Written by / 9/28/2022 / No comments / , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WILLIAM LUCAS & JOHN RUTLAND WEATHER 'CALCULATED RISK'

William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK Year: 1963 Rating: ***1/2

Low-budget thriller has THE BREAK baddie and overall capable British New Wave actor William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK, a hybrid of THE ASPHALT JUNGLE as a newly-released older short guy has big plans for a big heist (John Rutland doing Sam Jaffe) and LARCENY INC since they must dig through a pair of locations to reach the targeted goal...

Which aren't stores but bombed-out houses from twenty-years past, leading to a lucrative bank vault while Lucas, as a sophisticated yet crooked businessman (like ASPHALT backer Louis Calhern), who really doesn't need the bread (unlike Calhern and more like shifty Marc Lawrence), heads up a group of thugs resembling dockyard barflies...

William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK with Terence Cooper

Yet for two-way eye-candy's sake, the tallest, most handsome (Terence Cooper as the Sterling Hayden muscle type) has a quick hookup with adorable local girl-next-door Dilys Watling... 

Also peripheral is Warren Mitchell, stealing his one scene providing random exposition and, within the main gang's heavy-lifting phase, not much happens to intriguingly distinguish each crook's task (except that the initial idea-man's health has him sit it out)... Instead what's really important is WHEN the heist takes place...

Dilys Watling and Terence Cooper in CALCULATED RISK

During England's infamous Winter of/Big Freeze of 1963, where CALCULATED composer George Martin (just starting work with The Beatles) makes ample use of an icy-sounding harpsichord... and while the Noirish atmosphere is palpably sparse and bleak for the location it's not quite claustrophobic or suspenseful enough for the crime... 

Which ultimately includes an actual buried buzz-bomb that may be active, and there's very little time left before... the movie's run-time is up because, after all, this RISK is merely a programmer albeit an historically-documented one.

Title card for CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK with Harry Landis
William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK with Terence Cooper
Asphalt Jungle style Shay Gorman, David Briely, Terence Cooper and John Rutland for Calculated Risk
William Lucas and Terence Cooper in CALCULATED RISK
Terence Cooper in CALCULATED RISK
Dilys Watling and Terence Cooper in CALCULATED RISK
Dilys Watling and Terence Cooper in CALCULATED RISK
John Rutland looking Cagneyesque in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK
John Rutland with George Martin's credid for CALCULATED RISK
John Rutland exiting Wormwood Scrubs in CALCULATED RISK
John Rutland exiting Wormwood Scrubs in CALCULATED RISK
Dilys Watling in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK
Warren Mitchell in CALCULATED RISK
John Rutland and William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas beats the cold for CALCULATED RISK
Dilys Watling  in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas  in CALCULATED RISK with John Rutland
Dilys Watling  in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas  in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas  in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas  in CALCULATED RISK
William Lucas  in CALCULATED RISK
John Rutland and William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK
John Rutland and William Lucas in CALCULATED RISK

Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

RUSHING THROUGH JOHN SCHLESINGER'S 'HONKY TONK FREEWAY'

Title: HONKY TONK FREEWAY Year: 1981 Rating: **** John Schlesinger's HONKY TONK FREEWAY has two composers: Elmer Bernstein doing his usu...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "Powerful little things, these credit cards." Harry Morgan, Dragnet

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)THE SERGEANT 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year