Black Tuesday (1954)

....that's the way this movie hits you!! For all people who think that Edward G. Robinson's 1950s movies were only rehashes of his earlier hits - then they just haven't seen this film!! Robinson has an explosive performance in him as the brutal Vince Cannelli (the way Little Caesar may have ended up if he had lived)!!! And something you don't see every day - Jean Parker (she of the sentimental "Little Women" and "Sequoia") playing Cannelli's hardened gun moll and the one who masterminds the last minute escape!!Like caged animals, the prisoners pace their cells to the singing lament of "Black Tuesday". Vicious thug Cannelli is due to be executed that morning, along with another prisoner (Peter Graves) who has $200,000 hidden away in a fool proof hiding place!! But Cannelli is not looking nervous - his girl has hatched an escape plan which includes kidnapping the daughter of one of the guards over seeing the execution so he has no choice but to fall in with the plan. Which also includes taking Manning along as Cannelli hopes to get his hands on that hidden loot. One by one people are appalled by Vince's psychotic behaviour - leaving most of the people who helped him escape by the side of the road with only a lonely gun to help them in a shootout to the death when they are captured by police!! By the time they arrive at the hideout, the kidnapped daughter finds her father has already been killed and when Cannelli springs the old "if you don't give us our demands, a person is going to be killed every half hour"!! - from what the movie has revealed, you know he is not joking!! Problems start when Manning is shot and when forced to leave his sick bed to retrieve the money from a safety deposit box, leaves his calling card - a bloody finger print on the desk!! The finale features a blazing shoot out between the police and the gangsters, with innocent people fleeing flying bullets (not always successfully) - almost out bigging "The Big House"!! Highly Recommended!!

Gritty low-budget prison film stars Edward G. Robinson as a death-row inmate about to be executed (black Tuesday) along with a convict (Peter Graves) who has $200,000 stashed away on the outside. But just as they are about to go to the chair, they pull an amazing prison break and escape.With a new gang that includes his moll (Jean Parker), Robinson plots to get the cash out of a safety deposit box. But things get complicated when Graves takes a bullet. With Parker posing as his secretary, Graves gets the money but his wound starts bleeding, tipping off the bank guard.Holed up in a warehouse and with several hostages, Robinson resists the cops' barrage of bullets and tear gas and threatens to kill the hostages one by one unless they are allowed to escape. But is there honor among thieves and murderers? Robinson is terrific as the murderous thug who will sacrifice anyone to get his way. Parker is also terrific as the hard-boiled moll (after decades of soft heroine roles). Graves is also good as the fellow con. Co-stars include Warren Stevens, Milburn Stone, Jack Kelly, Sylvia Findley, Russell Johnson, Vic Perrin, William Schallert, and Frank Ferguson.

An interesting and surprisingly obscure prisoner-on-the-run crime drama, BLACK TUESDAY is perfectly suited for Late, Late Show viewing in the wee small hours of the morning, when much of the action takes place. Like KEY LARGO (also featuring Edward G. Robinson), THE DESPERATE HOURS and the PETRIFIED FOREST, the second half turns into a confined space stageplay. The large cast holed up in the even larger safehouse is game, however, and despite a few unintentionally funny and seemingly out of place romantic interludes, things otherwise generally remain taut. It's like old TV home week as no less than three players from the Desilu stage (Vic Perrin and William Schallert from Star Trek guest appearances, Peter Graves from Mission: Impossible right next door on the lot) get significant screen time. Also look for Russell (The Professor) Johnson in a minor part. Graves in particular has a much more emotive adult part than he customarily got (other than Stalag 17) and he goes for it with gusto, if not much panache. Still, Robinson is at his melodramatic "Where's your messiah now?" best here, blithely slapping broads, torturing gunshot victims and going out in a Little Caeseresque hail of bullets / blaze of glory.Seasoned noir veteran Sydney (SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS, ROGUE COP, UNION STATION, THE HIGH WALL and most notably, THE BIG HEAT) Boehm's script is not brain surgery (the prison breakout is dazzlingly improbable) and is frankly a bit derivative of movies like Cagney's KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE and Bogey's HIGH SIERRA. Also, they obviously didn't spend much on production values. Still, there is no one more iconic in this kind of capo titti capi role than Edward G. Robinson and given the lack of exposure this movie has had in the last 40 years, seeing Robinson's performance is akin to unearthing buried noir treasure. Any fan of Edward G. should immediately seek out this elusive screener because his vicious performance is nothing short of breathtaking, and trumps any of the limitations of this movie.

Edward G. Robinson shows he still could do the gangster role and keep the performances fresh. Unlike the mob bosses Robinson played in"Little Ceaser", "The Last Gangster", and "Key Largo", the role of Vincent Canelli is more modern and vicious than the typical cigar chewing prohabtion gangster. Canelli and gunman Manning{Peter Graves} await their death sentence with a bunch of other prisoners on death row. Canelli's mob kidnap the daughter of one of the prison guards andblackmail the guard in helping the death row inmates bust outta the joint!! Canelli needs Manning's money that he stashed away for his final getaway and Manning is just looking for freedom. The story leadsto a moral climatic stand-off with escaped killers vs. the police. The soul-less Canelli shows how low killers will go to survive. Great performance by Robinson and Graves, especially Robinson who plays agangster ahead of those times. It's sad that not enough people know about this movie. If your any type of gangster, suspense, or just a Eddie G. fan, GET YOUR HANDS ON A COPY OF THIS FILM... NYA'SEE!!!!!