Movielogr

Rating: 7 stars

Tags

Hulu TCM Mexico stolen money chase road movie

All movies seen on 06/01/2025

View on: IMDb | TMDb

The Big Steal (1949)

Directed by Don Siegel

Action | Crime | Road Movie

Most recently watched by sleestakk

Overview

Army Lieutenant Halliday, accused of stealing the Army payroll, pursues the real thief on a frantic chase through Mexico aided by the thief’s ex-girlfriend and is in turn being chased by his accuser, Capt. Blake.

Length 71 minutes

Actors

Robert Mitchum | Jane Greer | William Bendix | Patric Knowles | Ramon Novarro | Don Alvarado | John Qualen | Pascual García Peña | Frank Hagney | Arturo Soto Rangel | Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. | Carl Sklover | Virginia Farmer | Nacho Galindo | Pat O'Malley | Don Dillaway | Alphonso DuBois | Gregorio Acosta | Salvador Baguez | Ted Jacques | Bernard Sell | Alfonso Sánchez Tello | Jorge Treviño | Tony Roux | Felipe Turich | Beatriz Ramos | Primo López | José Loza | Elias Gamboa | Frank Leyva | Raúl Guerrero

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

Essentially a 71-minute chase sequence, but that’s not a bad thing.

The film was rushed into production to cash in on Robert Mitchum’s “bad boy” image (he’d just been arrested for smoking weed) and the short runtime was partially due to Don Siegel throwing out pages of script to get the film finished quickly. Somehow, it all worked.

Mitchum and Jane Greer (reunited after OUT OF THE PAST) have great chemistry and keep the tone fun and breezy.

Note: Lizabeth Scott was originally cast as the female lead, but Hal Wallis convinced her to back out to avoid being tainted by Mitchum’s drug scandal.

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