), breaks out of jail. This is a quick moving B-picture and director Edward L. Cahn never lets it lag through its 70 minutes. Van Doren isn't as much of a bad girl as in the previous feature I saw, VICE RAID. Here she is more of a good girl caught in a bad situation. To show how good she is, Van Doren gets two musical numbers in this one. Surprisingly, they don't play up her curves as much as VICE, but the swelling horn section is still abused plenty on the soundtrack. The supporting cast is all good and it is funny to know that even when he was young, Van Cleef still looked old.