The Money Trap (1965) User Reviews

Ford, Hayworth paired for last time in last-ditch noir

[bmacv · 7/10 · 29 August 2001]

The noir cycle had run its course by the early 60s, but a few stragglers made it through the gates before the 70s changed the way movies were made and viewed. The Money Trap is one of them, and could have been made, in terms of technique and sensibility, in 1956 rather than a decade later. (Digression: this was a time when a series of European "bombshells," most of whom seem to have learned their lines phonetically, starred in big-budget movies, in Hollywood's dizzy anticipation of multiculturalism. Here we have to endure Elke Sommer whose eyes all but cross in her attempt to pronounce English). The theme is the rot at the core of the American Dream (Norman Mailer's novel of that title appeared in 1966, too). Glenn Ford plays a police detective goaded by Sommer to a higher standard of living than his salary permits. He allows himself to be lured into the company of some very shady characters, chief among whom is Joseph Cotten, and starts his descent down the primrose path. Best part of the movie is the return of Rita Hayworth (Ford and she first paired, unforgettably, in Gilda 20 years earlier), as a blowsy waitress with whom Ford once.... Well, you get the picture. When he asks her how she's been, she grudgingly responds, "I've been around."

modern noir

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 2 December 2009]

Glenn Ford and Ricardo Montalban are good policemen gone bad who fall into "The Money Trap," a 1965 noir directed by Burt Kennedy. Ford plays Joe Baron, married to beautiful Lisa (Elke Sommer) who is no longer getting dividends from her father's company. Downsizing and some yard sales would seem to be in order, but instead, Joe has his eye on a mob doctor's (Joseph Cotten) safe that's filled with money. Montalban, as his partner Pete, wants in. One man has already been killed cracking the safe, and there are some surprises in store.

This film is just okay, kind of depressing, but it's notable for the performance of Rita Hayworth as the widow of the dead burglar. She looks pretty used up as her character should, but she's still a stunning woman with true star charisma and great chemistry with Ford, her old co-star. And, as someone else mentioned, how many 50-year-old women playing character roles get to shack up with the lead in a movie? Well, if anyone could, it's Rita.

Ford was an appealing star without a huge range; this character could have been mined for more depth, but he's fine in the role. Montalban is very good as his money-obsessed partner.

Worth it for Rita.

Jaded cop sacrifices integrity for beautiful young wife

[misswestergaard · 7/10 · 26 September 2009]

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It has smooth, stylish, black & white photography; a peppy but brooding jazz soundtrack and charismatic actors. It's a simplistic but compelling morality play in glamorous film noir clothing. Glenn Ford is sexy (in a vulnerable tough guy past his prime sort of way), Rita Hayworth is lovely and sympathetic, Elke Somer is adorable, Ricardo Montalban is stupid and greedy, Joseph Cotten is sleazy and everyone is degraded. The men suffer from their lack of faith in others; the women through their misguided dependence on virility (they count on men to provide emotional and worldly sustenance). It's worth seeing just for the glossy cinematography and the early 60's architecture and settings.It is not a film for those who venerate realism or seek a highly original screenplay, nevertheless it is far more slick, attractive and entertaining than a large percentage of current Hollywood film or television. Like a song sung by Amy Winehouse, you wouldn't use it to tell you how to live, but it sure feels good when you turn it up loud and surrender for a little while.

Jazzy crime drama strains a bit to be a hip, modern noir...great to look at, anyway

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 25 November 2009]

Lionel White's novel becomes an adequate time-filler from rote director Burt Kennedy. Big city cop Glenn Ford, anxious to hold on to luscious wife Elke Sommer, turns to crime; his partner of six years, Ricardo Montalban, wants in on the action. Familiar swindling and safe-cracking yarn goosed by Hal Schaefer's beatnik music, Paul Vogel's gorgeously bleak black-and-white cinematography, and interesting performances from an agreeable cast. Glenn Ford doesn't try hard to flesh out this complicated character, yet his smaller moments (like stroking Sommer's forearm in bed) go a long way to making a connection with the audience; Rita Hayworth (despite a corny send-off) is excellent as an alcoholic, and Montalban simmers with cat-like heat and paranoia. The dialogue is amusingly gritty ("I'm worried!" ... "Then worry with your mouth shut!") and the locales are vividly captured, however the M-G-M studio streets and back alleys look as phony as ever. **1/2 from ****

Pure TV style '60s Crime Yarn With Extra Groovy Jazz Score...

[max86 · 28 July 2000]

Was the world ever really like this?

Pure 1965 black and white, this time machine of a crime drama takes you back to when Elkie Sommer was young, and Joseph Cotten was'nt dead. No profanity, blood or sex on the screen, but everywhere in the painlessly stereotypical screenplay. Predictable to a fault, you seem not to care it's all one big cleche. The jazzy, pre-groovy background music, a totally orignal score by Hal Schaffer, makes this crime-like thing a nostalgic romp of flat-foot flick.

Neo Noir Starring Two Film Noir Legends

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 10 March 2022]

For this Post-Noir, which didn't seem aware that Film Noirs had ended, It takes former THE BIG HEAT actor Glenn Ford to make what could be an average, by-the-numbers programmer an intriguing glimpse into a planned heist of a crooked doctor's mansion wall-safe...

A man who, in Ford's opinion, murdered a thief that broke in... Part of the ingredients that makes THE MONEY TRAP a nice little page-turner with a touch of mystery, despite knowing whodunit from the get-go... Although it's never quite clear why the cops, including Ford's desperate partner Ricardo Montalban, would take such a risk, other than a payoff, each scene flows into the next in an eclectic hybrid of Noir and Soapy Melodrama...

The latter involving Ford's trophy wife, who is second billed over his once-famous GILDA co-starlet Rita Hayworth as a waitress sharing a past with the veteran cop, and she's a widow to the dead thief...

Too bad sexy blonde Elke Sommer doesn't veer into edgy moll or nefarious dame territory, or something other than a reason to provoke the main character into crossing the line: she's basically a plot-point with a perfect body. Meanwhile, Hayworth and Ford share a few scenes that could have been played by anyone; yet it's nice seeing both of them together in this B&W time-filler that's worth an idyllic afternoon viewing...

And safe seat gentleman Joseph Cotten's henchman Tom Reese is the most intriguing throughout. With a face looking like it'd been through a blender with a crocodile, he alone provides the real threat since, after all, the criminals here are the law.

Good ingredients that are somewhat wasted

[a666333 · 6/10 · 13 May 2013]

The cast and quality black-and-white camera work would seem to destine this film for something great but we don't get there. The problem seems to be the storyline/script which is just too familiar and predictable. Glen Ford plays a fairly well-to-do cop who feels pressured by his barbie doll young wife, Elke Sommer, to deliver even more affluence. His partner, Montalban, is more directly avaricious. Cotten is a corrupt doctor and a very used looking Rita Hayworth is Ford's ex-girlfriend from years ago.

Ford as usual, underplays but nevertheless makes you feel the cold emptiness and disillusionment of the character. Everyone else delivers well but I think we have all seen these characters, motivations and situations a hundred times before and the script does not give any room for interesting angles or surprises. We get a very dark (literally and figuratively) and gritty film but not something that is likely to grow on you. If this had been made in 1932, it would have been a far more significant film. By the mid 60s, it was tired formula.

Tries very hard to be a hard boiled police drama

[nomoons11 · 6/10 · 28 September 2011]

I didn't have any idea what I was getting into when I watched this one. What I got was a look at Rita Hayworth and the signs of alcoholism and aging....plus a pretty straight forward police drama...with a decent jazz score.

I was really looking forward to seeing Hayworth as I like to watch former stars later in their careers. It was painfully apparent that she wasn't in very good shape for this one. I don't know if it was the starting of the Alzheimer's she got or alcoholism but she shows her age in this one. She was easily one of the most beautiful girls on screen in her heyday but I guess we all have to age. Some just not so gracefully.

Glenn Ford is OK in this but the story in itself is just so transparent. You can pretty much predict every twist and turn. I wasn't surprised once at any "moment" in this film.

Too many stories going on at once with a very average screenplay tells you why this didn't get released on DVD for a while. It didn't make an impact back in the day I'm willin' to bet.

Go with the user ratings on this one. If you wanna feel like a genius and predict every thing that happens in a film...watch this one. You'll be the next champ of Jeopardy.

Unsympathetic Characters

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 18 October 2005]

The Money Trap for me has the distinction of being one of the last B features I ever saw on the big screen as part of a double bill. It is a film way past its prime as a noir picture.

Noir as a genre essentially died little by little as more televisions were in American homes. The kind of stories that noir does best were now being shown on television every night. Movies were getting bigger and splashier to compete with TV and films like the Money Trap were just not being made for theaters any more. Watching it yesterday on TCM, I was struck by the ludicrousness of a letter box version for a black and white noir.

By the way, in 1965 television was about to go full color and black and white feature films were getting rarer each year.

But even as a noir film, The Money Trap has no people you really care about. Glenn Ford is married to a wealthy woman and lives in a lifestyle beyond his cop's salary. But then wife Elke Sommer gets a letter saying her late Daddy's stock won't be paying any dividends. Well golly gee, we should all have such problems.

It never occurs to Glenn Ford to tell Elke to tone down her extravagant ways, maybe even move out of that luxurious home they have to something more modest. Ford's kind of into the good life also.

During a homicide investigation involving a wealthy doctor played by Joseph Cotten who allegedly surprised a burglar in his home, Ford and partner Ricardo Montalban suspect something dicey. Before expiring in the ambulance, the burglar gives Ford the safe combination.

Now knowing something is amiss here. Ford and Montalban decide on a robbery. Of course the doctor is smarter than the both of them put together. The whole thing ends in one bloody mess and the viewer doesn't really care.

A few years later The Money Trap would have been strictly a made for TV feature if it got made at all. Probably MGM was busy trying to get rid of long time contractual obligations to Ford and Montalban. Both of them have sure done better work.

But the saddest thing of all is that this is the last feature film partnership of Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth. Rita's the best thing in this film, playing a very worn out forty something ex-girlfriend of Ford's and widow of the burglar Cotten shot. A great acting job and not anything a former reigning sex goddess ever did before.

But it ain't enough to save The Money Trap.

Downbeat and flawed

[adverts · 6/10 · 21 February 2024]

The Money Trap could have been made 10+ years prior. One of the last film noirs...before the neo-noir era....as film buffs probably know. Glenn Ford is typically sturdy and Rita Hayworth is quite effective. I'm not sure if she tried to de-glamorize herself, but it definitely works. On the other hand, Elke Sommer is simply not much of an actress. Weirdly, noir veteran Ted DeCorsia, in a small role, doesn't even get credited.

Black & White works well i the film and there are some nice looking scenes. Unfortunately, I had a hard time with the robbery though. Why doesn't Glenn Ford use the combination to the safe?? Instead of blowing it up (maybe I missed something). They just assumed they would walk in and be able to take care of Matthews? The shooting scene - so many shots at close range, but only one person hit? Matthews was on the ground. I figured he was dead, but he pops up soon after looking quite healthy.

Worth seeing if you're a noir fan.

What a Waste of Talent

[Bob-45 · 5/10 · 3 August 2000]

Except for the music, THE MONEY TRAP is strictly by the numbers. Third billed Rita Hayworth has maybe five minutes screen time. No matter, she bring what little class this movie has to the screen. My big question is, what is such a terrific cast DOING in this insipid junk? Drawing a paycheck, I guess. Certainly, Glenn Ford, Ricardo Montalban and Joseph Cotton (all then under contract to MGM) were strictly drawing paychecks. This movie SHOULD be seen a reminder of sexual attitudes to which we should NEVER return. That is, whatever males do is OK, but woe be on to a female whom "transgresses," PARTICULARLY if she enjoys it! Otherwise, don't waste your time.

Rita's Hidden Gem

[tkn10015 · 8/10 · 28 October 2005]

Very 1960's with mid-century houses and Hollywood Hills and convertibles and Elke and her life-like body on display. Easy to see why Glenn put up with her extravagance and even her unfaithfulness. The surprise was a used-up, doomed Rita Hayworth, better than Sadie, better than "Fire Down Below." While nobody would believe that Rita was really a down on her luck waitress, she played her exhaustion and disillusionment with the world and especially with men better than any Method actress. Her scenes with Glenn Ford were genuine chemistry between two old friends with loyalty and affection and honesty. And, in the 1960's, how many fifty year old down on her luck character actresses were shown "shacking up" with the star of the picture. Rita established her character so well that, when her sad end was talked about but not seen, it rang true. A real keeper, especially for the next Rita Retrospective.

Sad look at Rita and Ford

[timscanit-792-49398 · 4/10 · 25 January 2012]

They were looking pretty tired in this. It was the characters they played but they didn't have to stretch much for the part. I see why my wife has a poor opinion of Ford. I always liked him but I had never seen this movie before. I want to know more about the house that Ford and Elke lived in. The design of the pool was very unique. Did anyone notice when Ford was riding in the ambulance (a Buick conversion) talking to the dying burglary suspect, that the car next to them was pacing and passing a code 3 ambulance with its siren on? The camera was set up to shoot the scene but there was normal traffic flowing next to it, so when Ford signals to the driver that the suspect is dead and he can slow down, nothing changed in the street scene outside the window. Loved the white 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury convertible that Ford drove. That model has a value these days of $15K to $20K.

Does the title refer to the paychecks offered to actors for junk like this?

[vandino1 · 26 January 2006]

Great cast. Might be interesting. Hmmmm.... Well, it starts with a brassy, obnoxious jazz theme, followed oddly by bongo music. Our first scene is Ford as a detective at the scene of a crime wherein a woman was hung in a whore house by her husband. Next scene we have Elke Sommer undressing to go to bed with husband Ford. This film wastes no time! But then it goes on and on with crummy characters played by William Campbell, Ricardo Montalban, Hayworth and Cotten. Dreary all the way to the bitter conclusion. The post-'Gilda' reteaming of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford is a sad spectacle. Ford's haircut is so bad his ears look bat-like. Hayworth, admittedly is not playing a glamour part, but her degradation is not pleasant to watch. Together they appear dissipated, like their careers at this point. Ford really seems bored and uncomfortable throughout. And Cotten is as dull as usual. But Montalban does show some energy as fellow cop, and Elke Sommer has never looked better and plays the most likable (maybe only likable) character in the film. If that valium is making you feel too good, bring yourself down with this movie.

The trap isn't worth the cheese.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 25 June 2022]

The incandescent Rita Hayworth had undergone a lot of hardships in her life, but one thing she is always remembered for is her breathtaking beauty. Here, 25 years after she was an international star, she is very brave in presenting herself as a rather dowdy, tired waitress, a witness in the murder case that police officer Glenn Ford is working on, both surprised to see each other as they were lovers years before. Ford and Ricardo Montalban aren't exactly on the up and up, looking for stolen loot and determined to keep it. Ford is unhappily married to the grasping Elke Sommer, a lot younger than Hayworth, but driving Ford mad with her materialism. Hayworth, after the viewer gets over the shock of seeing how she looks in a matronly hairstyle, dominates this film with her shockingly gritty and real performance, playing a glamor girl who's best days are behind her, turning to drink to comfort herself, and sadly, there isn't enough of her.

Still hanging in there, Ford gives his usual dependable performance but it's nothing remarkable, and he's a hard-leading character to root for. Montalban once again plays a bad guy (doing so again in the same year's "Madame X"), and he's so delightfully hard boiled and in bittered that he's fascinating to watch. It's obvious that he's going to be grasping for the gold up until the last minute, with it just out of reach, but that dream still prevalent in his mind.

It's interesting to note that in the amusement park sequence, the rides feature songs from MGM musicals ("It's a Most Unusual Day", "You are My Lucky Star", "After the Ball"), obviously recorded and inserted in, because I can't imagine any amusement park using these songs, at least not consecutively if at all. This is fascinating as a B second stringer, gritty and filled with great moments and interesting supporting characters, but it's just missing that one bit of flour that makes the cake rise to complete success.

Not a trap for the movie buff

[searchanddestroy-1 · 18 February 2024]

I have always been in love, or at least enchanted, by this Burt Kennedy's surprising film from a westerner as he was. It is a tremendous and solid adaptation from a Lionel White's novel. Unfortunately never released and translated in France and in French. Many of Lionel White were not anyway. Here, Glenn Ford's performance reminds me Fred McMurray in Richard Quine's PUSHOVER, a rogue cop tale, also directed by a non crime film specialist, as Burt Kennedy; Quine was on the contrary a comedy specialist. And it is so touching to see Glenn Ford and his long time friend Rita Hayworth for the last time on screen after GILDA, LADY IN QUESTION, AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD and LOVES OF CARMEN. Yes I definitely love this underrated Burt Kennedy's film noir pulled by a tremendous acting, directing, production design, atmosphere.