Good movie but grossly overrated

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Inspired by all the wonderful reviews on this site, I actually bought the CD, especially because of the wonderful cast - primarily William Bendix and Arthur Kennedy, but also a host of character actors we recognize but to whom it is difficult to attach faces, i.e William Talman (the hapless D.A. on Perry Mason), Gene Evans, Marshall Thompson, and Luther Adler. Despite all the plaudits here, the film, despite its attempts to capture the flavor of noir, descends into rote formulas and plot clichés. The fault is not with the actors, who all do well, but with the script. Credibility is stretched beyond the breaking point. No woman held hostage, with son in tow, by a group of thugs could ever realistically be expected to develop a romantic attachment with one them on a side trip while her son was being held by the others, especially when that side trip is a blatant plot device for exactly that purpose. Arthur Kennedy is one of my favorite actors and he does his best here with what he is given, but this potboiler should be avoided.

A group of escaped convicts hide out in a wet cave waiting for the search for them to slow down. The ailing leader of the escape (William Bendix) is on the verge of death, and the poor doctor (Percy Helton) who is called to help them at gunpoint will find that he won't be allowed to tell what he knows. A few of the escapees seem to have a major love of carnage, and Bendix has a sadistic streak that won't even allow one of the younger members of the party (Marshall Thompson) go off with a young girl (Gloria Talbott) he meets on a train. When they hide out in the farmhouse of Beverly Michaels (a tough "B" girl giving her most versatile performance here), the compassion of one of them (the brilliant Arthur Kennedy) is revealed. Michaels plays a farm-bread girl who obviously tried the big city, became a victim to it, and returned home older, wiser, and sadder. Christopher Olsen is good as her illegitimate son who doesn't understand what's going on but shows deep courage anyway.This is one of those enjoyable yet far-fetched stories of crime that wasn't quite film noir but played like it on the surface. The characters are fascinating, if somewhat one-dimensional to watch, and William Bendix chews up the scenery as if it was steak. Acting honors go to Kennedy who makes his criminal character quite likable in spite of his past. Luther Adler, William Talman and Gene Evans also deliver exciting performances. The film is fast-moving, tightly edited, and filled with some shocking moments, one of them involving a man on fire. The ending is filled with irony and makes up for the film's over-all clichés.

Crashout gets to the point quickly. A story of desperate escapees making their way out of the abyss. William Bendix gives a "close to the bone" portrayal of a desperate man who escapes prison with a motley crew.Nothing in this story comes easy. The six escapees work their way through several states by the skin of their teeth. On the other side is a split of a big pay day, but that pay day is way away buried in some of the most inhospitable territory imaginable. The common denominator is the promise of a huge buried payout. That's the story of Crashout. It's no easy road to glory for the cons, in the ensuing journey they cross paths with some unwitting characters. A journey of attrition whereby along the way not only does a possible love story evolve, but a the deaths of all but two remaining cons. The path to the big pay day is anything but a simple story. This is where Crashout rises above it's "B Movie" roots. Bendix give his usual colorful performance, but this time as a star front and center. The story suits his skills well.The end is a heartless reckoning. A sort of good trumps bad, but there is an opening. The character of "Joe" played by the great Arthur Kennedy may or may not be the last man standing. Does he have the buried fortune? Probably not, but if he survives he may actually have gained much more than the 180 grand. This is a really tasty slice of film noir. It grabs the viewer early on and doesn't let go. Your're in for the ride. It's especially gritty and dark for the day in which it was filmed. It has a buried heart which all humanity can connect to. Basically hopeless, Crashout still has something that one can grab on to and in that it keeps the viewer invested. Great "B-Movie" film noir and as such recommended viewing for those to whom this stuff speaks.

Like Canon City seven years earlier or Big House, U.S.A. of the same year, Crashout follows half a dozen convicts along their futile path to freedom. The drama centers only incidentally on their pursuit by police but explores the tensions that erupt among them and their hostile reaction to the world beyond the machine-gun turrets and barbed-wire fences. It's fast, brutal and far from subtle, but its cast is above-average, and the movie even slows down now and again for a poignant little vignette.Self-appointed leader of the pack is William Bendix, wounded during the (pre-credits) prison break but brooking no dissent nonetheless. Strangest among them is William Talman (who also appeared in Big House, U.S.A. but of course lost countless cases to Perry Mason on TV, as District Attorney Hamilton Burger); he's a knife-throwing religious nut. Luther Adler as a Latin Lothario, Marshall Thompson as a sentimental kid in this thing over his head, and Gene Evans round out the roster of escapees – except for Arthur Kennedy, who survives with something like a conscience stirring within him.Helping to stir that conscience is farm gal Beverly Michaels, who arrives much too late in the story. Michaels, in her handful of roles (she starred in Russell Rouse's Wicked Woman), throws off a cool nonchalance that's all her own; with her low, distinctive way of talking, she suggests Sally Kellerman a decade or so later. In the ironic style that was coming into fashion, Crashout's ending leaves us hanging, at least a bit; still, it's competent enough to stand comparison with other installments of the jailbirds-on-the-lam sub-genre.