mike48128 Review of The Great Bank Robbery

The Great Bank Robbery (1969)

A Great Cast Makes This Wacky Western Watchable

[7/10 · 3 October 2013]

There are far better comic westerns out there: The Paleface Movies, Cat Ballou, Destry Rides Again, McClintock!, Support Your Local Sheriff/Gunfighter. That being said, why watch this one? It's the cast: Zero Mostel, Clint Walker, Claude Akins, Mako, Larry Storch, Sam Jaffe, and Kim Novak, who in my estimation,was such a gorgeous woman, rivaling even the likes of Marilyn Monroe. The plot seems very familiar and very unoriginal : Several groups of robbers attempt to rob an "impenetrable" Western bank in a little town called "Friendly". There is underground tunneling into the vault, dynamite, and even Kim riding "Lady Godiva style" to distract the bank guards. They had to use large daises to hide her "ass-sets"(and front-sets)! Zero plays a corrupt Christian minister with "Sister" Novak as his sidekick and companion. Typical stunts with a typical Western wood-burning locomotive, some typical shootouts where people die (but only the bad guys or extras), and there is no visible "blood on the saddle". Zero sings a totally annoying and cloying song called "Rainbow Rider" while the Mitchell Boys Choir croons. That song, sadly, is hard to get out of your head. Acceptable, good-natured performances by all, but a cliché-ridden script. Yes,you HAVE seen it all before. The ending is sweet as Kim "falls" for Clint as she bails out of the hot air balloon and Zero & Co. literally float off into the sunset with the loot. Larry Storch plays his funny stereotypical "Mexican" that sounds like Speedy Gonzales. The ending mood is is marred by a last minute gunfight where "bad guy" Akins bites the dust. Fun but very light entertainment to be sure and it was a "bomb" at the box office. As I said, rated high for it's cast, not it's content.