The Money Trap (1965)

Too much of everything

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The acting in this movie is really good.

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.

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.

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.

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.